Builder Kolter Group received site plan approval for the first phase of development on the 681-acre Briger site across from the Scripps Florida campus.
Palm Beach Gardens council members accepted the plan for 360 houses and townhomes on 58 acres of the site, which is now known as the Alton Development of Regional Impact. The council did have one condition: Kolter must come back to it with a redesign of a three-quarter green space in the middle of the development that makes it easier for neighborhood children to play there. Several activists expressed concern about the configuration of the green space.
Early last decade, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush asked Palm Beach County to pinpoint a large site to entice Scripps to move there, according to the Palm Beach Post. The county chose the Briger land to accommodate the anticipated future residential and commercial development around the biomedical research facility. [Palm Beach Post] — Eric Kalis