Developers of the Lotis Wellington project say the long-awaited Cooper’s Hawk and Lazy Dog restaurants remain on track to open in late 2025 or early 2026, and additional eateries could join the mix after a headliner attraction exited the stage — PopStroke mini-golf.
“We did have PopStroke,” Rich Kasser, project director at Lotis Group, told Greater Wellington Chamber of Commerce members at a luncheon Wednesday, Jan. 22. “They were going to put a new golf course up there. They have since changed their plans. We’re pivoting along with them.”
Two restaurants, as yet unnamed, could be part of what replaces it, he said before about 100 business leaders at the Wanderers Club in Wellington.
It is not the first pivot for the evolving 120-acre project on the west side of State Road 7, north of Forest Hill Blvd.
Original proposals more than four years ago emphasized senior and assisted living near Wellington Regional Medical Center, but the plans lost steam in the midst of the pandemic and what builders said were changes in market demand.
Wellington Village Council members expressed exasperation with delays along the way, but by January 2024, they approved, by a 4-1 vote, revised proposals that included housing with no age restrictions. It encompassed 372 residential units from single-family homes available for purchase to one-bedroom apartments as small as 680 square feet for rent, with a range of other options in between.
Connected by trails and featuring two lakes, project plans include a daycare center, separate public and private dog parks, and medical offices, among other features.
PopStroke, with marketing ties to famed golfer Tiger Woods, has indicated a focus on building up its West Palm Beach location in published reports. That sent ripples through Wellington’s discussions about when and how to approve housing when promised amenities do not always prove to be immutable certainties.
For example, a provisional $47 million sale of the village’s K-Park property southwest of SR 7 and Stribling Way to developer Related Ross and a private school partner comes with attempts to require that 50 percent of commercial offerings must proceed before housing can be built. Restaurants, boutique grocers and other enticements form a big part of a development plan whose particulars require final village approval before the land deal formally closes.
The council approved the framework of the K-Park sale 5-0 on Tuesday, Jan. 14. More than one council member tried to draw distinctions between the K-Park project and an earlier equestrian development deal with Wellington Lifestyle Partners, while also mentioning Lotis Wellington and the Tuttle Royale project just north of Wellington in Royal Palm Beach.
“I personally do not feel this is a WLP project where we’re taking land out of the Equestrian Preserve Area,” Councilwoman Amanda Silvestri said. “This is not Lotis, where we’re not getting our mini-golf course. This is a completely different project and something that’s very exciting for Wellington. We’re filling a need we don’t have right now.”
At the chamber luncheon, Kasser said anyone driving by on SR 7 can see tangible progress at Lotis Wellington, from monument signs to entry paving work. Work on residences is expected to begin during 2025, he said.
Kasser sees “a lot of excitement and buzz” from commercial tenants on the sidelines as buildings start to go up, he said.
The village’s approval for a revamped Lotis Wellington plan in early 2024 attempted to put some conditions on its development.
For example, building permits for at least 40,000 square feet of commercial and office space were to be obtained before residential permits were issued. Also, work was to begin on slabs and utility hook-ups for certain commercial buildings by March 31, 2024, or other permits would be put on hold.
Still, Wellington staff members advised the council that they could not require that commercial lots feature particular brand-name businesses.
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