Here’s the latest on Sundy Village, the mixed-use development coming to downtown Delray Beach – Sun Sentinel

The long-planned Sundy Village, set to be built in downtown Delray Beach, is one step closer to fruition.

Located on seven sprawling acres at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Swinton, the mixed-used development recently had its groundbreaking ceremony, a big step after years of planning.

The project, overseen by real estate and private equity investment firm Pebb Capital, is aimed at preserving the historical aspects of Delray Beach, while also helping the city expand on the downtown by offering more office space, retail and dining options.

“They are making sure that our history is kept alive and we continue to tell that story, and not just demolish it and build new,” said Laura Simon, executive director of the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority. “They really want to make sure they are paying homage to our past, connecting it to our present and setting the stage for the next 100 years.”

Plans for Sundy Village include a main building to be located on Atlantic Avenue and Swinton.

The first floor will have restaurant and retail space, while the second and third floor will have office space to be leased to various businesses.

Six of the historical homes along Swinton Avenue will be renovated, brought up to code and used as small retail and fast casual food and beverage. An additional five buildings along Southwest First Street and First Avenue will offer more office space for business, with one of the buildings slated to be the new headquarters for Pebb Capital.

[ RELATED: What is Sundy Village and what does it mean for Delray Beach’s Sundy House? ]

It adds up to a total of 26,000 square feet of retail space and over 96,000 square feet of office space.

Not only do they expect the project to bring more revenue and traffic to Atlantic Avenue, but it should also help expand the Avenue further toward the western part of town, and possibly cause more growth in that director, said Todd Rosenberg, co-founder and managing principal of Pebb Capital.

“We are going to be bringing a critical mass of real office users into the market for a Monday-Friday activation, something that Atlantic Avenue doesn’t have a ton of right now. There’s not a lot of office users, so during the week and day traffic is kind of light,” he added.

The project was originally supposed to be called Midtown Delray, but developers decided to go with Sundy Village to account for the plan to renovate and include the Sundy House, a longtime destination for weddings and other events.

[ RELATED: Delray Beach’s Atlantic Crossing wants to bridge Atlantic Avenue to the Intracoastal ]

The Sundy House is also expected to get a makeover and update that will honor its history.

“It’s probably the most important historic home in Delray Beach. That really is going to be the anchor of the site. The outside will be restored to look and feel like it did when it was built in the early 1900s,” Rosenberg said.

Demand for the building has been high, according to Rosenberg.

Already, the bulk of the office space has been leased up.

“The demand is great. The migration to Southeast Florida has been tremendous, and it’s only going to continue to compound on itself. One of the things we don’t have a lot of in Delray Beach is office [space].

“And that’s one of the things post-COVID that a lot of people are looking for is an experience for their office that they haven’t had before,” Benson said.

The project is expected to be delivered by the end of 2023.