Meetings: Directors' meetings are held the first Monday of the month. General Membership meetings are held on the 2nd Monday of the Month at The Irish Brigade located at 621 Lake Ave, Lake Worth Beach Fl. 33460. Social hour begins at 6 pm and the meeting starts at 7 pm. Meetings are sometimes suspended during the Summer months. Please contact South Palm Park for more information.
Membership: Membership is open to all Residents and everyone is welcome to attend and participate in their meetings and their activities. Annual membership dues are: single household (general or associate) - $10 per person, household (two or more persons - general) - $20.
President, Greg Richter
Vice President, Linda Brower
Secretary, Lewis Makepeace
Treasurer, Gina Devine
Website: www.southpalmpark.org
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Palm Beach Post Article on South Palm Park
Affordability Near the Water
By Emily J. Minor Special to The Palm Beach Post
Every once in a
while, you’ll find a little jewel of a neighborhood, tucked right along the
beaten path — and that’s certainly the case with South Palm Park. Just south of
downtown Lake Worth, this collection of 200 or so homes that runs in a narrow
north-south strip between Federal Highway and the Intracoastal Waterway offers
everything from million-dollar homes to $200,000 fixer-uppers.
“It’s just a great
old Lake Worth neighborhood,” says Realtor Susan Fleming, who sells with
Illustrated Properties and used to live in South Palm Park. “It’s such an
interesting mix of architecture.”
And as it turns out,
interesting architecture draws an interesting mix of people. Neighborhood
association president Chip Guthrie is a Palm Beach County native who has lived
in South Palm Park for 30 years. He loves what the place used to be, and what
it is today.
As the oldest
neighborhood association in Lake Worth, Guthrie and his wife, Irene, helped
through a party back in November to celebrate the association’s 50th year.
“We have kind of a
famous street,” says Guthrie. “We have a very lush median strip that runs the
north-south length of Palmway. People come from outside the neighborhood to
walk along there.”
Homes here were
built as early as the 1920s, when Florida’s first settlers began picking prime
pieces of real estate close to developing city centers. That growth continue
into the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s. Joanne Kelly still lives in the house she moved
to in the early 1950s as a young girl. Her mother, father and their five
children found the house in South Palm Park and proceeded to embrace the
Florida lifestyle. They were always outdoors, she said, playing along the
waterfront, going over the bridge to the beach. “Every Christmas we swam in the
ocean, no matter how cold it was,” she said. “It was a family ritual.”
Kelly lives in her
childhood home now with her husband.
Guthrie, the
association president — the group is voluntary and membership is only $20 —
said the association was formed in 1963 to thwart possible development.
Because each of the
homes was built through time, there’s a little bit of everything. The Birthday
Cake House at the north end of the neighborhood is a favorite place to stop and
gawk. The house at 1 Fifth Avenue South was designed and built by Sherman
Childs, a protege of Addison Mizner.
Homes here can sell
for well over $1 million for a place on the water. But you can also find a
smaller home along an interior street that’s much more affordable. Downtown
Lake Worth is close. The beach is just across the bridge. And the schools here
are also nearby, although the grade school and middle school are rated C by the
state of Florida. (South Grade Elementary and Lake Worth Middle.) Lake Worth
Community High School is rated B.
Brendan Lynch and
his wife, Lisa, moved to the neighborhood in 2009, and they love their house,
which is on a big lot on the water. The couple have two small boys.
“There’s nowhere
else in Palm Beach County where you can get three-fourths of an acre on the
water for this price,” he said. “We love it.”
PHOTOS
Neighborhood Picnic in South Palm Park ~ May 2013
