WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Inside Field of Greens restaurant on Clematis Street business is good.
“We’ve added juices, Açaí bowls, vegan options, and vegan desserts,” Debra Lakow, Co-owner said.
Lakow says the goal is to stand out. She says a small business grant from the Community Redevelopment Agency helped.
“We had to do a presentation for a grant which we did receive and they were awesome and we’ve been really happy with the city,” she said.
But not every business on Clematis has had the same fortune. Just ask Sean Scott the of SubCulture Coffee and board member of the downtown Hospitality Association.
“There are high turn over rates and the discussion about safety and homelessness are already kind of a negative twist on the street that we are battling every day,” he said.
One of the CRA’s solutions was to turn 314 Clematis into a market called the Thoroughfare where about a dozen of startup businesses could open up shop.
But what started as a $900 thousand project ended in a $7.5 million purchase. After rising construction costs, the CRA put in a bid to buy the former nightclub. Scott says he was hoping some of that money would go to struggling businesses instead.
“With the streetscape, because it’s so impactful for business on those blocks the merchants asked that the marketing dollars and or other grant money be allocated to those businesses. If they could show a year-to-year loss,” Scott said.
However, Executive Director of the CRA Jon Ward says the purchase of the building could bring new life to Clematis Street.
“The CRA is definitely in the development business and we view this as a very important key part of the redevelopment of Clematis Street,” he said.
