What is City Center?
City Center is a new civic complex that will include our new state-of-the-art public library, City Hall, the Palm Beach Photographic Centre, a non-profit cultural and educational institute, and more. City Center is designed to be a gathering place that is the educational, cultural, and civic foundation of our community.

Where will City Center be?
The City has acquired the entire 400 block of Clematis Street for the City Center project. This area, commonly known as the “D&D Centre,” is bordered by Banyan Boulevard to the north, Dixie Highway to the east, Clematis Street to the south, and Quadrille Boulevard to the west.

How will we pay for City Center?
The City has been planning this project for years, and will be able to build it without raising taxes.

The guaranteed maximum price for the entire City Center project is $104.6 million. This price includes the entire City Center complex, with the new City Hall having a projected cost of $45 million.

Bonds will be issued to help finance the City Center project. One of the bonds will give the City the option of extending the current Community Redevelopment Agency (C.R.A.) by ten years. The C.R.A. is financed through both City and County tax dollars; however, those tax dollars, regardless of their origin, must be pumped back in to the C.R.A. This means extending the C.R.A. will capture approximately $200 million in additional county tax dollars for the C.R.A., which will more than offset the projected cost of the library, photography museum, and parking garage.

What is the timeline for City Center?
The City of West Palm Beach has been planning the City Center project for years, and it is very much underway. Demolition of the D&D Centre site started in April of 2006, and construction on City Center is expected to begin in early 2007. The project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2009.

What will happen to the current City Hall site once City Center opens?
The current City Hall site, and some of the area immediately surrounding it, is commonly referred to as Banyan Village. The City has exciting plans for Banyan Village that will change downtown’s landscape forever by creating more green space and giving the public more access to our precious waterfront.