(Jim Rassol, Sun Sentinel)
By Attiyya AnthonySun Sentinel
4.13.14

Boynton's historic homes could become restaurants
Boynton officials to decide what to do with historic homes on Tuesday
Two historic homes on Boynton Beach's Ocean Avenue could soon become homes to some of the city's newest businesses.
Tuesday, board members will discuss at the city's redevelopment agency meeting which businesses will inhabit the Magnuson House, at 211 Ocean Ave., and The Ruth Jones cottage, at 480 Ocean Ave.
The Magnuson House is one of the city's oldest buildings and has been vacant for several years. The Ruth Jones Cottage, formerly known as the Little House restaurant, closed last year because of a lack of customers.
Mayor Jerry Taylor said a pizza restaurant or bar would fare better than the Little House restaurant, which had a limited food and drink menu.
"You couldn't get a regular beer there," he said. "It was just the wrong restaurant for the area, something more conventional would be better."
According to agenda documents, the redevelopment agency wants to put a restaurant or bar in both of the properties.
The proposals for The Ruth Jones Cottage include: "The Little Pizza Shack" by Salvatore Campanile, a restaurant owner in Delray Beach; selling the property to Bruce Kaplan — a local developer — to bring a craft beer and pizza restaurant into the space; and a proposal by Rodney Mayo, a South Florida restaurant partner, to bring a restaurant specializing in either seafood, pizza or coffee.
The proposals for The Magnuson House include: "La Piazetta," a restaurant also by Campanile; another proposal where the redevelopment agency would sell the house to Kaplan to bring in a microbrewery; a proposal by Mayo, also for a microbrewery; a bed and breakfast run by event planner Tara Sinclair; and another brewery called Three Horns Brewing by brewers Eric Weast and Jason Ficarra.
Board members were eager to make a decision last month, but they said they were ill-prepared because redevelopment agency Executive Director Vivian Brooks failed to provide business plan information for each business proposal to board members.
At that March meeting, redevelopment agency employees recommended selling both properties to Kaplan for $550,000 to bring restaurants into the space.
According to agenda documents, redevelopment agency employees recommend that on Tuesday that the board pick at their own discretion which business to bring into the spaces.