Letter to William Young from Eugene F. Bie 5-15-82DEVELOP 1411"ITI T NT) PLATITING OF
I`��• O TH PALM
BEA t� �L
EUGENE F. BIE, P.A.
ATTORNEY AT LAW
LAKEVI EW BUILDING
513 NORTH FEDERAL HIGHWAY
NOI,TH PALM BEACH, FLORIDA 33408
TELEPHONE 848-1463
OF COUNSEL
May 15, 1982 D. RICHARD HOLM ES
Mr. William Young
425 Ebbtide Drive
North Palm Beach, Fla. 33408
Dear Bill:
Thank you very much for letting me read Charlie Cunningham's
scrap book. It gave me fond memories of working with Bob and
Dick Ross in the Harvey Building during the 1950s. I was with
the firm of Blakeslee Herring & Bie and represented them from
the beginning. Bob Ross had received a Bachelor of Science in
chemistry and Masters Degree in metalurgy from Vb derbilt
University just prior to the war. He served as commander of
a mine sweeper during WW II. His brother, Dick, did not receive
a college education. However, he was an excellent businessman.
They came to Florida just after the war and started with only
a duplex lot in Hollywood. They quickly became successful
builders and hired Jack Schwancke who was a practicing accountant
in that area. Later they moved to West Palm Beach and built
approximately 2,000 houses in the West Palm Beach area. When
I started practicing law in 1956, they had just concluded making
their deal with John MacArthur for the purchase of approximately
70% of the Town of Lake Park and all of the property now com-
prising the Village of North Palm Beach extending northward
past the monastery property. For two years they planned the
Village of North Palm Beach primarily in conjunction with Bill
Blakeslee, their attorney in his office on the 11th floor of
the Harvey Building.
Mr. Blakeslee was a graduate of Colgate and Northwestern Law
School in Chicago. He had come to West Palm Beach just after
WW II after serving as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Artillery.
He was not only an excellent lawyer, but an exceptional man. As
an example, he was a founder of the Palm Beach County Heart
Association and the Unitarian Church. Cleve Herring was from
Jasper, Florida and had served in the U.S. Navy before graduating
from the University of Florida Law School. He served as a City
Attorney for West Palm Beach and became a recognized authority
in the field of real property. Mr. Herring has continued to
practice law in West Palm Beach and has represented Perini
Construction Company in the westward development of .West Palm
Beach for the last 20 years. Mr. Blakeslee unfortunately died
in 1962 at the age of 42..
Mr. William Young
May 15, 1982
Page two
During the early years, North Palm Beach Properties, Inc. and
Northlake Development, Ltd. were the developing entities used
by Bob and Dick Ross, Jack Schwencke and Jay White. These
developers were determined to create the finest residential
subdivision possible. It was they who hired Mr. Simon, a
nationally recognized land planner, to lay out the Village of
North Palm Beach in conjunction with their local engineers,
Brockway, Weber and Brockway. They engaged the lawfirm of
Fisher Dickenson & Prior to create the Village of North Palm
Beach by the Florida Legislature. Mr. Robert Burns was the
first City Attorney and I was the municipal judge for approxi-
mately 8 years. We held Court initially once each month and
ultimately weekly on Wednesday evenings at 5 o'clock in the
Village Hall. Mr. Al Dudden was the Chief of Police and one
of his patrolmen was Richard Willie, later to become Sheriff
of Palm Beach County.
Through the efforts of the Developers, stringent deed restric-
tions were placed upon all of the properties within the Village
and extensive reclamation was done creating most of the landfill
lying to the east of U.S. Highway #1. At the time they commenced
development U.S. Highway #1 was a 2 -lane road and the lake was
within 25' of the road. During the late 1950s the developers
received the national award as the best planned residential
community in the United States from the National Homebuilders
Association.
The sales promotion was done primarily throua_h a "Parade of
Homes" in which approximately 10-12 builders erected fully
furnished model homes along Anchorage Drive. There was _great
response throughout the entire area and thus began the sales
programs. These 10-12 builders became the nucleus of the
contractors in the Village of North Palm Beach, some of which
were Gene & Bob Foster Builders, Inc.; Gene Armstrong Builders,
Inc.; Fairway Homes, Inc. (Vince Poppalardo); Beacon Homes,
Inc. (Stan DeVillers); H & D Construction Company; Brown &
Cushman Homes, Inc.; North Palm Beach Construction Company;
Lake Homes, Inc.; Charavo Homes, Inc.; Block Builders, Inc.;
and others.
John F. Doran and Kenneth W. May were the primary salesmen
employed under John A. Schwencke who headed the entire project.
Mr. Schwencke was an outright financial genius and managed to
refinance various portions of the development from time to time
as the development grew and needed money to meet its commitments.
Later Mr. Doran and Mr. May joined together to form the brokerage
firm of Doran & May located in the Lakeview Building. From this
brokerage firm most of the future North Palm Beach brokers had
their beginnings. These were Joseph Finch, David Do.11ins, Jack
Mr. William Young
May 15, 1982
Page three
Ketter, and many others. It is now occupied by Ted Brown
broker.
It should be noted that through the efforts of Rosses, Schwencke
and White, the Village of North Palm Beach never lost its character
as a first class community. This was true despite many difficult
years where Florida real estate was not selling. Especially
during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was fortunate that
Pratt whitney Aircraft came into the area and greatly boosted
the entire project. Mr. John D. MacArthur held very substantial
mortgages and there were times when the developers simply could
not make payment. Several times in lieu of periodic payments
they conveyed back to Mr. MacArthur various parcels of real estate;
one parcel being the large tract running from the Earmen River
on the east side of U.S. #1 including all the finger canals
which are just now being developed. Mr. MacArthur held an option
to purchase North Palm Beach Utilities which the developers had
created to build the sewage system in North Palm Beach. This was
an adversary situation and finally Mr. MacArthur prevailed after
a Supreme Court ruling upholding his option. There was consi-
derable publicity that Mr. MacArthur was responsible for the
Village of North Palm Beach. This was not correct in that the
Rosses, Schwencke and Jay White insisted upon a first class
community with large lots, roads, and parks. As an example, you
will find sidewalks in front of all properties in the Village of
North Palm Beach; whereas in Palm Beach Gardens, which was
developed by Mr. MacArthur, there are no sidewalks. The deed
restrictions were particularly well enforced by the developers
many times at their financial loss. As an example, northward
from U.S. #1 to the Intracoastal, you will find no retail busi-
nesses such as strip stores. This is now developing into one of
the finest financial and business office areas in the county
with substantial setback and square foot requirements and
easements.
Mr. Bob Ross now resides primarily in New York City and his
brother, Dick, in Westport, Connecticut. Mr. Schwencke resides
at his home on Anchorage Drive as he has for approximately the
last 20 years. Mr. White lives in the Gemini Condominium in
North Palm Beach. My secretary, Hazel Flemming, and I continue
to practice law in the Lakeview Building on U.S. #1. She and
I were together in 1957 when we handled the first conveyance in
North Palm Beach. We opened the office in the Lakeview Building
when such was the only office building in the area other than
the Village Hall which was the developers sales office. The
Lakeview Building was constructed in 1959. For approximately
ten years Mrs. Flemming and myself operated the only law office
between Lake Park and Stuart.
Mr. William Young
May 15, 1982
Page four
In the literature you gave me concerning Mr. Cunningham, there
was considerable discussion of Peanut Island. At one time Mr.
MacArthur and later other developers, secured the bottom lands
surrounding the 66 acre Peanut Island. They proposed to fill
this property and actually purchased such from Florida Power &
Light as to the bottom lands. This property was leased by some
developers from the Port of Palm. Beach for a period of 99 years
for the purposes of commercial development. No doubt it would
have been used for high rise condominium construction and from
the drawings I have seen there would have only been the Intra-
coastal waterway to the west and approximately a 100' wide
canal around the perimeter of the fill area lying to the east.
In 1970 I published a page newspaper ad which is enclosed and
formed a non-profit corporation known as Save Peanut Island, Inc.
We were able to thwart the development and have the 99 year
lease cancelled. The island remains in its natural state and
hopefully it is now zoned perpetually only for recreational
uses.
I hope the above is of some information to you.
Very truly yours,
Y �l
Eugene F. Bie
EFB; 1p
Enclosures