On Nov. 4, the Town of Gulf Stream and the Gulf Stream Civic Association host a welcome-back party for seasonal residents at The Little Club. The two groups are splitting a $12,000 bill. The idea came from the association, which modeled it on last year's centennial celebration. Town Manager Trey Nazzaro set aside $6,000 for it in the fiscal 2027 budget. "There's been a lot of buzz about this," Mayor Scott Morgan told The Coastal Star.
In June, bulldozers and backhoes were working the grounds where that party will be held. The Little Club work was one of several projects this year that changed how water moves through, under and out of Gulf Stream. Returning residents will see fresh asphalt and young palms. Most of what changed is out of sight.
The Party Venue Was Rebuilt Around Its Lakes
The Little Club is a members-only par-3 course established in 1968 on the town's former polo fields. In February 2025, the Civic Association held its 100th-anniversary dinner there to mark the community's 1925 founding. More than 240 residents came to the association's outdoor centennial meal.
This year the club tore up its course to restore the tee boxes, fairways and greens, according to The Coastal Star's June report. The bigger engineering story is the drainage. The course drains through a chain of connected lakes that carry runoff to its northwest corner. There, two pumps send the water into the Intracoastal Waterway.
The plan digs some new lake and fills in part of the existing lakes:
| Lake work at The Little Club | Acres |
|---|---|
| New lake excavated | 0.93 |
| Existing lake filled | 0.77 |
| Net added lake area | 0.16 |
The documents also called for minor regrading across the course so runoff collects and drains more easily.
The trees around the edges are changing too. In late March, the town's Architectural Review and Planning Board approved a landscaping plan. It allows the club to remove 36 trees within 100 feet of its property lines and replace them with 74: 21 green buttonwoods, 11 silver buttonwoods, 13 royal palms, 25 sabal palms and four date palms. Another 35 trees are being transplanted, and 159 stay where they are. The club's landscape architect, Aaron Elswick, listed tree health, invasive species, site grading, changes to the course layout and maintenance as the reasons for the removals.
Under the Core's New Asphalt Are New Water Mains
The Little Club project started just as the town's own two-year project in the Core area was winding down. That work was also mostly about water. It was a roughly $13 million project to replace aging water mains, improve stormwater drainage, regrade streets, add curbs and valley gutters, and repave. Crews started at Golfview Drive west of Polo Drive in April 2024. The schedule also covered Palm Way, Banyan Road, Wright Way, Old School Road, Gulfstream Road, Middle Road, Lakeview Drive, Oleander Way and Bermuda Way.
Roadway Construction LLC was laying the final asphalt in late July. By the end of September, the town described the Core work as wrapping up.
Place Au Soleil is next. The capital budget pays for engineering and construction there, including repaving, swale grading and rebuilding sections of roadway. The town estimates that work at $2.8 million.
Place Au Soleil residents also have a change coming just outside town. On Aug. 18, the Delray Beach City Commission approved a 47-unit townhome project on North Federal Highway, next to the neighborhood: 39 two-story buildings and eight three-story ones. At its Sept. 11 meeting, the Gulf Stream Town Commission passed a resolution thanking three Place Au Soleil homeowners for their civic participation. They had sat through a Delray meeting that ran until about 10 p.m.
The Curve in Front of Town Hall Is Getting Wider
One small project may be the one residents notice most. Jackson Land Development will widen the tight curve where Sea Road meets Gulfstream Road, in front of Town Hall, to 26 feet. It will also add F-curbs. The contract is $57,758, and commissioners approved it on Sept. 11.
Police Chief Richard Jones and Public Works Director Robert Paulin proposed the 26-foot design to stop the rutting that used to show up in front of the police station. The town turned down two wider options, a 30-foot curve and a 4-foot widening of Sea Road, because both made the road wider than it needed to be. In August, commissioners had complained that drivers had to slow down or stop to get through the curve.
Spring 2027 Brings a New Water Supplier
The largest change for the town's water has not happened yet. Gulf Stream plans to connect to Boynton Beach's water plant in spring 2027. After that, Delray Beach will no longer supply the town's water. The final fiscal 2027 budget takes $883,295 from the water enterprise fund to pay for the connection.
The town expects to finish both the Boynton connection and the Place Au Soleil project without borrowing. It also has $6.7 million in undesignated reserves. The town property tax rate stays at $3.67 per $1,000 of taxable value, where it has been since 2021. Taxable values in town rose 7.9% this year to $2.05 billion.
At the South End, the Clubhouse Moves Back From the Ocean
The Gulf Stream Golf Club has its own project at the other end of town. It is redoing the southeast corner of its 102-year-old clubhouse, designed by Addison Mizner. The Town Commission first approved the plan in June 2023 and approved a small change on May 8. "We're increasing the setback from the ocean," club attorney Jamie Gavigan told The Coastal Star. He explained that the addition is getting smaller and shifting a little farther north.
The beaches on either side of town were also rebuilt this spring. Delray Beach's $19.2 million renourishment started dredging Jan. 29. The plan called for 1.3 million cubic yards of sand along 2.65 miles of shore. WPBF reported that the work finished in April. Crews then started moving sand around where waves had left steep drop-offs. To the north, Palm Beach County's Ocean Ridge project began in March. It covered a mile south of Boynton Inlet, including Ocean Ridge Hammock Park and Boynton Beach Oceanfront Park, with about 500,000 cubic yards of sand. The Palm Beach Post reported in late April that dredging there was done, leaving a beach 200 to 300 feet wide.
Past the Town Line This Season
Season also starts in the towns on either side:
- Delray Winter GreenMarket, Old School Square. Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Old School Square's calendar lists Oct. 31 as opening day, while The Coastal Star gave Oct. 24, so check with the organizers before the first visit.
- Art on the Square Fine Art Show. Nov. 7 and 8 at Old School Square. The holiday tree lighting is there on Dec. 1.
- Music Fest at Delray Marketplace. Free, Wednesday evenings, through April 28, 2027, according to the Delray Marketplace calendar.
- Hurricane Alley Raw Bar and Restaurant. It left 529 E. Ocean Ave. in Boynton Beach ahead of redevelopment. Owner Kim Kelly took over Paloma Mexican Restaurant's former space at 510 E. Ocean Ave. and plans to reopen around Thanksgiving with much the same menu, The Coastal Star reported.
Several of this year's projects are still in progress, including the Place Au Soleil design work, the Sea Road curve and the Boynton water connection. If you'd like to know what they could mean for a particular street or property in Gulf Stream, the team at Palm Beach Luxury Portfolio Group is glad to walk through it with you in confidence. Let's Start a Conversation.
