On Wednesday, January 22, 2020, a grand opening celebration was held for the much anticipated Heron Estates development. It is the first affordable housing community to be built in Rivera Beach, Florida in the past 40 years. The project began with a vacant 15-acre site which was formerly a public housing complex called Ivey Green. The complex was demolished in 2008 and remained vacant until the groundbreaking of phase one in 2019.

WGI provided planning, site planning, engineering, landscape architecture, and permitting services to Housing Trust Group and the Rivera Beach Housing Authority for a public-private partnership project.

The affordable residential community in Rivera Beach consists of two phases:

Phase one: 101-unit, three-story senior center with amenities and a pool.

Phase two: 79 townhouse-style workforce housing community, with a clubhouse, pool, playground, multi-recreational court, and a dog park.

Both phases of the community are located around a lake feature with walking trails.

The senior center provides one and two-bedroom rental apartments to seniors (55+) earning at or below 60% of the area median income. Construction of phase two will begin in the summer of 2020.

​Funding for the project is a financing mix provided by Florida Housing Finance Corporation, Palm Beach County Housing Finance Authority, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and private funding.

For more information on this project, read more in the Palm Beach Post.