Former LWB lobbyist now pitching private developer’s massive overhaul of city’s beach, golf course
- Jul 10
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 10
An investment group pitching a massive overhaul of Lake Worth Beach’s oceanfront and public golf course is conducting an outreach campaign this summer to drum up public support for the multimillion-dollar project.
Hosting the Horizon presentations is a familiar face: former city lobbyist Richard Pinsky.
Pinsky stopped representing the city in May, after more than 10 years, when he quit his job with the Akerman law firm, one of the city’s two lobbying firms. He formed Pinsky and Associates with his wife, Jessica, and accepted an offer to represent the investment group: Copperline Partners, golf legend Jack Nicklaus, Hyatt World International, Fortress Investment and Stiles Construction.
“The Copperline joint venture approached me about getting more involved and helping,’’ he said July 7 at a Tropical Ridge Neighborhood Association meeting. “I thought it was a good time to leave representing the city and start working on this side for a project that I believe will have a long-term benefit for the city.’’
Accompanied by Copperline’s architectural design director, Lake Worth Beach native Nick Spinelli, Pinsky has given slide-show presentations to three neighborhood groups since June. More presentations will be given to other neighborhood associations and the business community later this summer and fall.
The outreach comes as city commissioners consider referendums that would ask voters to approve city charter changes to accommodate the redevelopment project: two Hyatt hotels, one each at the beach and golf course, a major Jack Nicklaus renovation of the golf course, a new public swimming pool and other features.
It would be built at no cost to city taxpayers, provide more than 970 permanent jobs and attract millions in tourist revenue to help the cash-strapped city repair roads, enhance aging infrastructure and pay for improvements downtown, according to Copperline.
Those new revenue streams, from lease and utility payments, will be even more critical if Florida voters approve property tax relief measures that are being considered in Tallahassee, Pinsky has told residents.
While commissioners have proceeded cautiously since receiving the unsolicited proposal in January, City Attorney Glen Torcivia said they would need to decide by November if they want to put any referendums on the March 2026 ballot.
“If you're voting for those charter changes, you are basically signaling to the commission that the residents of Lake Worth Beach favor this,’’ Pinsky said at the Tropical Ridge meeting.
Among the highlights of a development plan Copperline said will create a vibrant tourism-based economy for Lake Worth Beach:
A $105 million, 250-room oceanfront Hyatt at the south end of the beach, just west of the existing traffic circle.
An attraction (a seaquarium has been mentioned), a 5-acre park and a 900-space parking garage all at the beach.
A public launch for kayaks and a water taxi on the west side of Ocean Boulevard just south of the Lake Worth Bridge, creating a dedicated water transportation link between the barrier island and the mainland.
A $95 million, 150-room Hyatt on the south end of a newly designed Jack Nicklaus golf course. (Nicklaus toured the existing city course in November.)
A new public swimming pool on the mainland, potentially at the city’s Northwest Park. The city’s municipal pool at the beach, shuttered since 2016, would be razed.
No changes to the existing casino building and the Lake Worth Pier.
Benny’s on the Beach, the popular restaurant on the pier, might move to a new location someday when the pier undergoes renovations, which are needed but not yet scheduled, Pinsky said July 8 at a Residences of Lake Osborne meeting. If that happens, the Copperline project would try to create “a premier spot for Benny’s because it is iconic,’’ he said.
Benny's owner Lee Lipton did not attend the ROLO meeting but offered this statement in response to Pinsky's comment:
"Over the last decade, there’s rarely been a time when we haven’t been approached with a proposal that hasn’t incorporated alterations to our footprint — suggestions to structural or architectural changes, or proposing a complete relocation from our current location on the Pier,'' Lipton said.
"It would be irresponsible of us to do anything but consider these possibilities, as our plan is to be a part of this community for the next 100-plus years. If the city were to approach us with a proposal that provided us with this level of security and stability, of course, that would become our priority. We hope that the ultimate plan is one that our community wants, and that also allows us to continue to serve them in the same capacity we have for so many years, for many years to come. We love our home here in Lake Worth Beach,'' Lipton said.
Pinsky also told residents that the investment partners will not scale back the project and build just one element, such as the $22 million renovation of the 99-year-old golf course, which would be raised at least 6 feet to eliminate flooding.
The two hotels must be included for the project to work financially, he said, describing each hotel as “the money generator, the golden goose. It just sits there and generates money to get everything done that you want to get done.’’
Many Lake Worth Beach residents are wary of any development on the city’s beach, which Mayor Betty Resch has called “our sacred space.’’
At a June 26 city commission meeting, she raised concerns that the 250-room oceanfront hotel could crowd the already popular beach and make local residents “feel out of place. We will start to feel like guests at our own beach.’’
The Horizon project also calls for converting the two-lane road between the ocean and the casino building into a pedestrian-only promenade. Some Lake Osborne residents said many locals would miss driving along the oceanfront road to watch the waves.
Other people who have attended the presentations think the project has its merits.
“I really think there's a lot to this,’’ Shanon Materio, owner of McMow Art Glass on U.S. 1 just north of downtown and a former West Palm Beach city commissioner, said at the Tropical Ridge meeting. “Let's figure out how there are things we can do to create solutions for a project like this to happen.’’
The next Horizon presentation is Aug. 13 at the Vernon Heights Neighborhood Association meeting.
“We would like the residents of Lake Worth Beach to voice their opinion,’’ Pinsky said July 8.
“There will be many people that may not like it, but we happen to believe, and we have some data to support it, an overwhelming majority would support it,” he said. “We would like to see it go to referendum so the city elected officials can see firsthand what the silent majority, for a lack of a better term, feels about it.’’
© 2025 ByJoeCapozzi.com All rights reserved.
Please help support local journalism by clicking the donation button in the masthead on our homepage.
About the author
Joe Capozzi is an award-winning reporter based in Lake Worth Beach. He spent more than 30 years writing for newspapers, mostly at The Palm Beach Post, where he wrote about the opioid scourge, invasive pythons, the birth of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and Palm Beach County government. For 15 years, he covered the Miami Marlins baseball team. Joe left The Post in December 2020. View all posts by Joe Capozzi.
