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Delray Beach Historic Preservation Board presents 2025 awards, highlights Seaboard Airline station restoration
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Summary
At its May 7 meeting the Delray Beach Historic Preservation Board presented its 2025 awards and recognized the city-led restoration of the Seaboard Airline Railway Station, which was reconstructed after a 2020 fire.
The Delray Beach Historic Preservation Board presented its 2025 Historic Preservation Board Awards at its May 7 meeting, honoring property owners and project teams that rehabilitated contributing structures in local historic districts and the city’s restoration of the Seaboard Airline Railway Station.
The awards recognize owners, architects and contractors for projects that the board said preserved the city’s architectural and cultural heritage. Michelle Hoyland, principal planner with the Development Services Department, opened the presentation and said, “I’m pleased to present the 20 25 Historic Preservation Board Awards in honor of National Historic Preservation…The city’s HPB awards are bestowed upon property owners who have significantly contributed to their communities through preservation of the city’s architectural and cultural heritage.”
Why it matters: the awards publicly acknowledge private investment and public work that maintain the character of Delray Beach’s historic districts and can influence future rehabilitation work through examples of accepted materials and approaches.
Key recognitions included: Tracy Pickett of 108 North Swinton Avenue for a residential contributing rehabilitation and rear addition in the Old School Square Historic District; Belinda Kessel for rehabilitation of two contributing frame vernacular residences at 121–125 Northeast First Avenue; Timothy Lee McKinney for a backyard accessory structure at a Del Ida Park contributing property; commercial rehabilitation ties recognizing work at 143 South Swinton Avenue (Jaime Mayo and Michael Hanlon) and 202 North Swinton (Ron Kurzman); and a city certificate of achievement for the Seaboard Airline Railway Station.
The Seaboard station, built in 1927 and individually listed on local and national registers, was severely damaged by a February 2020 fire. Hoyland described the city’s effort to reconstruct the building using insurance proceeds and city project teams, saying the restoration preserved original elements such as the Delray sign and loading-dock covers and repurposed the building for human resources and a wellness facility. She noted the project retained character-defining materials where possible and incorporated new elements to recall railroad features.
Board members and award recipients emphasized the collaborative nature of preservation. Jaime Mayo, representing one of the commercial winners, thanked city staff and earlier boards for guidance through a complex renovation process. Roger Cope accepted the award on behalf of Ron Kurzman and said the work reflected “a commitment to historic preservation efforts in Delray Beach.”
The board moved from the awards into the evening’s quasi‑judicial agenda after the presentations; several award winners remained to have their certificates signed by the board chair.
Looking ahead: the awards highlight approaches — such as placing additions to the rear, retaining or reconstructing character‑defining features, and using compatible materials — that the board has approved in recent months and that staff can point to in future project guidance.
