A developer wants to build a six-story, 140-unit senior housing complex on the southeast side of 1001 Wedgewood Plaza Drive in Riviera Beach, and the project is notable as much for what it lacks as what it includes. Called Great Blue, the roughly $60 million proposal would set aside the vast majority of its apartments for lower-income seniors, but it would offer no on-site healthcare and would not require state licensure, even though it is technically classified as an assisted living facility.
The project is a joint effort between an affiliate of Sun Foundation, Inc. and Catapult LLC, according to Florida YIMBY, which first reported the filing. Great Blue would require 171,182 square feet of new construction and include 112 parking spaces on a site currently occupied by a 166,192-square-foot commercial property built in 1987, according to public records reviewed by Movoto. Every unit would come with one bedroom and one bathroom, and the outlet reports the project is being pitched as taking a holistic approach to senior living with integrated health, wellness, and accessibility features.
Of the 140 planned homes, 84 would be reserved for seniors earning up to 80 percent of area median income, meaning a one-person household could qualify with an annual income of no more than $71,950. Another 56 units would go to seniors earning up to 30 percent of area median income, capping eligibility at $27,000 a year for a single person, per the same report. Palm Beach County's overall median income sits at $107,600 annually, underscoring how far below the county average these income caps run.
An Assisted Living Facility Without the Assistance
Despite carrying the assisted living facility label, Great Blue would provide no on-site healthcare services. The only listed on-site service is daily meals, which would be supplied by GL Food Services, the outlet's filing details show. The project would not require state licensure, a structure the research dossier's analysis flags as a novel use of the arrangement, since facilities are typically licensed by the state when they provide medical or personal care to residents.
That gap matters in a county where market-rate senior care can carry a steep price tag. The Arbor at Delray, an assisted living facility near Delray Beach that does offer licensed care, sold for $140 million in 2026, according to a South Florida Business Journal report relayed by Florida Trend. The same Colliers-sourced report found senior housing across Florida maintained 89.1 percent occupancy with average monthly rent of $5,068 in the second quarter of 2026, while 4,195 senior housing units were under construction statewide.
Live Local Act Clears the Zoning Path
Great Blue is being proposed as one of the first assisted living facilities filed under Florida's Live Local Act in Palm Beach County, according to Florida YIMBY's reporting. The 2023 law, enacted under Senate Bill 102, requires local governments to approve qualifying multi-family affordable developments on commercially or mixed-use zoned land without zoning changes, special exceptions, or public hearings, as long as at least 40 percent of units are income-restricted for 30 years, according to a legal summary from Akerman LLP. A separate analysis from Burr & Forman LLP notes the law passed with near-unanimous legislative support to expand affordable housing supply by overriding local zoning hurdles on commercial land statewide.
The law was further refined under Senate Bill 1730, effective July 2025, clarifying floor-area-ratio preemption rules and restricting Live Local preemption near certain protected environmental zones, per guidance published by the City of Clearwater. Whether Great Blue will seek a local property tax exemption remains an open question; under 2024 amendments via House Bill 7073, municipalities like Riviera Beach retain discretionary authority over whether to grant those ad valorem exemptions to Live Local projects, according to guidance from the City of Palm Bay.
A Familiar Playbook for the Developer
This would not be Sun Foundation's first run at this model in Palm Beach County. The nonprofit developer previously partnered on the $54 million Waterview Apartments, a 140-unit, six-story affordable senior housing project in Mangonia Park backed by $13 million in county funding that broke ground in October 2025, as reported by the Boca Raton Tribune. The near-identical unit count and structure suggest a repeatable framework the developer has now brought to Riviera Beach.
The need is significant on paper. Riviera Beach residents aged 65 and older make up roughly 16 percent of the city's 38,600 population, while the city's median household income of $68,060 lags well behind Palm Beach County's overall median, according to Census Bureau estimates compiled by Census Reporter. Fitch Ratings noted in July that Riviera Beach's economic and demographic indicators ranked in the 32nd percentile of its local government portfolio, citing lower median-adjusted household incomes and elevated unemployment.
Great Blue joins a wave of similar Live Local Act filings reshaping South Florida's housing landscape, following Kendall office-to-housing conversions and a Palm Beach County senior complex that broke ground earlier this year. What sets Great Blue apart, per the dossier's analysis, is applying the statute's residential fast-track to a facility technically classified as assisted living, a combination that has not been widely tested in the county before.
