Exterior Restoration of a 1920’s-era Halsey Place Complete
Miller Construction Company has completed the exterior restoration of Halsey Place for owner Sunshine Towers, Inc., bringing the 94-year-old Downtown West Palm Beach landmark back to its design roots.
Built in 1924, the 22,348-square-foot, three-story structure at 313 Datura Street operated as the Hotel Halsey in its early decades. The interior was most recently renovated in 2015. Halsey Place’s ground-floor office tenants remained operational throughout the project, which restored the second and third floor frontage along Datura Street.
In the complex restoration project, Miller’s Special Projects Team project, removed a Chattahoochee façade that was added to the original stucco exterior decades ago. “Safety was the prime consideration as we restored the upper floors’ façade, said Miller President Brian Sudduth. “Restoring the historic look with today’s materials required our crew to encapsulate, monitor and remove lead paint from the aging exterior.”
Miller also ensured pedestrian and tenant safety with a walkway built under scaffolding that stretched across the building’s frontage. As craftsmen worked from the scaffolding to recreate the exterior stucco finish by hand, corresponding areas at street level were coned off for safety. Miller’s team strategically minimized any disruption to tenant operations, Sudduth said.
Although Halsey Place has regained its authentic commercial mission revival look, the renovated façade’s hurricane impact glass and upgrades to current code position the building for the future. The building also includes an adjoining carriage house that may be restored for restaurant and bar use in the future, according to David Felton of Sunshine Towers.