How North Palm Beach is growing: Benjamin School to demolish, rebuild building on campus

AI-assisted summary
• The Benjamin School in North Palm Beach is replacing its administrative building with a larger, modern structure.
• The new building will improve hurricane protection and transition from septic to sewer systems.
• A redesigned pick-up and drop-off loop aims to alleviate traffic congestion around the school.

A private preparatory school known for having celebrity students and for being a North Palm Beach fixture for 65 years is getting a makeover.

The Benjamin School’s small administrative office building along McLaren Road in the interior of the campus will soon be torn down and replaced with a new, one-story modern blue-and-white building with more than 4,800 square feet, more than twice the original building’s size. The Benjamin School's fine arts center building that faces U.S. Highway 1 will remain in place.

The Benjamin School has more than 1,100 students, of which nearly 200 are North Palm Beach residents. Its North Palm Beach campus serves kids in pre-K through eighth grades, and its Palm Beach Gardens campus has its high school. Kai Trump, Charlie Woods and his sister Sam Alexis Woods all attend the Palm Beach Gardens school.

An official timeline for construction is not yet set, but the contractor wants to open the new building by the start of next school year, according to a village spokesperson.

“We very much feel committed to being a good neighbor and to working with the council and the town to make sure we are adhering to all we need to be adhering to,” David Faus, head of The Benjamin School, told the Village Council on April 10.

“I am eager to work with you all (and am) trying to have these improvements serve the school, serve the community and not be extravagant.”

Neighboring bank's demolition gives Benjamin School more space

The council unanimously approved the project, except for council member Susan Bickel, who recused herself from voting because she teaches at the school.

Most of the questions that council members had before voting were about the amount of trees that will be planted around the new building. The school’s owners were required to build four trees around it, but they only wanted to plant one because of limited space. The council gave them permission to do so. 

The plan also includes demolishing a building on campus that was previously a First City Bank of Commerce to make room for more parking and an extended pick-up and drop-off loop. The bank was demolished on April 22, according to a post on the school’s Instagram page.

The school has also scrapped an old plan to build a 10,000 square-foot maintenance building.

New Benjamin School building better set for hurricanes, traffic

The intent behind extending the pickup and drop-off loop and reconfiguring it is to help with traffic flow, Faus said. He wants a new administrative building to “get current with building codes,” have better hurricane protections and also to move the building off of septic and on to sewer. 

The new loop configuration will take drivers from U.S. Highway 1 to Golfview Road, through McLaren Road and up to Ellison Wilson Road, according to Lance Lilly, a village planner. 

Council member Lisa Interlandi praised the project, saying traffic around the school needs to be addressed. She regularly goes to The Benjamin School to drop off her kids, who are students there. She often sees traffic backed up on McLaren Road and down U.S. 1 to the north.

“Using the bank parcel to extend your pickup is going to have such a huge beneficial impact on the flow of traffic on McLaren Road,” Interlandi said. “This is going to completely eliminate that problem entirely. I really appreciate doing what was needed. This is going to benefit the community just as much as the school.”

Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.