Otto "Buz" Divosta | |
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Born | June 11, 1934 |
Otto Divosta (born June 11, 1934) [1] was a principal partner of a major home development company based in South Florida. In the 1970s, he developed a process for building multi-family homes in an assembly line fashion. DiVosta and Clifford F. Burg formed Burg & DiVosta Corp. to combine Burg's construction experience with DiVosta's development company. Since the 1960s, DiVosta has built 40,000 homes in Florida. DiVosta sold his company to Pulte Homes in 1998. [2]
He developed a quick-setting cement used in 1981 to build a three-bedroom, two-bath home, with a two-car garage, in seven hours and 35 minutes. The house was auctioned off with proceeds to be donated to the City of Palm Beach Gardens for a municipal swimming pool. This was believed to be a world record-breaking construction, beating a previous record of 19 hours. [3]
DiVosta introduced a construction method in 1974, unique to South Florida. [4]
In 1996, Divosta bought the Jupiter Theatre from previous owner Burt Reynolds, with plans to reopen with new management. [5]
Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's third-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and Broward County and the 26th-most populous in the United States, with 1,492,191 residents as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is West Palm Beach, which had a population of 117,415 as of 2020. Named after one of its oldest settlements, Palm Beach, the county was established in 1909, after being split from Miami-Dade County. The county's modern-day boundaries were established in 1963.
Jupiter is the northernmost town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. According to the 2020 US Census, the town had a population of 61,047. It is 84 miles north of Miami and 15 miles north of West Palm Beach. Along with the adjacent Village of Tequesta, Jupiter is considered the northernmost municipality in the Miami metropolitan area. It was named the 9th Best Southern Beach Town to live in by Stacker Newsletter for 2022, was rated as the 12th Best Beach Town in the United States by WalletHub in 2018, and as the 9th Happiest Seaside Town in the United States by Coastal Living in 2012.
Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoastal Waterway to its west and a small section of the Intracoastal Waterway and South Palm Beach to its south. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, Palm Beach had a year-round population of 9,245.
Palm Beach Gardens is a city in Palm Beach County in the U.S. state of Florida, 77 mi (124 km) north of Miami. Palm Beach Gardens is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 59,182.
The Royal Poinciana Hotel was a Gilded Age hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, United States. Developed by Standard Oil founder Henry Flagler and approximately 1,000 workers, the hotel opened on February 11, 1894. As Flagler's first structure in South Florida, the Royal Poinciana Hotel played a significant role in the region's history, transforming the previously desolate area into a winter tourist destination and accelerating the development of Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. Two months later, Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway reached West Palm Beach, while a railroad bridge built across the Lake Worth Lagoon in 1895 allowed guests direct access to the hotel. In 1896, Flagler opened a second hotel nearby, The Breakers. The success of both hotels led to expansions of the Royal Poinciana Hotel in 1899 and 1901. By then, the building had reportedly become both the largest hotel and largest wooden structure in the world at the time.
Palm Tran is the public transit bus system run by the Palm Beach County Government, serving Palm Beach County, Florida. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 8,612,200, or about 31,300 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2024. Palm Tran also serves a portion of Broward County, Florida where it overlaps with Broward County Transit. Palm Tran has four main facilities with its main headquarters in West Palm Beach on Electronics Way. The current executive director is Clinton B. Forbes.
The Breakers Palm Beach is a historic, Renaissance Revival style luxury hotel with 534 rooms. It is located at 1 South County Road in Palm Beach, Florida. During the 1895–96 winter season, business tycoon Henry Flagler opened the first Breakers resort, then the only oceanfront lodging south of Daytona Beach, to accommodate additional tourists due to the popularity of his Royal Poinciana Hotel. Known as the Palm Beach Inn upon its original opening, it was renamed The Breakers in 1901 after guests requested rooms "over by the breakers". While the Royal Poinciana Hotel permanently closed in the 1930s due to the Great Depression, The Breakers became a primary resort in Palm Beach, hosting many famous guests throughout the years. The current structure is the third incarnation of the hotel, having opened in December 1926 following two earlier structures on the same site that burned down in 1903 and 1925.
Howard Schnellenberger Field at FAU Stadium is a college football stadium located at the north end of the main campus of Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. Opened in 2011, it is home to the Florida Atlantic Owls football team and is intended to be the first part of FAU's multi-use development project, "Innovation Village" as a replacement for Lockhart Stadium.
North Palm Beach Heights is a residential subdivision in Jupiter, Florida. It is colloquially referred to as The Heights or The Heights of Jupiter due to its location within the town limits of Jupiter and to avoid confusion with the Village of North Palm Beach, Florida. The official subdivision name recorded with Palm Beach County, Florida is North Palm Beach Heights.
Hurricane Wilma became one of the costliest tropical cyclones in Florida history. Wilma developed in the Caribbean Sea just southwest of Jamaica on October 15 from a large area of disturbed weather. After reaching tropical storm intensity on October 17 and then hurricane status on October 18, the system underwent explosive intensification, peaking as the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma then slowly weakened while trekking to the northwest and fell to Category 4 intensity by the time it struck the Yucatán Peninsula on October 22. Thereafter, a strong cold front swept the storm northeastward into Florida on October 24, with landfall occurring near Cape Romano as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 120 mph (190 km/h). Wilma continued rapidly northeastward into the Atlantic Ocean and became extratropical on October 26.
The 1949 Florida hurricane, also known as the Delray Beach hurricane, caused significant damage in the southern portions of the state late in the month of August. The second recorded tropical cyclone of the annual hurricane season, the system originated from a tropical wave near the northern Leeward Islands on August 23. Already a tropical storm upon initial observations, the cyclone curved west-northwestward and intensified, becoming a hurricane on August 25. Rapid intensification ensued as the storm approached the central Bahamas early on August 26, with the storm reaching Category 4 hurricane strength later that day and peaking with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (210 km/h) shortly after striking Andros. Late on August 26, the storm made landfall near Lake Worth, Florida, at the same intensity. The cyclone initially weakened quickly after moving inland, falling to Category 1 status early the next day. Shortly thereafter, the system curved northward over the Nature Coast and entered Georgia on August 28, where it weakened to a tropical storm. The storm then accelerated northeastward and became extratropical over New England by August 29. The remnants traversed Atlantic Canada and much of the Atlantic Ocean before dissipating near Ireland on September 1.
The Palm Beach County Library System is the public library system of Palm Beach County, Florida. Its headquarters, the Main Library, is located in an unincorporated area near West Palm Beach, the county seat. The system was established in 1967 and serves Palm Beach County through the Main Library and 20 branch libraries. Its first library branch opened in Tequesta on September 25, 1969, and its first bookmobile five days later. Unlike neighboring Broward and Miami-Dade counties, where most municipalities have joined their county's library system, most municipalities in Palm Beach County continue to operate their own city libraries, leading the county system to focus on the more suburban communities. Instead, a cooperative system model is in place to allow interoperation between county and municipal libraries.
The 1933 Treasure Coast hurricane was the second-most intense tropical cyclone to strike the United States during the active 1933 Atlantic hurricane season. The eleventh tropical storm, fifth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the season, it formed east-northeast of the Leeward Islands on August 31. The tropical storm moved rapidly west-northwestward, steadily intensifying to a hurricane. It acquired peak winds of 140 mph (220 km/h) and passed over portions of the Bahamas on September 3, including Eleuthera and Harbour Island, causing severe damage to crops, buildings, and infrastructure. Winds over 100 mph (160 km/h) affected many islands in its path, especially those that encountered its center, and many wharves were ruined.
René G. Lépine was a Canadian real estate developer and philanthropist. Lépine was the chairman of Groupe Lépine, a real estate development and investment firm he founded in 1953. He is widely considered one of the most influential French Canadian real estate developers of his time. His companies developed over $5 billion of real estate in Canada and the United States since the 1960s. He also owned a portfolio of multifamily and retail properties in Montreal and Ottawa. Lépine developed many buildings considered landmarks in Montreal, including the Olympic Village and Le Sanctuaire du Mont-Royal. Lépine is also credited with having developed the first condominiums in Montreal in 1981.
Jupiter Farms is a census-designated place (CDP) and an agriculture residential community in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Locally known as "The Farms", it is located west of Florida's Turnpike on Indiantown Road, the major highway through the community. "The Farms" is composed of roughly 15 square miles (39 km2) of land, and is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. As of the 2020 US census, the CDP's population had 12,572 residents.
The Palm Beach Hotel is a former hotel located at 235-251 Sunrise Avenue in Palm Beach, Florida, in the United States. The building now serves as a condominium, the Palm Beach Hotel Condominium, and, on part of the fourth floor, a Modern Orthodox synagogue, the New Synagogue of Palm Beach.
The effects of the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane in Florida included at least 2,500 fatalities in the state, making this the second deadliest tropical cyclone on record in the contiguous United States, behind only the 1900 Galveston hurricane, as well as the deadliest weather event on the East Coast of the United States. The storm originated from a tropical depression that developed near Senegal on September 6. Traversing westward across the Atlantic Ocean, the cyclone struck the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas as a powerful hurricane. Early on September 17, the storm made landfall near Palm Beach, Florida, as a Category 4 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson scale. After initially moving northwestward across Florida, the cyclone curved north-northeastward near the Tampa Bay area. The hurricane briefly re-emerged into the Atlantic prior to striking South Carolina on September 18 and becoming extratropical over North Carolina on the next day, before the remnants lost their identity over Ontario on September 21.
The Plaza, is a twin-tower condominium property located along the Intracoastal Waterway in West Palm Beach, Florida. The property was developed by Robert Armour and Michael Guider through their company, Armour Guider Development Corporation. Construction of the project, originally known as The Plaza, began in 1981. After several construction delays, The Plaza opened in October 1985, although Robert Armour had only minimal success in selling the condominium units.
Maltz Jupiter Theatre is an American not-for-profit, professional theatre located in Jupiter, Florida, United States.
Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. Its history dates back to about 12,000 years ago, shortly after when Native Americans migrated into Florida. Juan Ponce de León became the first European in the area, landing at the Jupiter Inlet in 1513. Diseases from Europe, enslavement, and warfare significantly diminished the indigenous population of Florida over the next few centuries. During the Second Seminole War, the Battles of the Loxahatchee occurred west of modern-day Jupiter in 1838. The Jupiter Lighthouse, the county's oldest surviving structure, was completed in 1860. The first homestead claims were filed around Lake Worth in 1873. The county's first hotel, schoolhouse, and railway, the Celestial Railroad, began operating in the 1880s, while the first settlers of modern-day Lake Worth Beach arrived in 1885. During the 1890s, Henry Flagler and his workers constructed the Royal Poinciana Hotel and The Breakers in Palm Beach and extended the Florida East Coast Railway southward to the area. They also developed a separate city for hotel workers, which in 1894 became West Palm Beach, the county's oldest incorporated municipality. Major Nathan Boynton, Congressman William S. Linton, and railroad surveyor Thomas Rickards also arrived in the 1890s and developed communities that became Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton, respectively.