Singer Island is actually not an island, but a 4 mile long peninsula located East of Palm Beach Gardens and North Palm Beach. It was, historically, connected to Palm Beach Island before the Palm Beach inlet was created in 1918. Named after the Singer Sewing Machine founder, Singer Island has parks, marinas, hiking and bike paths, as well as miles of sparkling white sand beaches that have been considered one of the top five beaches in Palm Beach County. Singer Island real estate offers oceanfront condo living, intracoastal and canal front homes and the very quaint town of Palm Beach Shore which occupies the Southern tip on Singer Island. The whole of Singer Island affords you the luxury of being just steps between the ocean and intracoastal, allowing sunbathing, snorkeling and boating all in the same day. Let R&R Realty help you find Singer Island real estate and homes for sale today. Some of the key points of Singer Island include:
- MacArthur Beach State Park, a beach, park and wildlife preserve. A perfect place for swimming, scuba diving, snorkeling, fishing, canoeing, kayaking or wildlife viewing.
- A new 60,000 square foot mall on the Southern end of Singer Island.
- Restaurants, spas and beach clubs all providing wonderful escapes from daily life.
- The Sailfish Marina and Restaurant with a Caribbean atmosphere, elegant boutique and multiple fishing charter options all just within the inlet.
Click on any of the community names below to see real estate and homes for sale there and detailed community information.
Singer Island Flood Information
Named after Palm Beach developer Paris Singer, a son of the Singer Sewing Machine magnate Isaac Singer, Singer Island is 5.4 miles from Palm Beach Gardens.
Singer traveled to the island of Palm Beach in 1920 and met with architect Addison Mizner and agreed to pay him a $6,000 a year retainer for the rest of his life, working exclusively with him to create the Spanish architecture, tree-lined streets, and expensive shops that today defines the iconic city of Palm Beach.
Singer and Mizner also planned to develop a luxurious resort named the Paris Singer Hotel on the south end of the island and a modest hotel that would be called the Blue Heron, on the north end. Between the two hotels would be a magnificent 36-hole golf course. All of this for the estimated price of four million dollars – a huge amount in those days.
The opening date was set for 1926, however, the Florida land boom was already slowing down in 1925. The combination of the 1928 hurricane and 1929 stock market crash dealt a mortal blow to Singer’s finances. The shell of the Blue Heron remained for 14 years until Paris Singers dream finally came to an end. The abandoned, incomplete hotel was razed in 1940, where the Hilton Hotel stands today.
In 1947, the City of Riviera purchased 1,000 feet of beach on the Island for $40,000, which was incorporated and developed as Palm Beach Shores by A.O. Edwards, a railroad and hotel tycoon. He bought 240 acres on Singer Island for $240,000 and invested $500,000 in improvements. He laid out a city plan with parks, walkways, and roadways (Palm Beach Shores northern boundary originally extended 300 ft. north of Blue Heron Boulevard). In 1948 Edwards built the Inlet Court Hotel, which was later renamed The Colonnades. A year later the wooden Shermans Point Bridge was replaced with a steel and concrete two-lane structure with a drawbridge permitting passage through the Intracoastal Waterway. The first Sebring style race was held on the island in 1950, ending at the Colonnades. Edwards became the Singer Island’s first mayor in 1952.
When Edwards died in 1960, his estate sold the Colonnades Hotel to John D. MacArthur in 1963. MacArthur ran his billion-dollar empire from a booth in the Colonnades Hotel coffee shop until 1976, when he suffered a stroke and died 14 months later in the hotel. The hotel was razed in 1990 and the Marriott Corporation began construction of its timeshare resort, Marriotts Ocean Pointe Resort, on this land.
In the 1950s, Palm Beach County enjoyed tremendous growth and Singer Island evolved into a resort area of hotels and condominiums for winter residents. In 1952, Phil Foster Park was opened, named after one of Riviera Beachs pioneer citizens. In 1976, to accommodate this growth and ease the access to the island, the two-lane draw bridge was replaced with the current four-lane Blue Heron Bridge.
Today, Singer Island is ranked as one of the top beaches in Palm Beach County and its year-round population is approximately 28,000 people.
