Palm Beach Fire Station to Become Chabad Center

Chabad in Palm Beach Gardens plans to spend about $400,000 to turn an abandoned fire station into a 100-person traditional synagogue and cultural center.

“We want to make something beautiful out of an eyesore,” said Rabbi Dovid Vigler, stepping gingerly among the beams, paint cans and other construction materials inside the faded yellow building surrounded by overgrown grass. If Chabad officials win approval from the city council on May 3, plans call for starting renovations in June and opening in mid-September.

The Chabad center has run a 100-student learning center in Loehmann’s Plaza for about six months. Before that, the center was in Downtown at the Gardens for three years.

Chabad-Lubavitch is a traditional form of Judiasm that has about 3,000 centers worldwide. There are local centers in Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Jupiter and Stuart.

The station was closed about a decade ago when a new, larger fire station was built on Jog Road in Mirasol, said Gardens Fire Chief Pete Bergel.

The Chabad center bought the one-acre parcel and building in 2007 for $1.2 million, said Vigler, who hosts a Sunday morning live radio talk show called Schmooze Radio that can be heard locally on 960 AM and 95.9 FM.

Original plans called for adding a second-story mezzanine inside the building. Those plans were scaled back as the economy slowed, said Mitch Zachary, a certified public accountant and member of the Chabad.

“We are a traditional temple. We want a simple design,” Zachary said.

Plans call for a worship center, Hebrew classes during worship, a program for special-needs children and cultural activities. Removing the big bay doors that once let fire trucks in and out of the building will be part of the renovation, said Vigler, 31, who emigrated from South Africa in 2004. He and his wife Chana have four girls and one boy. The oldest is 4.

“Nearby is BallenIsles, Mirasol, Old Palm and PGA National. It’s a great location for a Chabad,” Vigler said.