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Architectural Commision approves amended expansion plan for Palm Beach's Le Bar a Vin

M.M. Cloutier
Special to the Daily News
Le Bar a Vin, a new wine bar has opened at 380 S. County Road, Palm Beach. The interior includes a bar with its hand-stamped brass front and mahogany, crystal chandeliers and a baby grand piano. [MELANIE BELL/ palmbeachdailynews.com]

After the Palm Beach Town Council last spring denied expansion plans for the island’s only wine bar, a modified version of the plan was greenlighted Wednesday by the town’s Architectural Commission.

Le Bar a Vin's new plan includes an outdoor covered dining terrace that was included in the original proposal. The wine bar is on the ground floor of a two-story building at 380 S. County Road.

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The architectural board also unanimously granted variances needed for proposed rooftop HVAC equipment and a narrower drive aisle along the property’s parking lot.

The proposed project would add 519 square feet to the interior for more bathrooms and kitchen space, and 370 square feet on the south side for the outdoor covered dining terrace.

The architectural panel asked that the wine bar investigate adding more outdoor landscaping and installing a white awning over the proposed outdoor terrace instead of a black-and-white-striped awning similar to the one across the street at Bricktop’s.

But overall, “this project is a very good solution to a building that is a challenge aesthetically,” board member John David Corey said at Wednesday’s meeting.

“We’ve really reduced (the project) to make things work,” Le Bar owner Ann Desruisseaux said at the meeting, noting she and her team have dialed back the size of the interior expansion.

Nelo Freijomel of West Palm Beach-based Spina-O’Rourke Partners also presented the wine bar’s proposed plans at Wednesday’s meeting.

Le Bar a Vin, classified by the town as a 108-seat wine bar serving a limited menu, opened in December 2020 with a wines-by the-glass program, signature cocktails, dinner and Sunday brunch.

It later added lunch and live music.

The business has been temporarily closed since late June, when it announced it was embarking on renovations that would not be completed until the fall.

For Le Bar’s modified expansion plan to move forward, the project must be approved by the Town Council, which is expected to hear the matter at its Oct. 12 development-review meeting.

The council last April denied Le Bar’s previous expansion plans after the architectural board approved them. The council cited parking, noise (Le Bar is next to a residential district) and intensity-of-use issues.

That plan included a larger permanent outdoor dining terrace and a 1,600-square-foot ground-level expansion that would have swallowed 11 onsite parking spaces. The new plan does not reduce onsite parking.