What was once 23 acres of abandoned buildings and vacant lots along a stretch of Federal Highway in Boynton Beach is now home to the nation’s largest “green” multi-family community to be given the National Green Building Standard Gold Certification.

More than 70 people attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for Seabourn Cove Thursday morning, including Mayor Woodrow Hay and Michael Luzier, the president and CEO of the National Association of Home Builders Research Center.

Luzier presented developers with the gold certification for the first building of the $76-million “green” community that will move in its first tenants July 1.

The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency is giving the Seabourn Cove’s developers $2 million in property tax rebates over the next 10 years to help pay for some of the “green” initiatives, which cost about $3 million.

“Not many developers would look at these 23 acres,” CRA director Vivian Brooks said. “We really understood the impact of this amount of land.”

When completed next year, the community will include electric-vehicle charging stations in all 300 townhome garages, two additional communal charging stations, an underground storm-water retention system that collects and filters water and a quarter of a mile “eco-art walk” pedestrian trail that connects to a Delray Beach trail.

Developers expect residents to have up to 40 percent lower electricity bills and about 25 percent lower water bills, compared to similar complexes, because of more efficient appliances.

“This is a very proud day in the city of Boynton Beach,” Hay said. “This turned out far beyond my expectations.”