Downtown West Palm Beach: long considered just a professional service center for upper-crust Palm Beach across the intracoastal, West Palm Beach has come into its own as a younger, hipper urban setting. Now, new high-rise condos and apartment buildings are enhancing the residential core - Neighborhoods West Palm Beach
by Tina Wingate
It's Thursday at lunchtime, and the sidewalk tables set up in front of Big City Tavern on Clematis Street are jammed with people. Inside, it's just as crowded, with smartly dressed men and women in business suits sipping iced teas and eating huge salads, burgers and gourmet sandwiches. All up and down this bustling street in the heart of West Palm Beach, shoppers duck in and out of boutiques while couples leisurely walk hand in hand. At the east end of Clematis, brand-new office and retail buildings flank a bench-lined circle, where children splash through a complex of fountains. The atmosphere is lively and happy.
A few blocks south of Clematis lies the $600 million CityPlace, West Palm's mammoth mixed-use centerpiece. It is filled with upscale retail stores, restaurants, a multiscreen movie complex and a residential component developed by The Related Group of Florida. More than 90 percent of Related's 502 rental apartments--which range in product from flats to lofts--are currently occupied, says Bobbie Johnson, corporate marketing director for TRG Management, the company which leases the units. There are also more than 80 townhomes built by Related at CityPlace, all of which have been sold.
"[The rentals] are very popular," says Johnson, who, incidentally, has lived in CityPlace herself since July. She says she's been spoiled by the urban lifestyle of being able to walk to shops, movies, and even the grocery store (yes, there's a Publix at CityPlace). And that doesn't include a huge two-story Barnes & Noble or the Harriet Himmel Gilman Theater, a restored West Palm landmark (formerly a church) in the center of CityPlace that puts on community theater. With such a mix of elements, Johnson says the development supports lots of different people representing a wide swath of occupations and ages--from retail clerks to doctors at nearby Columbia Hospital. Residents pay rents that vary from about $1,000 to $3,000. "We've also got some retirees who want to return to urban living," Johnson says. "That's neat too. It's really worked."
Worked indeed. The downtown West Palm Beach neighborhood was, just a dozen years ago, a rundown area pockmarked by crime and low-income housing. Opened in October 2000 with much fanfare, CityPlace is a symbol of the city's urban renewal, 76 acres of land east of I-95 with about 80 or so retail tenants--and an eye toward the future.
It seems like that future is now for West Palm Beach, except for one thing--there are not enough residential units. To meet the demand, several high-rise condominiums are under development. One is the 200-unit Slade, a 16-story, $63 million contemporary condominium set to rise on Flagler Drive--directly across the Intracoastal Waterway from tony Palm Beach. Designed by the renowned Arquitectonica, The Slade--another Related project--is already 60 percent sold, says project director Barbara Salk. The success of the sales effort demonstrates a huge demand for new residential options in the area, says Salk, who is also Related's vice president of development. And the water view doesn't hurt either.
"It's going to be a signature building in West Palm Beach," Salk says, "a departure from the Mediterranean-style norm." The building's sharp angles are in fact a marked contrast to the turreted, barreltiled buildings that dot the city. And it's affordable. Arturo Pena, the project's assistant director, says the most expensive of the remaining units just tops $700,000. The lowest? $188,000--and that's on the 12th floor. "We can offer a great value for something that's pretty much near to anything you could ever want," Salk says, adding that construction on the building is set to start in May or June. "Plus, it's the only waterfront address within a few miles for under a million dollars."
In the end, Salk says that Related is simply combining the new with the old, helping to augment what is becoming a bustling urban area. "West Palm has been very well-planned," she says. "It's becoming a fabulous walking city with a great lifestyle. You can ride your bike over to Worth Avenue, so you can also be a part of Palm Beach. It's just that from The Slade, you have a better view."
Back on Clematis Street, Miami developer and architect Willy Bermello's grabbing his slice of the pie with the aptly named 610 Clematis. "West Palm is emerging into quite a market," says Rosalia Picot, a real estate consultant who's been charged with overseeing 610 Clematis' sales and marketing for Bermello. "Our success is telling us that." Since the beginning of December last year, Picot says, 610 Clematis has secured 99 contracts--out of 246 units. "Truthfully, it's way over what we expected," she says, noting that when the sales effort began, units were starting at about $180,000. "What we have left starts at $195,000 and goes up to about $535,000."
The site of the condo is the corner of Clematis and Rosemary--a street that feeds into the heart of CityPlace--which adds to the building's desirability. "It's really incredible," Picot says. "We have the best of Clematis and CityPlace without being on top of them. The beauty is, you can walk out to a bar at night, into the middle of the action, then head back home to peace and quiet." As for who's buying, says Picot, 610 Clematis is experiencing a wide variety of customers. "We've got people in their twenties all the way to their mid-fifties," she says, noting that 40 percent of the buyers will use the condo as a second home.
Another development of note is Bonita Springs-based WCI Communities' One Watermark Place, a luxury high-rise project well under construction on the Intracoastal just north of the Flagler Memorial Bridge. Units there start at $1 million and climb to $4 million. There's also Esplanade Grande, a 15-story condo by developer Dan Kodsi that's under construction on Datura Street in the heart of the downtown. It has also done well; more than 90 percent sold, construction on the building is up to the fourth floor and rising.
So, besides shopping, shopping and more shopping, what's there to do, exactly, in West Palm Beach? Among other things, you can drink yourself into a coma nightly, especially along Clematis Street, where a slew of bars abound. While many seemingly cater to a college-age crowd, there are some wonderfully venerable establishments, including Rooney's Public House, where the wood is dark and the food is solidly British fare. There is also E.R. Bradley's Saloon at the base of Clematis Street, where the street meets the Intracoastal, adjacent to the main branch of the public library.
For artsy types (or anyone who enjoys a good concert or live show), there's the aforementioned Harriet Himmel Gilman Theater which, in addition to plays, hosts intimate concerts by the Jazz Arts Music Society of the Palm Beaches. For larger scale performances there is the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, which is on Okeechobee Road up the street from the southern entrance of CityPlace. Opened in 1989, the Kravis Center marked a cultural milestone for the city--giving people a reason, back then, to visit the still-blemished downtown.
Times have changed for the Kravis Center, too, and it is currently undergoing a $31 million expansion and renovation. It has become a major draw for the neighborhood, putting on more than 900 performances a year in three separate venues: Dreyfoos Hall, the Rinker Playhouse and the Gusman Amphitheater. A new, 114,000 square foot building is under construction and will, when it's finished, replace the center's Cohen Pavilion, a dedicated teaching and rehearsal space.
There's outdoorsy-type things to occupy a lazy Sunday morning, too. TRG's Bobbie Johnson says one of her favorite things to do is take a walk down to the city's greenmarket on Banyan Street, which helps encourage foot traffic throughout the downtown, not just on Clematis Street or around CityPlace. "There's an arts and crafts component at the greenmarket, which is really nice," Johnson says. "The [other morning] there was a band there and then we hit Bradley's for Sunday brunch." Hey -- just another beautiful day in the neighborhood.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Americas Publishing Group
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
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