Joel Engelhardt
We love property records because they don’t deal in rumor and innuendo.
So it’s a fact that Related Cos. out of New York has dropped $15 million to buy most of a large block in the predominantly Black Historic Northwest Neighborhood, just northwest of Related’s major holdings in downtown West Palm Beach.
Related, which built CityPlace in the late 1990s, has crossed the Banyan Boulevard line, which separates downtown’s retail core from the historic Black neighborhood. The block runs between Rosemary and Sapodilla avenues from Banyan to Second Street.
Four single-family homes, two of which were part of the city’s scattered-site Rosemary Village revitalization project, remain on the block but are fenced off and appear vacant.
Related won’t announce plans for the site but it’s right next to The Grand, a 309-unit affordable housing rental complex nearing completion, and two blocks from the nearly finished eight-story Flagler Station, 94 affordable rental units at Banyan and Tamarind Avenue.
The buyer is Banyan & Rosemary Acquisition, which lists its address as the 72nd floor of 30 Hudson Yards, a Manhattan skyscraper built by the Related Cos, which is headquartered on the 72nd floor. Related is headed by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, who most recently figured in the dispute over a downtown West Palm campus for the University of Florida.
Related’s buy covers 1.7 acres and was assembled from four owners between May and December 2022.
A key half-acre corner not in Related’s hands belongs to Florida Public Utilities, which operated a manufactured gas plant there from 1916 to 1959. It’s a brownfield that has undergone years of cleanup and, while a spokeswoman said work continues as needed under state and local regs, she added “purchase offers are being considered.”
It’s a compelling opportunity since the company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities Corp. (NYSE: CPK), also owns 1.6 vacant acres immediately to the west.
The final pieces to assembling the entire block are unlikely to be a hurdle. They are owned by the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency —an abandoned railroad spur and the northeast corner of Banyan and Sapodilla.
