Carolyn DiPaoloThe city is revisiting its downtown master plan.
West Palm Beach launched a year of planning for its booming downtown last week with a roundtable at the Mandel Public Library.
What’s happening: The city hired Miami-based urban design firm Zyscovich to update its Downtown Master Plan. It’s the first revision in 18 years.
Why it matters: Thursday’s kickoff focused on economics and housing. It threw into sharp relief how rapidly downtown is evolving.
- Residential, office and retail rents
The stats presented are stunning. Amid rising prices across South Florida, consultant Paul Lambert, who led the roundtable, calls West Palm Beach an outlier. Here’s why:
- Since 2018, downtown rents, on a square foot basis, have increased by 43%, Lambert said. Prices here are higher than in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and Miami.
- At the same time, Class A office lease rates have ballooned 84% since 2018. For comparison, Miami rates have increased 62%. Both markets are commanding as high as $74 a square foot.
- Ground floor rents, where stores and restaurants set up shop, have increased by 35%. In Miami, retail rates are down, Lambert said, because of oversupply.
- The kind of growth
Before the latest boom, Business Development Board CEO Kelly Smallridge said 70% of her team’s work was growing what was in our backyard.
- “The reason it feels so different today is 70% of what is coming into this area is coming from another state,” she said Thursday. “Employers are bringing hundreds of employees into this area.”
Case in point: NewDay USA, the mortgage lender, brought 300 employees to Palm Beach County three years ago when it leased two floors at 360 Rosemary in CityPlace.
- Jennifer Harrold, senior vice president for Human Relations and a roundtable panelist, said the company intends to hire 300 employees this year. It’s looking for more space downtown, she said.
- Advantage: Sunshine and water views
“We get companies that say, ‘If I’m going to move into Palm Beach County, I want my office to have water views,’” Smallridge said. “West Palm Beach shines in that arena.”
Who’s Who: Steering committee members, selected by Mayor Keith James, are Jordan Rathlev, senior vice president of development at Related Ross; Keith Spina, CEO of SpinaO’Rourke + Partners Architecture and Interior Design; landscape architect Jonathan Burgess; Michelle Cuetara of Urban Design Studio; urban planner Stephen Graham; Patrick Koenig, developer of an apartment and retail complex at West Palm Beach’s southern gateway on Dixie Highway; and Rick Reikenis, an engineer and city mayor in the 1980s.
Of note: Zyscovich conducted the downtown master plan under then-Mayor Lois Frankel to refine changes instituted in the 1990s by Duany Plater-Zyberk under then-Mayor Nancy Graham.
What’s next: More information-gathering including an online survey and a community meeting.
- 5-7 pm Wednesday, June 18, community visioning session in the Flagler Gallery at City Hall. More info here.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a new date for the next community meeting.
I am a co-founder, writer and editor for Stet News. I am also a former senior editor at The Palm Beach Post. For 20 years, I oversaw some of the most consequential stories published by the paper, including the “Corruption County” reporting project that led to multiple arrests of elected officials. I am a member of the Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2013. I live in West Palm Beach with my husband, Bill DiPaolo.
