More Luxury Towers Could Rise in West Palm's North End

Deal-making, development plans speak to interest in high-rise towers

All of these deals reflect interest in building high-rise towers for new and mostly wealthy residents eager for water views, real estate experts said.

Neil Kozokoff, a real estate developer in the Northwood neighborhood, said the north side of the city is an ideal spot for new housing because it doesn't have the traffic of downtown, nor the congestion that often crowds the middle bridge to Palm Beach. Instead, he said getting in and out is easy, especially when crossing to Palm Beach over the north bridge.

"From day one, I always thought this was the best location," said Kozokoff, owner of Parkland Properties in West Palm Beach.

Kozokoff is so bullish on the area, he's getting ready to start construction on his second apartment building in this area, at 1717 Broward Avenue. The 102-unit, four-story building will sit a block west of Currie Park, feature water views and will be similar to the 312 Northwood apartment building Kozokoff built in 2017.

Miami's Related Group is very familiar with the north side of West Palm Beach.

In 2005, the company built The Slade at 1551 N. Flagler Drive. Related founder Jorge Perez even purchased a unit in the 16-story property, which was designed by edgy Miami architecture firm Arquitectonica, and features a Zen garden on the 5th floor.

Hamptons of West Palm Beach or Miami of Palm Beach County?

Back in 2003, a former Slade sales director said Related viewed West Palm Beach "as the Hamptons of Miami, as a retreat."

Fast forward 19 years, and it's more like West Palm Beach is the Miami of Palm Beach County.

Related already is building a twin-tower project at 4444 North Flagler Drive, dubbed Icon Marina Village. The towers, next to the Rybovich megayacht marina, are expected to start leasing in October, with move-in by December. "We think while people want to work downtown, waterfront is always going to be a great place to be," Related's Peña said.

But if Related wants to build a tall tower at its 1701 and 1717 N. Flagler Drive properties, it needs city approval to change the zoning.

Area residents aren't always in favor of tall towers near their quiet single-family home neighborhoods.

The city just approved a zoning change to 21 stories from five stories for Alba Palm Beach, a  luxury condominium slated to rise at 4714 North Flagler Drive, the site of the former Scuba Club. Condo units start at $2.5 million, with an average residence in the 55-unit tower selling for about $3.5 million.

Current residents concerned about roadways, drainage in face of growth

At a recent city commission meeting to discuss Alba, some residents complained about the lack of planning for development along the Intracoastal Waterway north of downtown. They also questioned whether roadways and drains could handle more residences.

Tall towers already are slated to rise south of Alba Palm Beach, in area around Currie Park dubbed the Currie Mixed Use District. Last year, the city approved tall residences rising up to 350 feet in parts of the district.

Much of that vacant land around the park is owned Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene. On Monday, Greene said his architects are at work drawing plans for tall, twin towers in the district. The towers could feature 810,000 square feet of saleable condominium space.

Between his projects around Currie Park, plus plans to build residential towers by Savanna Fund, Frisbie Group and Related Group, "once all that gets done, you're not going to recognize all these areas," Greene said.

The city is trying to create a zoning plan for hodge-podge sections along of North Flagler Drive that suddenly are popular with developers wanting to build new residential projects.

Rick Greene, West Palm Beach development services director, said the city is weighing whether to create a special district, dubbed CMUD South, that could change zoning in a section of town stretching from Good Samaritan Medical Center on the south to Pine Street on the north, where the Currie Mixed Use District begins. The effort is early and it's not yet clear what the zoning change could be, he said.

Will new properties be accessible to renters as prices spike?

Currently, buildings in this part of town range in size from the four-story apartment complex and one-story shopping center that Related Group owns at 1701 and 1717 North Flagler Drive, to the 14-story Slade condominium at 1551 North Flagler Drive, to the nine-story Flagler Pointe condominium at 1801 North Flagler Drive.

Meanwhile, in Riviera Beach, a proposal to build a 281-unit, high-rise apartment tower just north of the Blue Heron Bridge will be submitted to the city this month. Waterway, at 3140 Lakeshore Drive, will feature a six-story base and 17 stories of residences.

The property also will feature a 3,700-square-foot restaurant and a dock, said Randall Granberry, a representative of developer KMG Holdings in Pompano Beach.

The project recently was redrawn by Gonzalez's REG Architects to feature more apartments and, especially, more one-bedroom units, which Granberry said are in high demand.

Rental prices aren't yet finalized, but Granberry said the property is intended to be suitable for workforce housing and will feature apartments ranging from traditional one-bedroom units, to apartments with lofts, as well as two and three-bedroom units.

"We're putting something on the water that's accessible to renters, as opposed to just doing a condo here," Granberry said.

Related Group also is looking to establish a presence in Riviera Beach.

Peña confirmed discussions with the city to join other developers in building affordable housing as part of the city's $300 million, waterfront Marina Village redevelopment project. The project calls for new apartments, a hotel, garage, restaurants and shops.

In order to build residences there, Peña said the current zoning, which permits no more than six stories, would have to be changed to allow taller buildings in order to make the project financially feasible.