CityPlace eschews shopping mecca aspirations for entertainment tenants

The retail at West Palm Beach’s CityPlace is moving further away from the shopping mecca the Related Companies envisioned when they developed the complex and is shifting towards an entertainment-driven center (note: correction appended).

According to the Palm Beach Post, seafood restaurant McCormick & Schmick is still unwilling to commit to its location in CityPlace facing Okeechobee Boulevard. Meanwhile, another high profile restaurant, the Kona Grille is closed, and the developers’ attempts at bringing a CVS drugstore to the space have been met by concerns from the city over traffic safety near the entrance. Further, there are talks to shrink Barnes & Noble’s 27,000-square-foot space in the complex, and Ann Taylor has closed its CityPlace location.

But these shopping losses could give way to more entertainment tenants. Related would like to bring a gym, perhaps an LA Fitness, to part of the bookstore space, the Post said, and a bowling alley is in the works for the north end of the center. [Palm Beach Post]