Steve Ross’ Related plans more office towers in West Palm

Firm’s proposal at The Square comes as it’s also building 515 Fern, One Flagler

Related Companies' Steve Ross; renderings of the West Tower and the East Tower in West Palm Beach (Getty, Related Companies, Arquitectonica, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates)
Related Companies' Steve Ross; renderings of the West Tower and the East Tower in West Palm Beach (Getty, Related Companies, Arquitectonica, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates)

Stephen Ross’ Related Companies plans a pair of towers at The Square mixed-use complex in West Palm Beach. The projects would mark the firm’s seventh and eighth office buildings in downtown, as it bets on an influx of businesses to the area. 

Related wants to build the East Tower and West Tower, each with 430,000 square feet of office space, on the northeast corner of South Rosemary Avenue and Hibiscus Street, according to the company’s website and an application filed to the city. The projects would replace the AMC West Palm Beach 12 at 545 Hibiscus Street, and the closed Brio Italian Grille at 550 South Rosemary Avenue. 

The East Tower would include 20,000 square feet of retail and dining, private terraces on floors 18 to 21, and a club lounge on the 22nd story, Related’s website shows. The West Tower would have from 35,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet of retail and dining, and a 21st-floor lounge.  

Arquitectonica and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates are the architects. 

On Monday, the West Palm city commission is expected to vote on an item that would increase the maximum allowed office square footage within The Square. In turn, this would allow for the construction of the East and West towers. The city’s planning board on Feb. 22 recommended approval of the item. 

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The projects are part of New York-based Related’s larger redevelopment plan for The Square, a roughly 82-acre complex that it developed in 2000. At the time named CityPlace, the mixed-use community is now experiencing a boom amid the influx of companies and employees to South Florida. 

Related rechristened the complex The Square last year. Now, it plans the 364-unit 575 Rosemary apartment tower on the site of the closed Macy’s at 575 South Rosemary Avenue, and an eight-story hotel to be built above the Cheesecake Factory at 701 South Rosemary Avenue, according to The Palm Beach Post. The luxury multifamily building is expected to be completed next year. 

Related, which declined comment on the new office towers, already is West Palm Beach’s biggest downtown office landlord. 

Beginning in 2021, the firm bought the two-tower Phillips Point; CityPlace Tower, which Related originally developed in 2008 with CP Group; and half of the ownership interest in Esperanté Corporate Center for an undisclosed amount. It also completed and fully leased the 20-story 360 Rosemary building, and is developing the 25-story One Flagler at the foot of the Royal Park Bridge, overlooking the Lake Worth Lagoon.  

In January, the city approved Related’s 25-story 515 Fern, which at roughly 466,000 square feet will be downtown’s biggest office building. The tower is expected to be completed in 2025. 

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