Lease roundup: West Palm’s Nora District nabs tenants, Swiss firm Empira opens Miami HQ

Also, meat company Bush Brothers is moving to Royal Palm Beach

Nora District, Amancio Ortega, Simon Property Nab Tenants
NDT’s Ned Grace, Place Project’s Joe Furst, Amancio Ortega and Empira Group’s Rafael Aregger with Nora District and Southeast Financial Center (NDT, Place Project, Getty, LinkedIn, Nora, Google Maps)

Celis Juice Bar and Café, Juliana’s Pizza, More | downtown West Palm Beach

The Nora District, a mixed-use project in downtown West Palm Beach, landed three restaurant tenants. 

New York-based hospitality firm The Garret Group will open a sports bar in 4,700 square feet at 1035 North Railroad Avenue, according to a news release from Nora’s developers. The venue, called Garret Sports and Recreation, will mark the hospitality group’s first outpost outside the Northeast. 

Adam Fulton and Gavin Moseley founded The Garret Group in 2014, the firm’s website says. 

Also, Juliana’s Pizza will open its first outpost outside of Brooklyn in a 5,300-square-foot space with a patio at 875 North Railroad Avenue, according to the release and a Nora spokesperson. Patsy Grimaldi is co-founder of Juliana’s. 

Celis Juice Bar and Café took 1,200 square feet at 895 North Railroad Avenue, according to the release and Nora’s spokesperson. The lease marks the homegrown brand’s third South Florida outpost. Others are at 2814 South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach and 340 Royal Poinciana Way in Palm Beach, according to Celis Juice Bar’s website.  

Francis Scire, who heads Nora leasing, represented the developers in the deals.

Place Projects and NDT Development are developing the 40-acre Nora District. The area spans Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard to Quadrille Boulevard, and between Dixie Highway and the FEC Railway tracks. 

For the first phase, Miami-based Place and West Palm-based NDT are retrofitting warehouses along North Railroad Avenue into 25 retail and restaurant ground-floor spaces, as well as 55,000 square feet of second-floor offices. Wheelock Street Capital is a partner in the first phase. 

Garret Sports and Recreation, Juliana’s and Celis Juice Bar will open in the first phase once it’s completed early next year.  

Place Projects and NDT plan new buildings, including a 175-key hotel, on the vacant lots in the north and south of Nora. The developers will preserve homes in the center of the district. 

Place Projects is led by Joe Furst. NDT is led by Ned Grace. 

Empira Group | downtown Miami 

Swiss real estate firm Empira Group opened its North American headquarters in downtown Miami

Empira leased more than 10,000 square feet on the 46th floor of the Southeast Financial Center at 200 South Biscayne Boulevard, according to a company news release. 

The firm, based in Zug, is an investment manager mainly on behalf of German pension funds, insurers and banks, Rafael Aregger, who heads Empira’s U.S. investments, has told The Real Deal. Lahcen Knapp founded Empira in 2014.

Empira, which first established a U.S. presence in 2021, paid $9 million for a multifamily development site in Miami’s The Roads neighborhood in 2022. The firm plans an 85-unit project at 3025 and 3051 Southwest Third Avenue. 

In Brickell, Empira plans a 26-story, 310-unit apartment tower at 901 Southwest Third Avenue and 244 Southwest Ninth Street. 

Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega owns the Southeast Financial Center. 

Bush Brothers Provision Company | Royal Palm Beach 

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Bush Brothers Provision Company will move its headquarters for the first time since it was established 99 years ago. 

The meat packing and distribution company leased 42,100 square feet at 1131 North State Road 7 in Royal Palm Beach, according to news releases from the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County and the broker. Bush Brothers is expected to open its new facility in the third quarter.  

Kirk Nelson and Robert Smith of CBRE represented the tenant. 

The family firm is moving from 1931 North Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach, where it first opened in 1931, according to the Business Development Authority’s release. The company originally started in 1925 as a West Palm Beach neighborhood grocery store and meat market. Bush Brothers is now led by the family’s fifth generation, including Curtis Bush, Doug Bush, John Bush and Jessica Reiff. 

Orlando-based McCraney Property Company is developing the new building where Bush Brothers will open. Called the Royal Palm Logistics Center, the property will span 128,700 square feet and include offices, cold storage, and meat cutting and packaging areas. 

Elev8 Fun | Miami International Mall | Doral

Entertainment center Elev8 Fun will open in the former Kohl’s space at Miami International Mall in Doral

Elev8 will offer 12 bowling lanes, a restaurant, bar, mini-golf, arcade games and a go-kart track in a 110,000-square-foot space at 1455 Northwest 107th Avenue, according to a news release from property owner and manager Simon Property Group. The tenant is expected to open early next year. 

Elev8 is led by David Goldfarb.  

Frascione Gallery | Palm Beach 

Frascione Gallery opened its first outpost outside of Italy on Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue. 

The gallery is in a 600-square-foot space at 256 Worth Avenue, according to a Frascione news release. 

Originally founded in 1893 by art collector and dealer Enrico Frascione, the gallery specializes in European art from the 14th century to 17th century. Frascione Gallery’s Italian outpost is in Florence. 

The gallery is now led by fourth generation family member Federico Gandolfi Vannini. His wife, Daisy Diaz, is the cultural director. The Palm Beach outpost will include old master paintings, as well as modern and contemporary art, according to the release. 

Frascione Gallery will have its inaugural debut at The Palm Beach Show on Feb. 15-20 at 333 Clematis Street in West Palm Beach. The first exhibition, called Timelessness, runs Feb. 13 to March 30 at the Worth Avenue building. 

Records show an entity tied to Love Realty of White Plains, New York, owns the Palm Beach  building. 

Lovesac | Pembroke Pines 

Furniture store Lovesac opened at the Shops at Pembroke Gardens in Pembroke Pines

The store leased 2,100 square feet at 527 Southwest 145th Terrace, according to a news release from the Shops at Pembroke Gardens. 

North Bethesda, Maryland-based Federal Realty Investment Trust owns the mall. Donald Wood leads Federal Realty. 

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