West Palm approves Capstone’s 238-unit apartment project with workforce housing

Capstone Realty Group scored approval for a 238-unit apartment project in West Palm Beach, marking the firm’s development debut in South Florida. 

The Englewood, New Jersey-based firm plans an eight-story building on 3.7 acres at 1551 Forum Place, according to city records. West Palm commissioners unanimously approved a future land use change from commercial to multifamily, as well as the site plan, at their meeting last week. 

The project, called Forum Place, will include 60 workforce-priced units for households earning no more than 100 percent of the area median income. Palm Beach County’s area median income is $98,300 annually, though that will be updated this spring. 

Capstone would have an outreach program to city police and firefighters, as well as nurses and other medical employees at West Palm hospitals, to allow them first priority for the workforce units, said Mitchell Adelstein, founder and managing partner at Capstone. 

Capstone paid $7 million for the Forum Place development site in 2022, according to records. The property now houses a one-story, 40,000-square-foot office building. 

Forum Place’s construction is expected to start early next year, and completion is slated for early 2027, according to Adelstein. 

Capstone, a real estate investment services firm, has purchased 4.5 million square feet of commercial real estate, invested $550 million and financed more than $3.5 billion over the past 25 years, its website says. Aside from the Forum Place site, its only other South Florida asset is the 119,000-square-foot building at 1700 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard in West Palm, where Capstone has an office. 

West Palm Beach is experiencing a development boom in its downtown and surrounding areas. 

Steve Ross’ Related Companies, the city’s biggest downtown office landlord, also plans the 26-story, 140-condo Shorecrest building on a waterfront site at 1901 North Flagler Drive. The firm launched sales this month. 

Also, the Morrison family’s Sympatico Real Estate and Al Adelson, the developer of The Bristol condominium in West Palm, plan a 25-story, 191-condo building at 601 and 621 Clearwater Park Road, overlooking Clear Lake. Toronto-based Windsor Private Capital is partnering on the project. 

In northern downtown, Miami-based Place Projects and West Palm-based NDT Development are redeveloping a 40-acre area into the Nora District. For the first phase, in partnership with Wheelock Street Capital, they 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. The north and south sections of Nora, which spans between Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard to Quadrille Boulevard, and between Dixie Highway and the FEC Railway tracks, will have high-rises. Nora also will include a 201-key hotel by New York-based BD Hotels.