CityPlace, now The Square, is changing into a more modern district for West Palm Beach

Alexandra Clough, Palm Beach Post
·2 min read

Related Cos., led by billionaire Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, first landed in West Palm Beach when the company built CityPlace in 2000.

This mixed-use project along Okeechobee Boulevard just east of Interstate 95 featured shopping, dining and residences. More importantly, CityPlace kicked off the city's renaissance, attracting apartments and condominiums builders, as well as other investors into the city.

But CityPlace itself had uneven success as a retail center. The complex foundered through real estate cycles and fickle consumer sentiments that led to a frequent reshuffling of stores.

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As a result, even before the pandemic began in 2020, Related began positioning the former CityPlace complex into a more modern district featuring high-rise businesses and residential buildings.

The project eventually was renamed The Square.

As part of the redo, Related is transforming the shuttered Macy's department store into a luxury apartment highrise. It also built the 360 Rosemary office tower on a formerly vacant site.

Then came the pandemic, and companies in the Northeast began moving to South Florida, drawn to the warm weather, open spaces and low-tax environment.

To meet demand, Related quickly expanded its office holdings in West Palm Beach, buying three existing Class A office towers downtown: Phillips Point, Esperante Corporate Center and CityPlace Tower.

The company also filled up 360 Rosemary with a top roster of tenants, including Goldman Sachs, Point72 Asset Management and Comvest Partners.

Construction has started on the empty lot that once held the CityPlace Macy's department store in downtown West Palm Beach, Tuesday, February 8, 2022. 575 Rosemary, a 21-story mixed-use tower that will include luxury residences and commercial space, is rising in the heart of The Square, the newest moniker for CityPlace. The building is anticipated to be completed in 2023.

Even as Related wrapped up construction of 360 Rosemary late last year, the company began work in November on another office building, One Flagler.

The ultra-luxury highrise overlooks the Intracoastal Waterway near the Royal Park Bridge to Palm Beach. Ken Himmel, chief executive of Related Urban, the company's mixed-use arm, said the 270,000-square-foot tower is expected to be 75% pre-leased by the end of the year.

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Alexandra Clough is a business writer at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. Twitter: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe to The Palm Beach Post today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Related Cos. landed in West Palm in 2000 when it built CityPlace.