Evolution of Palm Beach Gardens started with amenities for wealthy residents

Alexandra Clough, Palm Beach Post
·3 min read

The land around the Interstate 95-PGA Boulevard juncture is bustling with construction.

Apartments and an office building are on their way to the PGA Station enclave. Palm Beach Post reporter Alexandra Clough recently wrote about those plans, which would add an additional 600 apartments and a 200,000-square-foot office building to the area known as PGA Station. To read that story, go here.

But the area's burgeoning development growth also speaks to the growth in Palm Beach Gardens.

The north county locale once was a sleepy upscale suburban city known mostly for its country-club communities and The Gardens Mall. During the past two decades, the city (which is approaching a population of 60,000) began attracting upscale restaurants, new shopping centers and a cluster of private banks and trust companies chasing wealthy residents.

How a North County city is changing:Suburban secret: Palm Beach Gardens's growing business and residential hub

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, the posh city became another go-to destination for financial service firms leaving crowded urban cities in the Northeast and California.

County business recruiters and real estate developers say some executives landed in northern Palm Beach County because of the region’s concentration of upscale homes, top-rated schools and the amenities that define the Florida lifestyle: golf and boating.

New office building for NextEra Energy in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on January 13, 2022.
New office building for NextEra Energy in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on January 13, 2022.
New office building for NextEra Energy in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on January 13, 2022.
New office building for NextEra Energy in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on January 13, 2022.

Most new residents also wanted a short commute to an office, said Rob Thomson of the Waterway Properties brokerage in Jupiter.

For companies seeking new office space, options were limited.

The exception was DiVosta Towers, a 220,000-square-foot twin-tower office complex known for its distinctive pyramids, at the intersection of Alternate A1A and Kyoto Gardens Drive. The office complex was the first new office complex built in Palm Beach Gardens in a decade when it opened to tenants in 2019.

Other development:Ritz-Carlton Residences project in Palm Beach Gardens to start sales in New Year

Previous story:Builder Catalfumo returns with big plans for Palm Beach Gardens

Financial firm NFP is one company that landed at DiVosta Towers after its leader began searching for a new way of living and doing business.

The New York-based property and casualty broker, wealth manager, benefit consultant and retirement-plan advisor last year leased two full floors at DiVosta Towers to accommodate the company’s growing South Florida presence. The office's upscale space, stretching 20,000 square feet, is a big jump from a prior 1,200-square-foot office space in Palm Beach Gardens.

More than 50 employees will work at NFP’s new offices, said the firm's chairman and chief executive, Doug Hammond.

This includes Hammond, who has a home in Palm City and previously worked in one of the firm’s New York offices.

The wave of wealthy individuals and companies moving to South Florida made expanding the company’s presence in Palm Beach County a natural move, Hammond said.

“I was shocked by the volume of colleagues and clients that were down here,” Hammond said. “We were all talking to one another and we decided, 'We can do this down here. This state is so business-friendly.’ ”

Alexandra Clough is a business writer and columnist at the Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. Twitter: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: PGA Station speaks to Palm Beach Gardens going from sleepy to bustling