The Dirt: New restaurants announced for Nora in West Palm Beach cater to northeast transplants
Welcome to The Dirt! I’m real estate reporter Kimberly Miller with the latest developments in the sizzling market.
Nora is the biggest thing happening in downtown West Palm Beach since City Place/Rosemary Square/The Square opened 23 years ago with an FAO Schwartz and a couple of gold-painted dudes in bikinis doing balancing tricks on each other. Remember that? It was like Toy Story meets an Elton John concert.
This go around, The Dirt is swooning over some of the tenants announced for Nora, which will be the new temple of hipster urban lifestyle extremes (in a good way, not in a doofus way.)
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And if you think reading about the new tourism chief in Palm Beach County is going to be a snooze, then you don't know lead business reporter Alexandra Clough, who packs her story about Milton Segarra full of fascinating tidbits that will make you the most popular person at the water-cooler. That's if the pandemic didn't kill office water coolers. I'm pretty sure it did. RIP water coolers.
Also, just a quickie on a waterfront house that's back on the market after a remarkable makeover by Ritzzo Development. The house at 2745 S. Flagler Drive was a split-level Brady Bunch nightmare until Ritzzo got hold of it. Yours for $7.95 million.
Delray Beach-based real estate company in hot water for 'innovative' strategy
MV Realty, based in Delray Beach but operating all over the country, came up with this 'innovative' business plan to give homeowners cash up front for a 40-year promise that they would get to sell their home. There are a few other stipulations, like penalties if the homeowner breaks the promise. Florida's attorney general is none too happy.
Neither is the Florida Legislature, which passed a law this year aimed at stopping the kind of innovation MV Realty developed. It's all in the courts now, and MV Realty is confident it can convince everyone its business plan is solid. The Dirt loves that narrative for them.
New restaurants in West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach delayed by permitting issues, or are they?
Martin Sprock, who co-founded Moe’s Southwest Grill and Planet Smoothie, is a gregarious guy who bought a bunch of real estate in West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach during the pandemic boom times. He's restoring old houses that have been too-long ignored and has plans for a Mexican-themed restaurant at the former Blue Front Bar and Grill.
But he said he's been stymied by permit issues. Lake Worth Beach says that's a bunch of hooey. Residents weighed in on Facebook. Look, at the end of the day, people just want to try the We Were on a Break quesadilla and the Shirley You Can't be Serious burrito. Seriously.
West Palm Beach's Nora debuts first tenants for its $1 billion development
It's hard to beat bagels from New York and tacos taste-tested and approved by Fenway Park patrons. Boston's Loco Taqueria & Oyster Bar, and New York's H&H Bagels are two of the newly-named restaurants getting spots at the much-anticipated Nora development north of downtown West Palm Beach.
That's just a tease of what's to come at Nora, which is hoping to cater, in part, to the pandemic-triggered migration from the northeast to South Florida.
Bon Jovi once thought about livin' on North Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach but ran away
Rocker Jon Bon Jovi built a home on North Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach. He quickly sold it in 2020 maybe realizing it wasn't truly beachfront but was across the street from the beach, which has been in the news A LOT recently because of porn, turtles, dogs, guns and the arrest of a couple of really wealthy people.
Anyhoo, although titillating, that's not the news. The news is that ahead of season, a mansion across the street from Bon Jovi's former house has gone on the market for $39 million. It is also across the street from the beach, but has 100 feet of ocean frontage to enjoy the shenanigans.
Wheeling and dealing on North Flagler Drive
North Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach has recently become coveted land as developers clamor for dwindling waterfront space. That's got to be why the oldest Jewish organization in Palm Beach County wants permission to build a 306-foot building. Temple Israel says it has no plans to move and pinky swears there's no developer deal, yet.
Temple neighbor Flagler Pointe is all in a huff because, really, who wants a skyscraper next door? It seems there are growing pains galore in West Palm Beach — from the south end to the north — and there's no affable psychiatrist or lovable troublemaking little brother to lighten the mood.
Live lightly.
Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate and how growth affects South Florida's environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lake Worth Beach Blue Front Bar and Grill waiting on green light to reopen as taco joint
