After years of construction, several new apartment buildings now are open in West Palm Beach, providing even more choices for residents seeking to live or work in the heart of the city.
The apartments add up to more than 1,100 new units coming to a market that continues to welcome new finance and corporate headquarters to downtown, albeit at a slower pace than during the coronavirus pandemic.
Some of the apartments available for lease are posh and pricey, above the city’s average rental rate of $2,268, according to rentcafe.com.
But all are seeking niches in parts of the city that already are booming, or are about to grow.
For anyone wanting to move into a new rental property, here are four new options:
Lumaire: High-rise towers above Clear Lake section of the city
The Lumaire high-rise is hard to miss as you enter West Palm Beach.
This new apartment tower rises 23 stories at 201 Clearwater Drive, with views of Clear Lake and downtown. The site is just east of Interstate 95 and north of Okeechobee Boulevard.
Leasing begins Aug. 12 for the tower, which features 475 apartments.
Designed by New York architect CetraRuddy, Lumaire has 40,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities. This includes resort-style pools, a fitness and yoga center and a pickleball court.
More: West Palm’s newest neighborhood? Clear Lake could be next big thing because of UF, Brightline
Pricing at Lumaire start at $1,795 for studios and go up to more than $5,000 for three-bedroom units.
Hyperion’s Principal and CEO Robert Vecsler said the building was designed so every unit has “views and light and air.”
Lumaire also is in an emerging neighborhood around Clear Lake, the body of water on the city’s western edge that provides city residents with drinking water. The tall tower offers sunset views of Clear Lake.
Lumaire is near the Tri-Rail and the Brightline stations, so Vecsler said he hopes the building will attract professionals not only working in West Palm Beach but also those who want to use public transportation to travel to Miami.
More: The Bristol was the luxury leader. The Berkeley West Palm Beach condo will be close behind
Residents from the Northeast who also want a seasonal place in West Palm Beach are potential renters, too, he added.
Vecsler and other developers believe this section of the city will become an important submarket, especially since it is near downtown but evades the traffic.
In particular, Vecsler singled out a high-profile project coming to the area: The Berkeley, a 25-story condominium featuring 191 units planned for 601 and 621 Clearwater Park Road. The condo is being developed in part by Al Adelson, who built The Bristol ultra-luxury condominium on the Intracoastal Waterway.
Vecsler also is hoping to get a bounce if Vanderbilt University opens a West Palm Beach campus downtown. The Nashville-based university wants to build a graduate business school program on land dubbed Government Hill, a couple of blocks to the east of Lumaire. The project still is in the works and is not yet a done deal.
Tortoise One: Close to the Nora District, by luck
This 264-unit apartment complex at 740 N. Dixie Highway began leasing this year.
The twin-tower complex is a block north of the Loftin Place apartments and a couple of blocks southeast of the planned Nora District.
That’s the mixed-use project featuring restaurants, shops and entertainment slated to open in early 2025.
In a recent interview, Tortoise Properties Chief Executive Jake Geleerd said he hopes to attract young professionals, families and entrepreneurs to One Tortoise, as well as retirees wanting to have a place they easily lock up when away.
One Tortoise also has some unusual perks, including alternative forms of transportation. This includes a limo service that will drive renters to dinner and free use of golf carts and bicycles, including for trips to the beach.
Work-from-home residents have a separate space to work. Sports-minded renters can enjoy pickleball courts or a yoga lawn.
“There’s nothing we don’t have,” Geleerd said. “I want this to be our flagship property.”
Tortoise One’s presence near Nora is serendipity.
In December 2021, Tortoise Properties paid $19 million for the property, which at one point was going to be another phase of the Loftin Place apartments. The vacant 2.25-acre site traded two months before Nora’s developers obtained city approval to create a new district.
Geleerd is optimistic that Nora’s opening early next year will be a key amenity for his project’s residents: “Once Nora opens, my bet is everybody who likes to walk and counts their step could walk to Nora.”
The property’s apartments start at $2,888 for a one-bedroom unit up to $4,629 for a large two-bedroom unit.
Park West: New boutique rental for Northwood
The apartment building at 2121 West Broward Ave. in the Northwood neighborhood on the north side of the city began leasing this summer and already is about 75% leased, said developer Neil Kozokoff of The Parkland Properties.
The 102-unit building features units ranging in price from 538 square feet to 1,194 square feet.
Rents start at $1,900 a month for a studio and go up to more than $3,300 for a two-bedroom unit.
Amenities include water views in 80% of the units. There’s also a pool, gym, yoga studio and covered parking.
Kozokoff said the boutique Park West differs from other complexes in the city because it is smaller and more accessible. It also has covered, ground-floor parking.
Park West is a companion to an apartment Kozokoff completed in 2017. That 100-unit apartment building, dubbed 312 Northwood, is at the corner of Dixie Highway and 23rd Street.
Both apartment buildings are attracting young professionals, singles and couples, Kozokoff said.
The Laurel: Ultra-luxury rental joins CityPlace
This 322-unit building rises 21 stories and is in the CityPlace mixed-use complex.
The Laurel is the first first ultra-luxury rental complex in Florida by Related Southeast, now known as Related Ross. The property was built on the site of the former Macy’s department store.
Rents range from $3,400 a month for a studio to an eye-popping $20,000 for a furnished three-bedroom unit. The building already is 60% leased, a Related spokesperson said.
At The Laurel, renters are treated to interiors with posh details, including Bosch kitchen appliances and floor-to-ceiling windows. They also enjoy easy access to nearby CityPlace eateries and shops.
But unlike other rental apartments in town, residents must pay to use the complex’s pools, indoor-outdoor gym, cabanas, men’s and women’s spas, and outdoor bar and grill. Amenities cost $125 per month in addition to the monthly rent.
Related officials said they wants to attract well-paid professionals to the rental site. They also want people who are wealthy enough to buy a second home in Palm Beach County but who prefer the flexibility of renting.
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Alexandra Clough is a business writer at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. X: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Four apartment complexes open to incoming West Palm Beach residents
