With its huge CityPlace complex, Related Ross continues to remake downtown West Palm Beach, Fla.
“We’re looking at a complete repositioning of the entire project,” Webber Hudson, executive vice president of Related Ross, told WWD.
“In the United States, there’s been an incredible migration, not only from the Northeast, but also from the Midwest, and we’re even seeing a significant inflow of job creation coming from California, as witnessed by our signing a couple of months ago a deal with ServiceNow, an AI company,” Hudson said.
ServiceNow, which is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., will be moving into CityPlace at the end of 2027, into the 1-million-square-foot office development that has retailing at its base. The site is currently under construction. According to Hudson, ServiceNow will be taking 200,000 feet of space at CityPlace, plans to establish a regional innovation hub and AI Institute, and is expected to deliver $1.8 billion in economic impact and create more than 850 jobs over the next five years.
Within the retail component of the open-air CityPlace, “Eataly is the crowning jewel now,” said Hudson, noting that the 30,000-square-foot Eataly marketplace opened last December inside a former 100-year-old Mediterranean Revival-style Spanish church, which in more recent years operated as a community center. “It isn’t just about the commerce. It’s also about the culture and lifestyle of Italy, behind the commerce,” said Hudson.
Eataly is among the dozen retailers that moved into CityPlace last year, taking up a total of 150,000 square feet. “There’s another 100,000 square feet of retail on its way this year,” Hudson added. Between the office development, Eataly, recent retail entries and those coming soon, “This is all part of an initiative we have creating the new downtown in West Palm Beach,” said Hudson.
CityPlace covers 72 acres of downtown West Palm Beach. The mixed-used lifestyle center essentially serves as a hub for shopping, dining, residential and office space. There are 450,000 square feet of retail, and currently 1 million square feet of office space that is growing to 2 million square feet next year.
CityPlace is part of Related Ross, founded and wholly owned by Stephen Ross. He is also the founder of Related Companies, a global real estate development firm best known for developing Hudson Yards on the far west side of Manhattan. Ross remains non-executive chairman of Related Companies, a separate entity from Related Ross, and is the owner of the Miami Dolphins professional football team.
Related Companies opened CityPlace in 2000 as a mixed-use, open-air entertainment and retail destination. It’s been through several phases of growth, adding new businesses, entertainment elements and diverse programming, and is now part of Related Ross.
Related Ross is said to be investing $10 billion on projects in South Florida with a focus on Palm Beach County and CityPlace, which has a wide draw, though primarily from West Palm Beach and Palm Beach. “We have a broad spectrum of constituents here,” said Hudson. “It’s obviously an exceptionally affluent market, but we also have a very well-educated, diverse market.”
He compared the evolving retail mix at CityPlace to the retail mix at Hudson Yards, which Hudson worked on before joining Related Ross. “It’s not just about luxury. There’s a lot of what I term ‘velocity players.’ So we’re building into that strength here at CityPlace.”
He cited Reformation as a key fashion draw reflecting the strength of fashion as a category at CityPlace. “Reformation is performing very well. And Alo addresses the active lifestyle community we have down here, and yet there’s a void in the contemporary market that we’ll be building into. So fashion is certainly an area of opportunity,” particularly the type of fashion that appeals to upscale clientele. About 10 years ago, executives cited an emphasis on building up design and home furnishings offerings as well as food and beverage and new forms of entertainment.
Among the brands moving in this year are: Moxie’s, a restaurant; Rivian, the electric vehicle company; Birkenstock, the footwear brand known for its sandals; Ela Curry Kitchen; Mango Mercado; Sunlife Organics for apparel, accessories, health foods and snacks and proteins; Evereve, which sells better-priced, upscale fashion, and Fuku, the fast-casual fine food restaurant by David Chang known for its spicy fried chicken sandwiches.
The new Business & Pleasure store at CityPlace.
In addition to Reformation, Eataly and Alo, openings in 2025 were: Business & Pleasure, a showroom for outdoor furnishings; Rothy’s, the footwear retailer; Perigold, the designer furniture, decor and lighting division of Wayfair; Equinox, the upscale fitness center; OluKai, for Hawaiian-inspired footwear; Anthropologie, the division of Urban Outfitters, and Pop Up Bagels.
The Related Ross Experience Center, a 10,000-square-foot gallery and interactive exhibition space, opened at CityPlace. Aside from inviting visitors, the center is designed to inform people about CityPlace, Related Ross and projects in West Palm Beach.
In another change, The Laurel, a 322-unit luxury residential rental building on the site of a former 110,000-square-foot Macy’s, opened. Among the other departures enabling space for the influx of new retail and office developments were L.A. Fitness, a bowling alley, a movie theater, and a comedy club.
“It’s really been a reprioritization of the uses within the footprint of CityPlace and creating that kind of downtown district you would see in any other great city,” said Hudson. “Great cities are made up of great neighborhoods, and CityPlace is the defining neighborhood for West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County.”
The Related Ross Experience Center at CityPlace.
