This is a great story and hopefully the catalyst for West Palm Beach’s comeback. Since I moved to Florida in 2001, West Palm Beach has always struggled. I really couldn’t understand it, since all the other cities surrounding it were thriving. I saw a report that my firm was hired to do in 2001 for the City of West Palm Beach. It was done by the consulting guys, and the report was about how to create a downtown. It had all kinds of advice and I had never seen something like that before. Then I learned about City Place and how it had been the worst area in the City, transformed into a tourist and local shopping and entertainment center. Fast forward to now and we talk about the former Palm Beach Mall, which is what the Palm Beach Outlets was formerly. The Palm Beach Mall slowly lost tenants to the point where the owners gave up trying to stop them and the center emptied out except for 3 tenants. It was an ugly seen and everything around it seemed to dry up as well. Then Target and Best Buy came, and the area had a little hope and now the Palm Beach Outlets finally has breathed life into the area again. It is perfect for the area, being a discount focused center, and hopefully will be a regional draw. I also hope that it will help the City with some momentum for more improvements and forward thinking projects. When I first moved here Okeechobee Blvd. was the center of shopping and now it is in serious disrepair. And getting worse. Hopefully this can also be reborn, and they have no further to look than City Place. If they did it there why not Okeechobee Blvd.? I think they should call Jack Seiler in Ft. Lauderdale for some ideas on how to improve West Palm. It has so much potential, hopefully more is on the way for it.
Palm Beach Outlets throws open its doors today
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-palm-beach-outlets-opening-20140214,0,6622789,full.story
Orin Rosenfeld
President
Rosenfeld Realty Advisors
9858 Glades Rd. Suite 209
Boca Raton, FL 33434
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