Worth Avenue's Ocean Block Spends This Season Behind Fences and on Agendas

Walk west from South Ocean Boulevard and the first three buildings you pass on Worth Avenue have changed owners or plans within roughly the last year. Construction crews are working inside the former Neiman Marcus. Across the street, The Esplanade has new owners and a pending application to become something else. Next door, the three-story office building at 125 Worth Ave. sold in August to an entity affiliated with Blackstone. According to the Palm Beach Daily News, the three properties together take up most of the avenue's 100 block.

Behind you, the Town of Palm Beach wants to start replacing the Midtown Beach seawall this winter. Under the plan, the beach would close for about 18 months.

So the ocean end of Worth Avenue is entering a long stretch of being worked on. Most of what is new there this season is a schedule, and the openings residents can actually use this winter are a few hundred feet west.

Three buildings, three different clocks

Each 100 block property is at a different stage, and none of them adds a finished storefront this season.

The former Neiman Marcus is the furthest along. The nearly 50,000-square-foot building stood empty for more than five years before the Town Council approved TZ Capital's plans in February. Those plans put retailers on the top two floors and make the underground garage valet-only.

So far the only tenant announced publicly is Room Service, a second-floor restaurant from Stephen Starr. It would have 165 seats, 32 of them outdoors on a balcony with ocean views. That opening date is more than a year past this season, so the scaffolding is part of the 100 block for this winter and probably the next.

At 125 Worth Ave., the new owners plan a refresh. L3 Capital, the investor that joined Blackstone in the purchase, has said it will renovate the building "to reflect the continued evolution of Worth Avenue."

The Esplanade's hearing sets the block's next chapter

Of the three, 150 Worth Ave. is the property whose future the Town still has to decide. Its new owners are entities controlled by London-based Reuben Brothers and Crown Onyx Investments. They have proposed renaming the plaza Burlington Arcade Palm Beach, after the Reuben Brothers' Burlington Arcade in London.

Most of the change would happen in the former Saks Fifth Avenue portion of the plaza. The plans submitted to the Town show:

• A Casa Tua restaurant of 6,500 square feet with 270 seats, plus a connected second-floor private club of up to 300 members
• A separate 12,291-square-foot, 300-member social club on the second floor, led by London businessman Robin Birley
• A Birley Bakery of about 520 square feet on the first floor's east side
• A 5,325-square-foot day spa and a 2,000-square-foot boutique
• A 7,800-square-foot luxury retail store on the west side

The Town Council's agenda for its Nov. 10 development review meeting shows how much the project asks of the zoning code. Case ZON-26-0060 requests eight special exceptions. They cover the restaurant, the Birley Social Club and its outdoor café seating, the bakery's take-away service, a jewelry store and a spa each larger than 4,000 square feet, and shared and tandem parking. The case also requests three variances. One would waive the required on-site parking and remove existing spaces, and the other two would allow added height for rooftop equipment and for the alterations to the former Saks building.

The Town calendar lists the meeting for 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10, in Council Chambers at 360 South County Road. The full agenda shows several other items on it already deferred, which is routine for Palm Beach applications. A Nov. 10 listing means the Esplanade case is scheduled for review that day. It does not guarantee a decision.

Shoppers will find the plaza open in the meantime. In March, the Palm Beach Daily News listed Hublot, Emilio Pucci, Carolina Herrera, J.McLaughlin and Piaget among The Esplanade's tenants, and the submitted plans show the Starbucks staying on the first floor. Worth Avenue Association president Daren Rubenfeld told the Daily News, "There's a lot of curiosity" among members about what comes next.

A block east, the beach is on the same timeline

The Daily News describes 125 Worth Ave. as "just steps from Midtown Beach." That beach is where the season's largest disruption may come from.

According to the Palm Beach Daily News, the Town may close Midtown Municipal Beach to the public so it can replace a seawall that is roughly a century old. At an Oct. 13 Town Council meeting, Town Engineer Jake Hurley said staff want to start as soon as possible so the work fits inside a single sea turtle nesting season, which runs from March 1 to Halloween.

The reported plan:

1. Construction would take about 18 months. If it starts this winter, it is forecast to run until spring 2028.
2. Barriers would go up along the eastern parking spaces of South Ocean Boulevard. They would be covered in screening printed with an ocean scene.
3. The beach would close completely, with no staged work. Council members had floated phasing the project so people could keep using the beach. Staff said phasing could sharply raise costs, double the timeline, and require temporary access points and restrooms.
4. Sand from the recent Midtown Beach renourishment would be used to build seaward barriers that keep turtles from nesting inside the work zone.

The closure is still a staff proposal. The Town scheduled a public outreach meeting on the project for Oct. 29 at Town Hall.

The beach work also ties into the next walkway along South Ocean Boulevard. After the seawall, the Town plans to rebuild the linear park on the east side of the boulevard from Gulfstream Road north to Royal Palm Way. The plans include wider sidewalks, more green space and pocket parks east of each intersection.

That project is on the same Nov. 10 agenda as the Esplanade, listed as a site plan review for 375 S. Ocean Blvd. It covers a park of about half a mile, new bathroom and lifeguard facilities, and design changes to the Clock Tower, with plans marked as forthcoming. So the beachfront and the plaza on the 100 block go before the Town Council on the same morning.

Where this winter's new storefronts are

Head west past the 100 block and the changes look more like ordinary season openings.

At 330 Worth Ave., Vineyard Vines is returning to the avenue in the former Silver Fund space. The company told the Palm Beach Daily News in September that it expected to open during the first week of November.

Cavalier Galleries moved its Worth Avenue gallery to Via Bice in June, the Daily News reported.

On the 200 block, the former Café Flora space at 240 Worth Ave. could serve diners again. The same Nov. 10 agenda includes a request for a new restaurant and outdoor café seating in its indoor and outdoor spaces, and the submitted plan set names the concept Caviar Russe. The courtyard restaurant, a fixture for years, would come back under a new name if the Council approves it.

Across the street, Bvlgari's storefront at 243 Worth Ave. won conditional Architectural Commission approval in April, after the board asked for changes in February. No opening date has been announced.

A block north, Le Bilboquet Market at 353 Peruvian Ave. is also on the Nov. 10 agenda. It is asking to add six seats, for a total of 12.

Dates on the avenue this season

These are the dates the Town and the Worth Avenue Association have published:

• Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m., through May 5, 2027: Worth Avenue Association historical walking tours, $30 per person. The series began Nov. 4.
• Tuesday, Nov. 10, 9:45 a.m.: Town Council development review at 360 South County Road, with 150 Worth Ave., 240 Worth Ave., Le Bilboquet Market and the Midtown linear park on the agenda.
• Tuesday, Dec. 1: The Worth Avenue holiday tree lighting. Santa's parade starts on the 100 block at 6:10 p.m., and the tree is lit at 6:25 p.m.

The walking tours are a good way to see the 100 block as a work in progress. The parade will also start there this year, along the stretch most likely to be fenced off and under review.

Three buildings on one block traded for a combined recorded $366.5 million between November 2025 and August 2026, and the beach next to them may close for about 18 months. If you own near Worth Avenue or Midtown Beach and want a clear read on your property's value while all of this unfolds, Adam Levitt can walk you through the numbers. Request a Market Valuation.