Three buildings take up most of the 100 block of Worth Avenue, the stretch closest to Midtown Beach. Construction is under way at the former Neiman Marcus at 151 Worth. Across the street, The Esplanade at 150 Worth includes the former Saks Fifth Avenue big-box space that its new owners have proposed to transform. Just east of the Neiman's building, the three-story office building at 125 Worth has changed hands. Each of these properties sold during the past year, and together they amount to what the Palm Beach Daily News calls a transformation of the avenue's ocean block.
The plans filed so far show where the block is headed. For decades, two department stores anchored the ocean end of Worth Avenue. Their replacements are built around reservations, memberships, and seats with an ocean view. None of it opens this season, and the town's review of the largest proposal is scheduled for two public meetings in November.
The Neiman Marcus building gets a restaurant on its second floor
Neiman Marcus closed its Palm Beach store in September 2020, one of four locations it shut during its Chapter 11 proceedings. The nearly 50,000-square-foot building stayed empty for the five years that followed. TZ Capital, led by Palm Beach residents Teddy and Tyler Tananbaum along with Sam Zuckert of West Palm Beach, bought it from Ken Griffin in November 2025 for a recorded $80.5 million.
The Town Council approved the redevelopment in February. The plan calls for retail spaces of various sizes on the building's two top floors and valet-only parking in the underground garage. The first tenant made public is a restaurant, not a store. Stephen Starr's Room Service will take the second floor with 165 seats, and 32 of those will be on an outdoor balcony facing the ocean. TZ Capital puts the opening at December 2027.
Haute Living reported that the council conditionally approved the restaurant on September 9. Town staff confirmed it is a standalone concept created for Palm Beach, not a chain location, and it still needs more town approvals. Starr has described it as a neighborhood restaurant with a steakhouse influence. That puts the building's most visible public use, a dining room with an ocean-view balcony, more than a year out.
Retailers farther down the avenue are watching. "I think TZ Capital is doing a wonderful job at 151 Worth Avenue," Michael Maus of Maus & Hoffman at 312 Worth Ave. told the Palm Beach Daily News.
Across the street, the Saks space is planned around members
The Neiman's building is getting one restaurant on top of retail. The Esplanade proposal goes further. London-based Reuben Brothers and Crown Onyx Investments bought the plaza for a record $200 million, with the deed recorded in March. Their plans would rename it Burlington Arcade Palm Beach, after the Reuben Brothers' Burlington Arcade in London.
The plans submitted to the town in August include:
- Casa Tua, with a 270-seat first-floor restaurant and a connected second-floor private club for up to 300 members. The brand already has locations in Miami Beach, Aspen, New York, Capri, and Paris.
- A social club led by Robin Birley, covering 12,291 square feet on the second floor with 300 members. Town records say it would serve Palm Beach residents as well as "hotel guests."
- A Birley Bakery of about 520 square feet on the east side of the first floor.
- A 7,800-square-foot luxury lifestyle store on the west side of the first floor.
- A second-floor wellness center, with a 5,325-square-foot day spa and a 2,000-square-foot boutique.
Taken together, the two clubs could have as many as 600 memberships in a building that until recently was organized around one big-box retailer. For anyone without a membership, the public parts of the new Esplanade would be the Casa Tua dining room, the bakery counter, the stores, and the spa.
The application on the Town Council's November 10 agenda spells out what the owners are asking for. It requests eight special exceptions, covering a restaurant, the Birley Social Club, outdoor café seating tied to the club, take-away specialty food for the Birley Bakery, a jewelry store larger than 4,000 square feet, a day spa larger than 4,000 square feet, shared parking, and tandem parking. It also seeks three variances. One would waive the required on-site parking and remove existing on-site spaces. The other two would allow taller rooftop mechanical equipment and a greater overall building height for the alterations to the former Saks building.
For anyone who parks near Midtown Beach or drives to the ocean end of Worth, the parking variance is the request most likely to affect a normal weekday.
November is when the terms get set
The Esplanade application appears on two early-posted town agendas. These agendas can change before the meetings, so check the town's CivicClerk public meetings portal the week of each one.
- Tuesday, November 10, 9:45 a.m., Town Council Development Review. The council takes up the special exceptions, site plan, and variances for 150 Worth. The same agenda includes a request to allow a new restaurant and outdoor café seating in the former Café Flora space at 240 Worth, in the Via Amore courtyard.
- Friday, November 20, 9:00 a.m., Architectural Commission. The commission reviews the exterior changes. These include new pilasters and columns, a new retail facade along part of Worth Avenue, a new vaulted passageway, new window and door openings, and a new cooling tower on the rooftop parking level.
Both meetings are held in Council Chambers, on the second floor at 360 South County Road. Each agenda includes a three-minute public comment period, and people who can't attend can submit a written comment or register to comment virtually.
Daren Rubenfeld, president of the Worth Avenue Association, described how members of the association are reacting in the Palm Beach Daily News:
"There's a lot of curiosity."
The third building on the block is moving more quietly. A company affiliated with Griffin sold 125 Worth in August for a recorded $86 million to an entity affiliated with Blackstone, with Chicago-based L3 Capital investing alongside it. No major redevelopment has been proposed. L3 has said it plans to renovate the building to reflect "the continued evolution of Worth Avenue." Elena Clarfield of Blackstone Real Estate called Palm Beach "one of the highest performing luxury retail markets in North America."
What the block offers this season
Room Service is scheduled for December 2027, and the Esplanade plan is still in front of the town. Until those open, the 100 block's public calendar for this season belongs to the Worth Avenue Association.
The association's historical walking tours begin Wednesday, November 4, and run every Wednesday through May 5, 2027. Each tour lasts 75 minutes and is led by the association's historical docent, Rick Rose. A tour this winter covers the ocean block while its next version is still on paper.
The Worth Avenue Holiday Tree Lighting is Tuesday, December 1. Santa and his elves start their parade at 6:10 p.m. on the 100 block, and the tree is lit at 6:25 p.m. For one evening, the block with the most construction and the most pending applications is the center of the avenue's best-known tradition.
A few blocks west, retail is coming back. The Palm Beach Daily News reported in September that Vineyard Vines expected to open its new store at 330 Worth Ave., the former home of The Silver Fund, during the first week of November. That is two years after the brand closed its previous Worth Avenue store.
Most of the island's dining news this season is happening away from Worth Avenue. Élephante, a Mediterranean restaurant from Los Angeles, plans 284 seats at 207 Royal Poinciana Way in the former Almond space, along with a market and bakery at 208-210 Sunset Avenue. George x Avenue 31 brings a Monte Carlo dining brand to 380 South County Road, in the former Le Bar à Vin building, after the town approved its site plans according to the Palm Beach Daily News. As of mid-October, Haute Living listed neither with a confirmed opening date.
On the ocean block itself, the next scheduled date after the tree lighting is December 2027, when Room Service could open, pending further town approvals, on the second floor of the old Neiman Marcus building.
Some Palm Beach homeowners are wondering how a busier, more membership-driven ocean end of Worth Avenue could shape daily life near Midtown Beach. If you'd like to talk it through with someone who follows these changes closely, Sarah Gandrey is happy to hear from you. Let's Connect.
