How North Palm Beach is growing: Twin City Mall plan calls for smaller buildings on U.S. 1

NORTH PALM BEACH — The village has given initial approval to a master plan for the old Twin City Mall site that makes a counteroffer of sorts to the developer who wants to build a complex of restaurants, retail spaces and high-rise residences there.

North Palm Beach will allow Cypress Realty to construct buildings of seven stories along U.S. 1 and 14 stories in the middle of the 13-acre site off Northlake Boulevard, not the nine the developer originally proposed for the project, known as Village Place.

In return, Cypress must agree to include enough “public benefit” — which might include workforce housing, sustainable building certifications and public art — before the Village Council votes on the plan a second and final time. That vote could happen in September, Village Manager Chuck Huff said.

The changes led Mayor Susan Bickel and council member Lisa Interlandi to vote in favor of the plan. Both had expressed reservations about the heights of buildings, especially along U.S. 1. Both also acknowledged the need to redevelop the site and for North Palm Beach to benefit from the tax revenue Village Place would generate.

“I have struggled with this because I believe in infill and I understand the tax implications, but I have grave concerns about changing the character of our village,” Bickel said before voting on Thursday, Aug. 22. “I hate nine (stories).”

The village did not meet with the developer between the Aug. 8 council meeting, when the council first discussed the plan, and the Aug. 22 session. Nader Salour, Cypress Realty's principal, attended both meetings and issued a statement Friday, Aug. 23, saying his company would review "the latest comments made by the Village Council to determine what is feasible and to ensure the project can still be successful."

"Our proposal demonstrates that the Village Place mixed-use project would bring tremendous public and economic benefits to the Village of North Palm Beach and surrounding community," Salour's statement said.

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