As office leasing activity continues to show no signs of slowing down, Related Companies (Related), the New York-based developer behind the $25 billion Hudson Yards complex in Manhattan’s West Side, reveals plans for the largest office tower in West Palm Beach. The 25-story project, going by the name 515 Fern, is proposed to yield 471,000 square feet of space including 456,000 square feet of office space and 15,000 square feet of retail space to meet the area’s high demand. Addressed as 515 Fern Street in the Downtown corridor, the 374-foot-tall structure would become the tallest office building and the second-tallest building in the city. If approved, 515 Fern is expected to break ground sometime in 2023 and complete construction in 2025.
The proposal for 515 Fern follows the incredible success of Related’s recently completed 20-story Class A office development 360 Rosemary, a 300,000-square-foot building clad in glass, black metal, and glossy red terracotta. Construction was completed in Q4 2021. The building is fully leased out with an impressive roster of tenants, including artificial intelligence software agency Levatas LLC, private investment firm Comvest Partners, global asset management firm Poiinternationaland global investment firm Goldman Sachs. The project would bring Related’s total office footprint in West Palm Beach to over 2 million square feet if completed.
515 Fern would rise on the same block as 360 Rosemary, abutting train tracks leading into Bightline West Palm Beach Station along Quadrille Plaza Drive. Related does not own the property where the project is proposed to rise, but the latest rendering suggests the building would occupy the entire eastern half of the block, equating to about 0.82 acres, or 36,042 square feet. Out of the four parcels within the perceived assemblage, three are owned by Montreal, QC-based City Place North Partners LP, addressed as 501 & 515 Street, 510 Evernia Street and improved with a handful of single-story commercial buildings, and one at 520 Evernia Street, owned by Sheppard RJ and improved with a single-family home.
An architect has not been named to credit for the current design of the building, but 515 Fern does share many similarities to 360 Rosemary, which was designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects and Leo A Daly. The rendering is not the sharpest, but one can assume the material board will also include terracotta, metal, and glass. The industrial-style grid of the facade appears to be composed of glass beneath textured dark navy terracotta panels, contrasted by white at the lower levels. Related plans on building a road beside the train tracks that would connect Fern Street and Evernia Street, giving better and more convenient access to the train station.
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Related Companies is a solid developer most of the time (sorry, modernizing CityPlace ruined its allure and the under construction multi-family building on the Macy’s site is hideous), but can we have something with more curves, crown, and/or maybe a spire? Especially for the tallest building around, no point in calling yourself the “Hudson Yards developer” when you propose something that could be a nondescript office building off a freeway in Metro Atlanta.