A sprawling eight-story complex packed with 350 apartments could soon rise just south of downtown West Palm Beach, with Pebb Capital pushing a major mixed-use play on an 11.6-acre site tied to the former newspaper campus known as The Press. The proposal lines up studio through three-bedroom units over ground-floor retail, plus an attached eight-story garage with roughly 654 parking spaces. The city’s Plans & Plats Review Committee took up the plans on Thursday, nudging the project into West Palm Beach’s local approval pipeline.
What’s planned
According to Florida YIMBY, the yet-unnamed building would top out at eight stories and stack 350 apartments on the site, ranging from studios to three-bedrooms, with most of the inventory geared toward one- and two-bedroom layouts. Residents would get a communal swimming pool and other shared amenities, while the street level would bring about 11,270 square feet of retail space.
The plan also leans heavily on cars, with an eight-story parking structure that would hold roughly 654 spaces tied into the project. Application materials list Finfrock Design as the architect of record and Urban Design Studio as the planning consultant.
Site history and ownership
The development site sits within the former campus branded as “The Press,” which Pebb Capital and Sabal Investment Holdings acquired in August 2024. Public records put the price tag at about $53 million. The Real Deal reported the sale and price, while the buyers’ announcement describes the 11.6-acre property as containing roughly 256,653 square feet of office and retail space, with tenants that include The Palm Beach Post.
The purchase also came with a developable parcel that is currently used as surface parking, which the developers have flagged for future redevelopment. The new 350-unit proposal is aimed squarely at that piece of land.
Planning process and timeline
The latest round of plans landed in front of the city’s Plans & Plats Review Committee on Thursday, according to Florida YIMBY, marking an early but important procedural step for the project.
The groundwork for a project of this scale started earlier. In 2024 the property went through a series of land-use and rezoning moves that consolidated several parcels into a roughly 11.57-acre assemblage and rezoned it to a Commercial Planned Development, according to City of West Palm Beach records.
That earlier action, which included a parking waiver and set development regulations for what is known as the Shops at The Press CPD, means a lot of the heavy regulatory lifting is already done. Even so, the new building still has to clear additional staff sign-offs and future commission votes before any shovels hit the ground.
Why it matters
If Pebb Capital’s plan moves ahead, the project would inject a sizable chunk of market-rate housing just off downtown and the South End, where big rental complexes and fresh retail keep landing. A nearby example is Woodfield Development’s Sound Apartments, which is on track to bring about 358 units and neighborhood retail later this year, illustrating the current run of multifamily and grocery-anchored projects across the city, according to CityBiz.
The proposal would also deepen Pebb Capital’s South Florida footprint. The firm is already behind Delray Beach’s Sundy Village campus, a high-profile mixed-use project that has helped raise its profile in the region, per Pebb Capital. A successful build at The Press site could shift leasing dynamics and retail demand around the campus, depending on how quickly the apartments and storefronts fill up.
