The old Ambassador Hotel & Residences and the lakeside building next door are gone. Crews have reduced both structures on Palm Beach's South End to rubble, clearing the ground for an ultra-luxury contemporary-style condominium that developers have been maneuvering through town approvals for more than a year.
The demolition, reported Friday by the Palm Beach Daily News, marks the most visible milestone yet for a project that has been in the works since the site changed hands in October 2022. The developers closed on the properties that month through three deals totaling $147.6 million, according to a separate Palm Beach Daily News report. Construction crews are now preparing the grounds at 2720 and 2730 S. Ocean Blvd. for what will eventually rise as the OLIN Palm Beach condominiums.
The project has been billed as the name of record since at least August, when the Boca Raton Tribune reported that “the condo has been named OLIN Palm Beach.” The developers are Miami-based OKO Group and London private-equity firm Cain International, per that same report. Jason Long of OMA is the design architect, with GACHOT handling interiors, the Tribune noted.
Three Buildings, Conflicting Unit Counts
The plan calls for three five-story condominium buildings with underground parking at both sites, according to Discover South Florida's account of the project's progress through Town Council. How many homes will actually fill those buildings remains unsettled in the public record. The Tribune reported that OLIN's own website lists 32 “graciously scaled” residences for sale, while Discover South Florida described a revised plan that slashes the unit count from 135 down to 41 — two figures that have not been reconciled.
Pricing, at least, has been outlined more clearly. The project's website sorts buyer inquiries into three tiers — up to $20 million, up to $30 million, and over $40 million — the Tribune reported. That ceiling would put OLIN within reach of, or potentially past, Palm Beach's current condo price record: the $23.75 million Robert Kraft paid for a Leverett House penthouse in 2022, also per the Tribune.
A Yearlong Path Through Town Hall
Getting to the demolition stage required repeated trips before Palm Beach's design and elected boards. The Architectural Commission unanimously approved tearing down the existing Ambassador and Edgewater House buildings on Oct. 29, the Palm Beach Daily News reported, and in a separate 5-2 vote conditionally approved the project's architectural design the same day. The Town Council followed with initial approval of the site plan, zoning actions and demolition, subject to conditions, according to Discover South Florida.
Discover South Florida also frames the approval as notable beyond this single property, describing it as a rare new ground-up condo project breaking what it called a nearly 20-year dry spell for new construction on Palm Beach's South End. The demolition now underway is the clearest physical sign that the long-dormant stretch of oceanfront is about to change.
Part of a Regional Building Wave
OLIN Palm Beach is landing amid a broader surge in branded residential development across South Florida. The Real Deal reported that 66 branded residential developments, totaling nearly 15,000 condos and condo-hotel units, are planned, under construction or recently completed across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties — with roughly three-quarters of those projects concentrated in Miami-Dade. The outlet also noted that branded residences can command a markup of 20% to 30% over comparable unbranded units, and that Miami has become the branded residential capital of the Western Hemisphere, trailing only Dubai worldwide.
For now, the Ambassador Hotel site sits as cleared ground on South Ocean Boulevard, with no confirmed construction timeline or completion date yet reported. What rises there next will be watched closely both for its final price tags and for exactly how many residences eventually get built.
