From Midtown Beach, the first block of Worth Avenue runs west past three large buildings that make up most of it. On the north side is the former Neiman Marcus store at 151 Worth Ave. It has been empty since the department store closed in September 2020 and is now under construction. Across the street is The Esplanade at 150 Worth Ave. Just east of the old Neiman's is the three-story office building at 125 Worth Ave. As the Palm Beach Daily News noted on Oct. 23, these three properties together take up most of the 100 block, so any change to them changes the whole block.
All three buildings have changed hands in the past year, and the plans their new owners have brought to Town Hall share one feature. Each operator describes its restaurant or club as a place for people who already live on the island. The Town Council has been holding them to that with seat counts, parking variances and use agreements.
Three Sales in Roughly Ten Months
| Address | What it was | Recent sale | What's planned | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 151 Worth Ave. | Neiman Marcus, closed 2020 | TZ Capital, $80.5 million, November 2025 | Retail on the top two floors, valet-only underground parking, Stephen Starr's "Room Service" on the second floor | Under construction. Restaurant targeted for December 2027 |
| 150 Worth Ave. | The Esplanade | Reuben Brothers and Crown Onyx Investments, $200 million, deed recorded March 2026 | Renamed Burlington Arcade Palm Beach, with a Casa Tua restaurant, two private clubs and a Birley Bakery | Plans filed in August. Expected to come up for review this season |
| 125 Worth Ave. | Office building | Blackstone-affiliated entity, with L3 Capital as investor, $86 million, August 2026 | Renovation | No major redevelopment proposed |
Ken Griffin sold the Neiman's building, and a company affiliated with him sold 125 Worth Ave. TZ Capital, the new owner of 151, is led by Palm Beach residents Teddy and Tyler Tananbaum along with Sam Zuckert of West Palm Beach. That local ownership shows up in how the building's first tenant was presented.
Starr Asked for a Regular Table
Room Service is the first tenant publicly announced for 151 Worth Ave. It will be Stephen Starr's first restaurant in Palm Beach. His group's portfolio includes Le Diplomate in Washington, D.C., and Le Coucou in New York, which holds a Michelin star. At the Town Council meeting on Sept. 9, Starr described a neighborhood restaurant loosely based on a steakhouse. The menu ideas included lobster mac and cheese, meatloaf, burgers and a Sunday Peking duck.
The Palm Beach Daily News reported his pitch to the council:
"I think there's enough people in Palm Beach that this will become their local place. This will become their Cheers — the place (where) everybody knows your name. You go here three times a week, and we really don't depend on nor want to solicit people from far away. We don't need it."
The size of the plan fits that pitch. Room Service is designed for 165 seats, with 133 indoors and 32 on an existing terrace that looks out over the Atlantic and Worth Avenue. Ken Fulk is designing the interiors as an homage to the 1920s. A 1,350-square-foot third-floor addition would hold only back-of-house space, and the Town says it would not be visible from Worth Avenue.
Even with that pitch, the approval came with conditions. The council approved the restaurant's special exceptions on the condition that it later approves a "declaration of use" agreement. In a separate 4-1 vote, it granted a variance covering three additional on-site parking spaces the town code requires. The addition also needs Architectural Commission approval under the Worth Avenue design guidelines. TZ Capital has said the restaurant could open as early as December 2027, two winters from now.
Across the Street, a Club Plan for Residents and Hotel Guests
The plans for 150 Worth Ave. are larger, and they lean on the same audience. According to Town records cited by the Palm Beach Daily News, the August filing proposes a 12,291-square-foot social club with 300 members on the second floor that would serve "Palm Beach residents as well as 'hotel guests.'" London businessman Robin Birley would lead that club.
The plans also include:
- Casa Tua: a 270-seat ground-floor restaurant of 6,500 square feet, connected to a 4,855-square-foot private club upstairs with up to 300 members. Casa Tua already operates in Miami Beach, Aspen, New York, Capri and Paris.
- Birley Bakery: about 520 square feet on the east side of the ground floor.
- Retail and wellness: a 7,800-square-foot luxury lifestyle store on the west side, plus a 5,325-square-foot day spa and a 2,000-square-foot boutique on the second floor.
The name would change too. The center would become Burlington Arcade Palm Beach, after the Reuben Brothers' landmark arcade in London. The Reuben Brothers are not new to the island. The Daily News has reported that they bought The Chesterfield Palm Beach in 2022, and a hotel connection fits the "hotel guests" language in the club filing.
None of the plan works without the council. The owners have asked for a group of special exceptions to the zoning code. These would allow a restaurant, outdoor cafe seating, shared on-site parking, a retail space larger than 4,000 square feet, take-away food and beverage service, and membership clubs. Daren Rubenfeld, president of the Worth Avenue Association, told the Daily News there is "a lot of curiosity" among members.
A Block Away, Fewer Seats Won Praise
The council's priorities show most clearly in a smaller case one block north of the avenue. The freestanding building at 380 S. County Road, at Peruvian Avenue, housed Le Bar a Vin until majority owner George Norcross III closed the wine bar. The Palm Beach Post reported that he has since brought in Stefano Frittella as a partner. Frittella is a co-founder of Avenue 31, a restaurant and cafe brand in Monte Carlo, and a stakeholder in BiCE Ristorante on Worth Avenue.
The new concept, George x Avenue 31, is a Mediterranean restaurant with a nightclub component on two floors. Its seating plan is what moved the council. The proposal limits the venue to 87 seats, nearly 20% below the 108 the Town has allowed there. Council members, the Post reported, viewed that as a sign the place would draw smaller crowds than the wine bar did. The council also required at least 24 seats to stay on the second floor so upstairs space would not become standing room or be cleared for private events.
The operating details are still to come. Hours and traffic mitigation will go into a declaration of use, and no date had been set for that discussion. The venue's website says "Opening 2026" but gives no month.
The same rule applies on the 300 block. When BiCE Ristorante at 313½ Worth Ave. announced an eight-seat private dining room in August, the plan was to expand into an empty space next door, and the eight seats would come out of BiCE's existing seat count. The room adds no seats. Across these projects, the Town lets businesses rearrange seats more readily than it lets them add new ones.
What Stands Between Approval and a Reservation
For Room Service and George x Avenue 31, the September votes started the process. For 150 Worth Ave., the process has barely started. The remaining steps, in order:
- Declaration-of-use agreements for Room Service and George x Avenue 31. These set day-to-day operations, including hours, and must come back to the council.
- Architectural Commission review of Starr's third-floor back-of-house addition under the Worth Avenue design guidelines.
- Council hearings on the Esplanade special exceptions. Under the Town's development review calendar, combined commercial cases go to the Town Council first, and architectural review follows at the meeting after council approval. The 150 Worth application was not on the Architectural Commission's Oct. 28 agenda.
- Construction and leasing at 151 Worth Ave. Retailers will fill the top two floors around Room Service, and no other tenant has been named yet.
The first three steps happen in public meetings, and so far each council vote has narrowed what was proposed.
This Season's Table Is Farther West
For the 2026–27 season, then, the ocean block is a construction site and an item on future council agendas. Lunch and dinner on Worth Avenue happen on the blocks that already work. BiCE advertises lunch daily from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Its new private room was expected to take bookings by early to mid-October, so ask about it when you call. Ta-boó remains at 221 Worth Ave. Retailers on the 200 and 300 blocks told the Daily News they look forward to the Neiman's building reopening. Michael Maus of Maus & Hoffman at 312 Worth Ave. called TZ Capital's work "top-notch."
If Room Service opens on its target date, December 2027 will be the first month in more than seven years that 151 Worth Ave. has served the public.
The ocean block's new owners paid between $80.5 million and $200 million for each building, and the restaurants and clubs they have proposed so far are aimed at people who live on the island. If you'd like to talk through what the Worth Avenue changes could mean for a property you own or are considering nearby, Noah Heller offers a private conversation.
