A Texas developer’s plan to transform a North Palm Beach mall site into a mixed-use town center is stalled as the company hit zoning roadblocks and sued the city.
Austin-based Cypress Real Estate Advisors bought the property at the former Twin City Mall for $19 million in 2022. But construction on the site hasn’t started four years later, largely because of a year-long lawsuit between the developer’s subsidiary, NP-Devland Holdings, and the village of North Palm Beach, Stet News reported.
The 13-acre town center, known as Village Place, is planned with a 222-room hotel, two 14-story residential buildings, a 9-story senior living facility and a 1.4-acre public space, plus 90,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. The development site is at the southwest corner of U.S. Highway 1 and Northlake Boulevard.
The proposed building heights are at the center of the conflict. Zoning allows buildings up to 14 floors, as long as the developers meet a set of criteria that included guaranteed public benefits.
The developer, led by founding principal Nader Salour, claimed it met those criteria, but the village found it didn’t, saying the master plan’s approval did not automatically guarantee 14 stories would be allowed.
The council approved the master plan in April 2025, but without a height guarantee. That meant the developer couldn’t move forward with construction, because it was unsure that its master plan would be deemed legal.
The developer sued the village in May, claiming it was backpedaling on the possibility of a 14-story development. The issue remains tied up in the courts.
The master plan came with backlash from the town’s residents and council members, who worried such a large development would cause major traffic in the 13,300-person village just east of Palm Beach Gardens.
Cypress also developed the 2,000-acre Abacoa community in Jupiter.
—Alissa Gary
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