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South Florida

Affiliated aiming higher on West Palm rental project

Developer now eyes 8-story building with 270 units in Northwood district

Affiliated Development’s Nick Rojo and Jeff Burns with a rendering of 2501 Spruce Avenue (Affiliated Development, Rinka)
Affiliated Development’s Nick Rojo and Jeff Burns with a rendering of 2501 Spruce Avenue (Affiliated Development, Rinka)

Affiliated Development is raising the roof on its plans for a multifamily project in West Palm Beach, literally.

The firm now wants to build an eight-story, 270-unit apartment building on the land at 2501 Spruce Avenue and adjacent parcels in the Northwood district, which is bigger than the previous plan for a six-story, 200-unit project, according to city records. The development, dubbed The Spruce, also will have 5,800 square feet of amenities and 2,400 square feet of retail and co-working space, both moderate increases from the original plan.

The Spruce (Rinka)

The Spruce (Rinka)

The city’s plans and plats committee will take up the proposal next Thursday. Affiliated will then have to address committee members’ comments before seeking final approval at a yet to be scheduled meeting in front of the planning board.

Affiliated’s larger project pitch is a result of it opting to include workforce housing units, with the preliminary plan being for 76 apartments that will target households earning from 80 percent to 100 percent of the area median income, the firm’s Nick Rojo said.

Affiliated, also led by Jeff Burns, will partner with the owners of the 1.5-acre site on development of The Spruce, Rojo said. Although he declined to identify the owners, records show the property has ties to the Grace family of Palm Beach.

The family, through the Northwood Enterprises entity, assembled the land in two deals in 2014 and 2019 for a combined $1 million, records show.

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This is the second major project envisioned for West Palm’s Northwood Mixed-Use District since city officials started to upzone the neighborhood in 2015. Despite the change in development regulations, the area hasn’t piqued developers’ interest until recently.

In November, the city approved the first Northwood project: A plan by Gilbert Benhamou’s Aventura-based Immocorp Capital for a three-building complex with 382 apartments, 63,200 square feet of commercial uses and roughly 13,000 square feet of public space on the north end of Northwood. The property spans from 23rd Street north to 25th Street, and from the FEC Railway east to Broadway Avenue, including a lot on the west side of Broadway.

Still, Northwood also has an existing artsy-charm as the district is home to a collection of cafes, shops and galleries.

“There are some vacant parcels in the middle but we are really trying to embrace the eclectic and unique personality,” of the area, Rojo said, referring to the design of The Spruce.

The Spruce is in line with Fort Lauderdale-based Affiliated’s niche of building mixed-income multifamily projects. Elsewhere in South Florida, the firm completed the 200-unit Bohemian with 44 workforce units in Lake Worth Beach and is almost finished with the 309-unit the Grand with 206 workforce units in West Palm Beach.

Affiliated also is developing the 300-unit The Pierce with 150 workforce units in Boynton Beach and the 223-unit The Tropic with more than 100 workforce units.

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South Florida Multifamily MarketWest Palm Beach