CityPlace

West Palm Beach, Florida

Elkus Manfredi provided Master planning and building design for the redevelopment of approximately 72 acres of land in the heart of the city.CityPlace features a vibrant streetscape and a landmark city plaza. The mixed-use plan includes approximately 600,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment; 600,000 square feet of office space; 600 units of housing; 600 hotel rooms and parking.

CityPlace is a multi-block urban mixed-use development that is comprised of 700,000 sq. ft. of retail, dining and entertainment; hotel; office; housing; a convention center; and cultural components. What was once a blighted area has become the new regional focus for cultural, economic and social life for West Palm Beach and surrounding communities.

The master plan for the development creates new streetscapes that feature highly detailed facades and a variety of building scales, all while maintaining the original street-grid network. At the heart of CityPlace, the streets converge on a central European-style public plaza featuring animated fountains, and ringed with two levels of dining, shopping and entertainment.

The use of local and regional materials throughout the architecture adds richness to the design while staying true to the region's Mediterranean aesthetic heritage. Arcades, shaded overhangs and balconies, terraces, lush landscaped arborways and colonnades all give the feel of having evolved over time. More than 12 varieties of palms are used in formal rows to define public spaces, give vertical scale, act as a natural screen, provide instant shade and to unify the residential and commercial streetscape. Seasonal color is provided by more than 400 decorative pots; annuals are rotated to provide year-round color.

The Fountains

THE CITYPLACE FOUNTAIN

The CityPlace fountain is one of the world's most spectacular and

dynamic fountains. Every half hour the fountain performs one of

its many exciting, choreographed displays of liquid wonder.

Sometimes you'll witness a dynamic display of dancing light,

water and sound. While at other times the fountain show is

elegant and peaceful. Either way, the CityPlace fountain is always

a site to behold.

THE CITYPLACE FOUNTAIN STATISTICS

• Custom designed by the STO Design Group of Santa Ana, CA • Extravagant performances involving music and light • Performances take eight hours of programming for one minute of show • Over 2,500 square feet of water surface • Over 36,000 gallons of water are in use at all times • 94 arching jets • 79 individually activated vertical clear stream jets • 12 air burst jets • One clear stream center jet • Total number of jets is 186 • Over 190 lights • Four basins • Capable of producing fog effects • 85 pumps, 79 of which are underwater • Stage area in front that is 25 feet by 12 feet and two and a half feet tall

THE VICENZA FOUNTAIN

The beautiful centerpiece on the north side of the Plaza is the

Vicenza fountain. Imported from Vicenza, Italy, this custom, hand-

carved stone structure stands 14 feet high. Water flows

majestically over three scalloped bowls into a magnificent pool,

which features symbols of Florida.

THE ANTIQUE WALL FOUNTAIN

Carved in the neoclassical style in the late 1880s, this antique

wall fountain is also from Vicenza, Italy. Its location in the arcade

passage between the main plaza and the residences offers

visitors and residents a scenic, relaxing oasis.

The Story of CityPlace

Beautiful fountains, old-world architecture and sidewalk cafes brings visitors back to a small European town as they stroll through West Palm Beach's newest downtown project -- $550 million CityPlace, off Interstate-95 near the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and minutes from the airport, Worth Avenue, The Breakers Hotel and Clematis Street Retail District. This mixed-use development offers an entertainment-retail concept with a restored 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival church adapted to a new role as the Harriet Himmel Gilman Theater. National retailers, regional specialty shops, restaurants, a 20-screen Muvico cinema, premium office spaces, a 400-room hotel, private town homes, live/work lofts, and rental apartments for the anticipated 1,000 residents complete the ambitious 55-acre project. The CityPlace story actually began in 1986 when the late real estate magnate, Henry Rolfs and his associate, David Paladino, quietly purchased 340 parcels of land in nine months, using 20 individual real estate agents, to keep quiet their plans of creating a project called Downtown/Uptown, which was planned to be a gateway to Palm Beach. The story takes a turn when the real estate depression of the late 1980s created the downfall of the project, resulting in multiple foreclosures and personal losses of $55 million for Rolfs. He died impoverished a few years later but his vision was brought back to life by former mayor Nancy M. Graham. Graham wanted to see the razed acreage filled with a retail, office, cultural and residential project that had public spaces that encouraged community interaction. The city of West Palm Beach issued a nationwide request for proposals and selected CityPlace Partners. Four years later the city celebrated thegrand opening of CityPlace, complete with a statue of Rolfs at the boundary of the five acres he donated

to the group building the Kravis Center. CityPlace, one of the most ambitious urban developments in the country, was planned and designed by acclaimed Boston architect and urban planner, Howard Elkus, of Elkus/Manfredi Architects. Its graceful, Mediterranean design features a "town square", lanterns inspired by those that illuminate Venice, and a spectacular "show" fountain with 186 arching water and air jets and 200 lights for a nightly show choreographed to music. The demand for downtown living was overwhelming - all 51 townhomes were sold in 10 days, 33 garden condos sold out, and the market is clamoring for the tower residences and courtyard apartments. Young singles and couples, professionals in their 30s to 50s, and retirees were all attracted to CityPlace residences which feature ivy and bougainvillea-covered balconies and courtyards, old world tile, hand-forged wrought iron fences and Mediterranean-style barrel tile roofs. The Palladium Company, a leading developer of urban mixed use projects, was responsible for CityPlace. They have more than $4 billion projects in various stages of planning and construction -- Columbus Centre in New York City, Victory in Dallas, Palladium Center in Bellevue, Washington, Palladium at Kenmore Square, Boston and Palladium in Birmingham, Michigan. CityPlace is drawing area residents for shopping, dining, and entertainment. Joan Sutton, a nearby resident of Wellington, states, "CityPlace has something for everyone with its restaurants, movies, theater and shopping. I enjoy being able to browse at Barnes & Noble and get a cup of coffee at the café. It reminds me of a small hometown where you could stroll downtown, window-shop and enjoy the outdoors. For me, it is agreat place to escape the working world and kick back. CityPlace is a 'must' for entertaining my out-of-town guests."