West Palm Beach presents draft downtown master plan update, proposes taller, slimmer waterfront towers and new western innovation district

West Palm Beach staff and outside consultants presented a draft update to the city’s downtown master plan and sought feedback from the City Commission on a package of zoning and design ideas meant to guide growth over the next two to three decades.

Development Services Director Ana Maria Aponte introduced the presentation and said the Downtown Master Plan, originally adopted in 1994 and last updated in 2009, needs new direction because “the city is experiencing the highest growth that we have ever seen, and the pressures for redevelopment are at the highest point also.”

The draft plan, led by consultant Bernard Ziskovich of Siskawach Architecture and Urban Design, outlines four broad moves: concentrate new height and innovation uses in a Western District near Tri-Rail and the future Vanderbilt graduate program; protect the character and scale of the existing central downtown; reconfigure the Flagler waterfront to create a larger continuous parkedge with tall, slender towers set back from the water; and add multimodal hubs to reduce car trips into the core.

Why it matters: Commissioners and staff said the city’s rapid recent growth — new Class A office buildings, hotels and a growing downtown residential base — has changed redevelopment economics since the last update, and the city must align zoning with broader goals for housing affordability, mobility and public open space so future development does not undermine the streetscape and waterfront access that the city has invested in.

Key proposals and details

- Western Innovation…