Worth Avenue's 100 Block Is Swapping Department Stores for Dining Rooms and Clubs

The ocean end of Worth Avenue, where the street meets South County Road, is anchored by two big buildings that face each other. On the north side, 151 Worth Ave. has had no tenant since Neiman Marcus closed in 2020. On the south side, The Esplanade at 150 Worth Ave. sold this year for a record $200 million. The plans now moving through Town Hall for both buildings have something in common. Neither one brings a department store back. Each is built around a restaurant, and the larger plan adds two private membership clubs.

So the 100 block, which used to be a place to shop, is being redesigned as a place to sit down, eat and belong to something. The catch is timing. The earliest announced opening on either side of the street is December 2027. This winter you'll see construction fencing, approvals and plans on paper, plus a few nearby openings that are real.

The Neiman Marcus Building Gets a Neighborhood Steakhouse

TZ Capital bought 151 Worth Ave. in November 2025 for a recorded $80.5 million. The firm is led by Palm Beach residents Tyler and Teddy Tananbaum, with managing partner Sam Zuckert of West Palm Beach. In February, the Town Council approved a plan to split the old department store into smaller commercial spaces with room for a restaurant. Plans call for boutique retail on the first two levels and the restaurant on the second floor. Construction is already underway.

The restaurant is from Stephen Starr, whose group runs Le Diplomate in Washington, D.C., and the Michelin-starred Le Coucou in New York. Its working name is Room Service, and it would be his first restaurant in Palm Beach. It is planned at 165 seats, with 133 indoors and 32 on an existing terrace that the ownership describes as having views of the Atlantic and Worth Avenue. Ken Fulk is expected to design the interiors as "an homage to the gilded 1920s." The menu Starr described is steakhouse fare mixed with comfort food: lobster mac and cheese, meatloaf, burgers, and Peking duck as a Sunday special.

His pitch to the Town Council on Sept. 9 was aimed at island residents rather than visitors, as the Palm Beach Daily News reported:

"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."

That approval came with conditions. The council approved the restaurant's special exceptions on the condition that it later approves a "declaration of use" agreement. It also voted 4-1 on a variance covering three extra on-site parking spaces. A 1,350-square-foot third-floor addition for back-of-house space still needs Architectural Commission review. TZ Capital's statement says the restaurant could open as early as December 2027. That's about 14 months from now, after this winter season ends.

Across the Street, a London Arcade With Two Clubs Upstairs

The Esplanade plan goes further and is less settled. Reuben Brothers, the British firm led by David and Simon Reuben, bought the center with Crown Onyx Investments. On Aug. 13 they filed initial plans to rename it Burlington Arcade at Palm Beach. The name comes from the Mayfair arcade in London that Reuben Brothers acquired in 2018, which first opened on March 20, 1819.

According to the Palm Beach Daily News account of the filing, the proposed program is built around food and membership:

The one large retail space on the list is about 7,800 square feet. The two clubs together take up more than 17,000 square feet of the second floor and add up to roughly 600 memberships. Casa Tua already has outposts in Miami Beach, Aspen, New York, Capri and Paris. Birley Bakery has one location in London's Chelsea and one on New York's Upper East Side. According to town records, the Birley club would serve Palm Beach residents as well as "hotel guests." That fits the owners' other holdings nearby. Reuben Brothers also owns the ground floor of the Tiffany building at 259 Worth Ave. and the Vineta Hotel on Cocoanut Row, the former Chesterfield, which reopened in February after a renovation of nearly three years.

The design comes from Fairfax & Sammons. Richard Sammons, one of the firm's principals, is vice chair of the town's Architectural Commission. The firm's letter of intent describes the plan as supporting Worth Avenue "as Palm Beach's premier pedestrian-oriented commercial district." The plans add new facades, awnings, walkways and terraces across the eastern part of the two-story center. They also include new ground-level storefronts along the former Saks Fifth Avenue space on the west side, which were approved earlier.

When the Palm Beach Daily News reported the filing on Aug. 28, none of it was approved. The developers still had to answer town staff comments and then go before both the Architectural Commission and the Town Council, and town records put the earliest date for that in October. No opening date has been announced.

Why Both Buildings Asked Town Hall for the Same Things

Both applications ask the town for the same kinds of permission, which shows how much of this change has to pass through Town Hall. The 151 Worth application on a Town Council agenda requests approval for restaurant use, outdoor café seating, shared parking, changes to the site plan and a variance. The Esplanade's list starts the same way and keeps going, with special exceptions for a restaurant, outdoor café seating, on-site shared parking, a store larger than 4,000 square feet, take-away food and drinks, and membership clubs.

That helps explain the long timeline. Each of those requests goes before the town, and Room Service still has a declaration of use and an Architectural Commission review to clear even after its conditional approval in September. The Esplanade's list of requests is longer, and as of the August filing, its first review had not been scheduled any earlier than October.

What You Can Actually Use This Season

While the two anchors are in the approval and construction stage, this is what's on the calendar for the rest of 2026, in order:

1. Vineyard Vines returns, expected the first week of November. The brand is coming back to Worth Avenue two years after closing its earlier store. The new store is at 330 Worth Ave., the former home of The Silver Fund, as the Palm Beach Post reported. The date is the company's expectation, not a confirmed opening.
2. Historic walking tours start Wednesday, Nov. 4. The Worth Avenue Association's 75-minute tour, led by docent Rick Rose, runs every Wednesday through May 5, 2027. The association's event calendar has the details. A tour of the avenue's history passes right by the two buildings that are about to change it most.
3. Holiday Tree Lighting, Tuesday, Dec. 1. Santa and his elves start the parade at 6:10 p.m. on the 100 block, and the tree is lit at 6:25 p.m., according to the Worth Avenue Association. The 100 block is the ocean block, so this year's parade starts right between 150 and 151 Worth.

A few blocks away, the Town Council has approved site plans for George x Avenue 31, a Mediterranean-themed restaurant with a nightclub. It would take two floors of the former Le Bar a Vin building at 380 S. County Road. The Palm Beach Daily News reported the approval with no opening date. Room Service is not the island's only new restaurant moving through approvals this fall.

Where Each Project Stands Today

• 151 Worth Ave., Room Service by Stephen Starr. Conditionally approved Sept. 9, 2026. The building is under construction. The earliest announced opening is December 2027.
• 150 Worth Ave., Burlington Arcade at Palm Beach. Proposed. Plans were filed Aug. 13, 2026, and as of late August they still needed Architectural Commission and Town Council review. No opening date.
• 330 Worth Ave., Vineyard Vines. Expected to open the first week of November 2026.
• 380 S. County Road, George x Avenue 31. Site plans approved. No opening date.

At the earliest, Starr's terrace opens in December 2027. Any Burlington Arcade date depends on the town's reviews. Until then, you'll see these changes at the Dec. 1 tree lighting and on Wednesday tours, with both buildings still under construction or awaiting approval.

If you own near Worth Avenue and want to talk through how the street's next chapter fits your own plans, Matt and Kate Shaw follow these Town Hall decisions closely and would be glad to help. Request Your Free Home Valuation, and we'll keep you posted as each project on the 100 block moves forward.