Renovation of The Square & Downtown West Palm Beach

Twenty years ago, an isolated plaza called Cityplace emerged as a shopping and dining destination in the middle of downtown West Palm Beach. Although it was a popular destination, it seemed out of place and disconnected from the rest of the city, mostly because the area wasn’t busy like it is today.

Over a year, beginning in 2018, the entire space was redesigned and renamed “Rosemary Square.” The grand reopening took place on December 2, 2019. However, this wasn’t your average remodeling job. Now name The Square, bears almost no resemblance to the old Cityplace.

The original Cityplace was average in terms of aesthetics, dining, and shopping options. There was nothing unique or particularly interesting about the old Cityplace. On the contrary, The Square boasts several unique features, and patrons keep coming back for more.

The Square Renovation

Although many changes have taken place in the last 20 years, the transition from Cityplace to The Square has been a complete transformation, adding more value to the lives of West Palm Beach residents.

To start, there’s more greenery to enjoy, which offers people more shady places to relax and enjoy a meal or snack. The sidewalks, which are usually hot in the summer months, are now equipped with vine-covered trellises to shade foot traffic. Sidewalk curbs have been eliminated to make pathways feel more like part of the plaza.

A valet area has been added on Okeechobee Blvd. and visitors can walk through a beautifully landscaped promenade between the Kravis Center and The Square. For bicyclists, there’s a new bike path leading from Tamarind Ave. toward Dixie Highway.

The old fountain has been replaced by an elegant, 1,400-square-foot, interactive water pavilion. Designed by Danish artist Jeppe Hein, this amazing water feature creates vertical “curtains” that allow people to walk through to virtual “rooms” inside the structure without getting wet.

While the aesthetics of The Square have seen a major upgrade, so has the food. The people behind The Square’s rebrand have openly stated their focus is on wellness, which has translated to being selective with its restaurants.

Restaurants in The Square

There are several new, wonderful restaurants located in The Square, including:

• Planta. Planta is an upscale vegan restaurant that aims to serve its patrons beyond mainstream accepted standards for plant-based eating.
  Planta believes there’s more to responsible plant-based eating than simply eliminating animals from the menu. Their goal is to prepare dishes made from high-quality ingredients sourced ethically.
  In 2018, Planta’s South Beach location was named one of the top 50 vegetarian restaurants in America. Naturally, Planta would be drawn to open a location in Rosemary Square, given the focus on health and wellness. It’s a perfect match.
• True Food Kitchen. Backed by investment from Oprah Winfrey, this company is another perfect fit for Rosemary Square and is doing great things for the WPB community.
  True Food Kitchen is committed to better living through food.” Their website states, “True Food Kitchen is the only restaurant fundamentally based on science which ensures all of its craveable dishes and drinks work to increase the longevity of our people and planet.”
• Pura Vida. Pura Vida offers clean, fresh, and colorful dishes for both meat-eaters and vegetarians. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, you can get certain breakfast dishes all day, including avocado toast and superfood smoothies.
  Tying into the focus on wellness, Pura Vida offers wellness elixirs, fresh juice, and specialty coffee beverages.
• Barrio Sangria Bar. As an addition to City Cellar, Barrio Sangria Bar is a 100-seat tapas bar offering house-made sangria aged in solera wine barrels. You can get house-made sangria in white, red, or rosé.

Entertainment in The Square

The old movie theater, Muvico, has been remodeled into an AMC 12-plex cinema with plush, heated power recliners for added comfort. The movie screens have been replaced, along with the speakers and sound systems.

Just as you’d expect from any AMC theater, The Square location offers online tickets, reserved seating, and ticketless entry. Guests have access to an expanded menu of food through AMC Feature Fare, which includes chicken sliders, bacon macaroni and cheese, flatbread pizza, fully loaded hot dogs, and several gluten-free snacks. Guests 21 and older can order beer, wine, and cocktails at any time.

A unique and cool addition to The Square is The Wishing Tree. This tree is actually an art installation designed by Shilpa Gupta. The installation features a 32-foot tall LED light structure designed to look like a Banyan tree. There are 10,000 leaves with 100,000 individual, colored LED lights that work in harmony to create a dazzling light show.

Innovative art installations like this one have been popular for years, although most people don’t know these are created by artists. Often, these artists have additional installations in other locations, and it can be fun to research the artist to find out what other installations they’ve created.

The Square Gives Downtown West Palm Beach More Style

Since Cityplace was renamed The Square, residents of downtown West Palm Beach (and tourists) have more reason to visit the shops and restaurants in this plaza on a regular basis. It’s a great place to connect with friends, family, and business associates. 

Health-conscious restaurants provide locals with food their bodies will love and can potentially inspire people to eat healthier at home. 

There’s no question that rebranding the entire space as a health-conscious, vibrant center has had a positive impact on the WPB community; people are excited to visit, explore, dine, and relax. After being open for a little more than a year, the anticipation has finally settled down and people are enjoying The Square as another perk of living in downtown West Palm Beach.

Want to live near The Square? We can help.

If you’d like to live near this wonderful little shopping, dining, and entertainment center, we can help you find the perfect residence. Contact us for more information.