{"id":684217,"date":"2026-03-26T23:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/684217\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T23:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:24:14","slug":"what-to-see-and-do-in-west-palm-beachs-nora-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/684217\/","title":{"rendered":"What to see and do in West Palm Beach’s Nora District"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt was \u2018the hood\u2019 last year, but like the flip of a switch, every Palm Beach Island New Yorker is over here now to Instagram their breakfast,\u201d commented someone in the subreddit r\/WestPalmBeach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re riffing about the new Nora District \u2014 short for North Railroad Avenue \u2014 the city\u2019s largest redevelopment project in 25 years. The warehouse graveyard where you didn\u2019t want to wander after dark just a decade ago is still a far cry from New York City\u2019s Dumbo neighborhood. But the district is as up-and-coming as they come.<\/p>\n

\u201cNora\u2019s design features open spaces, pedestrian-friendly streets, and thoughtfully restored historic railway buildings,\u201d Joe Furst, founder and managing principal of Place Projects, told The Post.<\/p>\n

Housing is on its way, too, with hundreds of new units in the works to join in on the district\u2019s fun. Common Ground Studios<\/p>\n

Place Projects, NDT Development, and Wheelock Street Capital are the developers behind the ambitious endeavor. Anchored by 100,000 square feet of retail space, the 40-acre district will also boast a hotel and hundreds of residential units. Culture will be key, too.<\/p>\n

North Railroad Avenue started deteriorating in the 1970s as trucking replaced freight. But, unlike Miami\u2019s Wynwood district, it never attracted starving artists. However, Furst promises outdoor life-size interactive installations: \u201cThese artworks will help define Nora\u2019s character and foster moments of community connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, Nora\u2019s character embodies the Big Apple as much as it does South Florida. It\u2019s not so much an if-you-build-it-they-will-come situation as it is meeting them where they\u2019re at. Angelo Abbenante, owner of Lynora\u2019s Italian Restaurant, said he runs into transplants from Manhattan and Brooklyn all the time: \u201cThe migration has been very noticeable, especially since the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooklyn\u2019s beloved Juliana\u2019s Pizza opened its first outpost in the Nora District in November. <\/p>\n

Unlike the original location, Nora\u2019s Juliana\u2019s accepts reservations. It also has a full bar, happy hour specials and a spacious outdoor seating area \u2014 complete with a fire pit.<\/p>\n

Throw a meatball east of Juliana\u2019s and it will hit H&H Bagels, located on a coveted corner lot across the street. A Manhattan mainstay since 1972, H&H Bagels opened its first Florida franchise in Boca Raton in 2024. Recent reviews suggest the Nora location\u2019s service is slow, but serving sizes are generous. One New Yorker says she\u2019s happy she doesn\u2019t have to freeze bagels and pack them to West Palm Beach anymore.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn\u2019s beloved Juliana\u2019s Pizza has a slice of the \u2018hood. Juliana\u2019s Pizza<\/p>\n

That said, Nora is serving up some of NYC\u2019s favorite frozen treats. Mister Softee has yet to bring a brick-and-mortar location to West Palm Beach, but that\u2019s what Van Leeuwen Ice Cream recently did. <\/p>\n

In a past life, 870 N Railroad Ave. was most likely a railway-related warehouse covered in dust. Today, it\u2019s where you can enjoy a vegan banana bread pudding cone or pick up a $14 pint of peanut butter brownie honeycomb.<\/p>\n

Other Nora tenants open for business include Loco Taqueria & Oyster Bar, straight out of Boston, where it was founded, and Sunday Motor Co., an all-day caf\u00e9 that got its start in a converted New Jersey gas station. <\/p>\n

Jersey-based all-day caf\u00e9 Sunday Motor Co. has a home here. Sunday Motor Co.<\/p>\n

Retailers and services include the children\u2019s store ZenHippo, Le Labo, IGK Salons, Sana Skin Studios, SWEAT440, Warby Parker and two women\u2019s boutiques: Pompanos and Mint.<\/p>\n

Come October, the Nora Hotel<\/a> is hoping to have heads in beds for overnight visitors. <\/p>\n

The 201-key boutique property \u2014 the first hotel in the \u2018hood \u2014 is being developed in partnership with BD Hotels and Sean MacPherson. They\u2019re the masterminds behind the Mercer, Hotel Chelsea, the Bowery Hotel and other notable New York City properties.<\/p>\n

Nora\u2019s even got its own eponymous hotel. Gachot<\/p>\n

Full-time housing is in the works, too. \u201cLater this year, we will break ground on our Phase 3 multifamily project,\u201d said Furst.<\/p>\n

The 11-story building will feature 350 units. Another 11-story luxury condominium will offer 117 residences. Still, Nora is no CityPlace, West Palm\u2019s last major redevelopment, which skews more modern.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are preserving and restoring the historic railway warehouses that define the site,\u201d Ned Grace, co-founder of NDT Development, said. \u201cIt allows us to maintain a connection to West Palm Beach\u2019s past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local business owners like Abbenante are also optimistic: \u201cWest Palm Beach is in the middle of a major evolution. Developments like Nora show how the city is becoming a true lifestyle destination rather than just a seasonal market.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt was \u2018the hood\u2019 last year, but like the flip of a switch, every Palm Beach Island New…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":684218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1037,723,1165,12792,405,403,85824,5226,5225,5228,5227,166982,1164,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-684217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-art","tag-florida","tag-lifestyle","tag-luxury-hotels","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-yorkers","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-palm-beach","tag-travel","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116298059937179415","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}