“Luxury homes define the lifestyle of Palm Beach. But land prices are high and waterfront homes are scarce, with some costing $30 million or more for new construction.”
After all, “Where else are you going to go if you want to buy something on the water?” asked real estate broker Rebel Cook, who thinks the bet will pay off. “You go where the water is, and that’s the Intracoastal,” said Cook, leader of the Economic Forum, a business group.
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Citations being issued on Clematis Street
Alanna Quillen
Aug 7, 2017
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The arts and entertainment district of West Palm Beach is no stranger to businesses coming and going.
“Empty storefronts,” said Murphy as he points to a building on the 300 block of Clematis. “Looks empty inside. Not good for business.”
But some don’t agree with the rules. Rebel Cook, owner of Rebel Cook Real Estate, is a real estate broker who represents a property owner that got a citation on the 500 block of Clematis Street. She is working with the city now to address the issue.
She shared her thoughts on the regulation and how it impacts businesses.
“Let’s put little pretty posters in the windows so you don’t see the buildings are empty — people aren’t naive,” she said.
From a commercial standpoint, she says potential clients can’t easily shop around.
“Many times, people will come to an area, drive around, look into a window and decide, ‘Oh, that might fit my needs,'” she said.
And she says covering up the windows can pose safety concerns for real estate agents.
“Over the years, we’re had problems with vagrants,” she said. “I’m walking into a vacant building — and if I can’t see what’s inside, there’s an element of uncertainty that goes along with that.”
Bill DiPaolo
April 4, 2017
Excerpt from PBPOST.com
Moving forward with a plan for the town to offer $2.8 million for two vacant acres next to Jupiter High School to improve safety for students, parents and employees was approved 4-1 Tuesday night.
Increasing traffic is a hazard for drivers and walkers, said Colleen Iannitti, principal at the 3,000-student school.
“Anything we can do to relieve traffic would be beneficial for families and students,” said Iannitti.
Jupiter High has about 400 student drivers and about 1,500 students are dropped off daily. The school has about 200 employees, according to the Town of Jupiter.
The town is basing its offer on appraisals paid for by the town.
Rebel Cook, the Realtor representing the Jupiter-based property owner, declined comment.
The plan calls for building a roundabout on the parcel on Indiantown Road at Daniels Way. Many use Daniels Way to get to and from the school.
For the full article visit: http://npbc.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2017/04/04/jupiter-will-offer-about-3-m-for-vacant-land-near-town-hall/
By Alexandra Clough – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 12, 2017
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Excerpt:
Helping the Mayo/Frielich ventures is the revival of development on Clematis Street’s west end.
“The 500 block is no longer the dead zone of Clematis,” said real estate broker Rebel Cook.
Indeed, the Brightline train station is under construction, new apartments are being built nearby, and the 4th District Court of Appeal’s new courthouse, on Tamarind Avenue at Clematis and Datura Streets, is under construction, too. Then there are the three hotels planned for nearby Rosemary Avenue: An Aloft Hotel, an Indigo Hotel and a hotel for lovers only, dubbed Prive Suites , which will feature swimming pools in each room. All these elements will increase customer and foot traffic to bars and restaurants, real estate experts say.
The 500 block was expected to receive a major boost with the opening of a theater at 522 Clematis St., but plans for the theater fell apart late last year. The property now is for lease or for sale, said Cook of Rebel Cook Real Estate in Palm Beach Gardens.
The 522 Clematis St. building has been on the market for just a few days, but Cook said she’s already fielding calls from tenants interested in the 6,400-square-foot space.
By Bill DiPaolo – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, Dec. 12, 2016
JUPITER — More residential waterfront development is being proposed — this time for three dozen townhouses on the Intracoastal Waterway — to meet the continuing demand for luxury housing in north county.
“The units are getting smaller and smaller, but people love the location,” said John True, owner of Oceanfront Realty in Juno Beach. Prices for the 35 units at Water Pointe, each about 1,500 square feet, should start at about $400,000-$500,000, according to local Realtors and developers.
The vacant 4-acre site on the west side of U.S. 1 is the former Elks Lodge 2469. The lodge opened in the early 1970s and was demolished in about 2010. The lodge is now in Jupiter Farms, in the Publix plaza on the south side of Indiantown Road, about a mile west of Florida’s Turnpike. The plan by Wilmington, Del.-based Emerald Cay Holdings calls for seven two-story buildings, a 400-square-foot fitness center, a community swimming pool, pavilion and tot lot on the now-vacant lot about a mile south of Indiantown Road.
Whether the community will be gated has not been determined. The town’s planning and zoning commission plans to consider the proposal on Tuesday. The town council is scheduled to vote on the plan on Jan. 17.
Owners would have access to Riverwalk, the town’s 2.4-mile public access walkway being built between the Jupiter Inlet and Ocean Way for bicyclists and pedestrians. There would be no commercial development on the Water Pointe property.
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ORIGINALLY POSTED ON PBPOST.COM
By Alexandra Clough – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 8:00 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016
It might not be Park Place, but South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach is starting to resemble the Monopoly board game, thanks to a triple-play deal engineered by one investor. The play led to record sales prices on three properties.
Here’s how the deal went down.
Player 1 was investor Jonathan Gladstone. In January, he bought the former Gulfstream Bistro & Seafood Market at 3815 S. Dixie Highway. Then he started looking for someone to lease or buy the empty space.
Player 2 was NRB Properties Inc. The investment group owned a vacant building at 3611 S. Dixie Highway, formerly an antique shop, and NRB was ready to sell.
Player 3 was Morse Geriatric Center, part of MorseLife Health System. The provider of healthcare and housing for seniors owns the Nearly New Thrift Shop at 2218 S. Dixie Highway. Morse wasn’t even interested in selling its building, but the entity wound up being a key part of the transaction.
The deal’s architect was Gladstone, a longtime West Palm Beach investor who is bringing the Butcher Shop Beer Garden & Grill from Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood to downtown at 209 Sixth St.
Gladstone, like other investors, is eager to be a larger player in the strip of Dixie Highway south of Okeechobee Boulevard.
Since 2012, investors and business owners have been pouring money into buying up sites along this stretch of highway. They’ve transformed many buildings or built new properties, turning them into restaurants, architecture, interior design and real estate firms and even an exclusive primary school, The Greene School.
In recent months, Gladstone said he’s been busy fielding offers on his coveted Gulfstream site, which features a parking lot and is just north of Southern Boulevard in the heart of Antique Row.
But Gladstone liked Morse’s building next to the planned redo of the Carefree Theatre, where theaters, apartments and showroom space are planned. The area is becoming something of a design district, and Gladstone wanted a piece of the action.
Gladstone’s father, the late Arthur Gladstone, donated land off of Haverhill Road in his father’s name, Fred Gladstone, for Morse Geriatric. Gladstone said he knew people to contact at Morse about their thrift store, even though the building wasn’t for sale.
Nearly New is a popular destination for people looking for upscale clothing, estate jewelry and decorator furniture.
“I went to them and said, ‘Is there any chance you want to swap properties? You belong more in the antique district, and I belong more in your area,’ ” Gladstone recalled.
Talks commenced. But over time, Gladstone said the parties realized that turning the old Gulfstream space into a thrift store didn’t make sense financially.
Meanwhile, the co-owner of Field of Greens salad and sandwich shop at 412 Clematis St. wanted to buy the Gulfstream bistro site for a new restaurant concept. Gladstone agreed to sell.
Gladstone still wanted to buy Morse’s building, but Morse officials didn’t want to sell the thrift store if they didn’t have a replacement site.
Not to worry, Gladstone told them. He had a plan.
Gladstone took Morse officials right down the street to 3611 S. Dixie Highway.
The 8,000-square-foot, two-story building is larger than Morse’s existing 7,200-square-foot thrift store space. Even better, it has a parking lot.
All three deals closed during the last two weeks at premium prices, according to deeds recorded with the Palm Beach County clerk’s office.
The triple play left Cook marveling at the continued demand for space and high prices being paid for property along South Dixie Highway. “The wheeling and dealing continues,” Cook said. “It’s incredible.”
Alexandra Clough writes about the economy, real estate and the law.
Westlake, Avenir and Indian Trails Grove among new projects
April 21, 2016 03:30PM
By Dan Weil
Merin calculates that just in the last five months, the county has approved 15,000 homes, 4.5 million square feet of industrial space, 3.6 million square feet of office space and 2.5 million square feet of retail space on agricultural land about 20 miles west of the Intracoastal.
Basically, “growth is moving up from Dade and Broward counties,” Rebel Cook, president of Rebel Cook Real Estate in Palm Beach Gardens, told TRD. “They’re out of land, as we soon will be too.”
In addition, to the road issues, environmental impact is a big issue. Westlake and Avenir are part of preserve areas.
“The concern is that as they move west, the water supply would get polluted by developments,” Cook said.
But developers have pledged to leave some areas untouched in their projects. “I think these communities will provide more places of beauty,” Merin said.
January 08, 2016 12:00PM
By Dan Weil
Plans include a Marriott AC Hotel, 300 apartments, 50,000 sf of retail and commercial space
When it comes to the apartments, West Palm desperately needs more, particularly downtown, local real estate pros say. “Housing is as tight as I’ve ever seen it,” Rebel Cook, president of Rebel Cook Real Estate, a commercial real estate services firm based in Palm Beach Gardens, told TRD.
On the retail side, Reichel thinks the project can do well with “incubator” spaces of 500 to 800 square feet. But Cook sees uncertainty for the retail component. “It’s a block away from Clematis Street — the main thoroughfare of downtown — and retailers are having a hard enough time there,” she said.
By Eliot Kleinberg – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH —
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw doesn’t like “open carry” and believes body cameras are only part of preventing police shootings.
Speaking to an Economic Forum of Palm Beach County audience Tuesday at the Kravis Center, Bradshaw also repeated that he’s running for reelection and defended the way the Sheriff’s Office investigates deputy-involved shootings, which came under scrutiny in a joint Palm Beach Post-News Channel 5 series.
“There’s not a deputy that gets up in the morning and says, ‘Yeah, I’d like to get involved in a shooting today,’” Bradshaw said. “It’s absolute hell. They have three investigations.”
By Bill DiPaolo – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 4:43 p.m. Friday, July 3, 2015
JUPITER —
That 25-foot-high pile of dirt motorists see west of Florida’s Turnpike at Indiantown Road is the start of Lakewood, a 275-house residential development. Workers are building the lake and entry roads into the 260- acre project on former farmland. Lakewood plans include a restaurant, office, drug store and 150,000 square feet of research and development office space.
“Sale prices for Lakewood homes, which will be zero-lot-line and on smaller lots than Jupiter Country Club, likely will be in the $300,000 to $600,000 range, said north county Realtor Rebel Cook. Zero-lotline homes in PGA National, which do not have the advantage of being brand new, are selling for about $300,000, she said. “The quicker they can build those houses, the higher they will sell. This is the lowest housing inventory I have ever seen,” Cook said.”
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