Construction is more than a year behind schedule on West Palm Beach’s most prominent undeveloped parcel, prompting frustrated city leaders to consider extending the deadline for the billionaire real estate mogul overseeing the project.
Work was supposed to be completed in August 2027 on West Palm Point, the 23-story office complex planned for the so-called “tent site” at the corner of Okeechobee Boulevard and South Dixie Highway in the city center.
But the company behind the project, controlled by real estate mogul Charles Cohen, has told the city that it can’t finish the project before January 2029, nearly a year and a half late, city officials say.
The city, which owns the land, notified Cohen’s company this year that it was in default on its
49-year lease, which city commissioners awarded in 2020. Six years later, construction on the site remains in early stages.
The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency said it was in talks this summer to negotiate a one-year extension when Cohen’s company said it would need a 17-month extension instead. City commissioners have scheduled a Sept. 28 meeting to consider the request.
During a discussion at a Sept. 14 CRA meeting, commissioners and Mayor Keith James vented at the delays at the site, which city leaders have been attempting to develop for three decades.
James said he was “frustrated” and called the false starts and litany of excuses by Cohen’s company “totally unacceptable.”
“They were gaslighting us,” he said. “They would put some workers out there to show a little bit of activity, take the workers off, et cetera. So the question is, is this a party that we can trust?”
An attorney representing the city told commissioners that another investment group, Lendlease, plans to partner with Cohen’s company and invest $350 million in the project. But it wants a deadline extension before putting up the money.
The attorney, James Bombulie of the Akerman law firm, said that under the proposed extension the company would start making rent payments to the city of about $1 million a year in September 2027, even though the project would still be more than a year from completion.
Commissioner Cathleen Ward said the fact that the company would start paying rent on the unfinished project would be an additional incentive to move quickly.
“I don't necessarily think that I'd be willing to move forward but for the fact that they are going to start paying rent and start paying those other things,” she said. “And so that is an incentive to get done, right? Because you're paying for that.”
An executive at Cohen Brothers Realty did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cohen’s company is planning a 23-story office and retail complex in an elliptical glass tower on the site, one that city leaders hope will be an architectural jewel along the gateway to the city center.
The city agreed in 2020 to lease the site to West Palm Point for 49 years for $1 million per year, with an option to purchase after 10 years.
But progress has been glacial as Cohen’s sprawling real estate empire has been plagued by financial problems.
Cohen’s team blamed some of the delays on issues it said were out of its control, Bombulie said.
“It was the developer's position that there was a number of delays relating to permitting and other items that caused this delay,” Bombulie told commissioners.
But there has been plenty of tumult on the financial front.
Cohen’s company defaulted in 2024 on a $535 million loan to Fortress Investment Group. That default led him lose several major properties, including the Design Center of the Americas in Broward County and the nearby Le Méridien Dania Beach hotel.
Because he personally guaranteed a portion of the loan, Fortress also moved to seize some of Cohen’s personal assets, including yachts, luxury cars and even his fine wine collection, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Last year, West Palm Point became ensnared in financial problems, too, with a lender filing a foreclosure lawsuit on the project and accusing Cohen's company of failing to pay back a $10 million preconstruction loan.
The company dismissed the suit the following month, but a few months later, the city accused Cohen's company of defaulting on its lease requirements.
James indicated he had little faith in the company’s ability to see the project through, saying he was “quite frustrated with the nature and tone of the discussions that I've had with the developer.”
“I have no confidence whatsoever in the parties that I'm dealing with on the other side on this particular matter,” he said.
Andrew Marra is a reporter at The Palm Beach Post. Reach him at amarra@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Exclusive: West Palm leaders fume at delays at 'tent site' tower
