West Palm Beach leaders are having second thoughts about giving a deadline-blowing billionaire more time to finish a project on the city’s most prominent undeveloped downtown land.
Two weeks after allowing developer Charles Cohen 17 extra months to finish a 25-story office-and-retail complex planned for the so-called “tent site,” city commissioners and Mayor Keith James voted unanimously Oct. 13 to “reconsider” the deadline extension.
The vote does not reverse the city’s previous decision to give Cohen’s development company more time, but it opens the door to doing so or negotiating more conditions that could give the city greater leverage over the long-delayed project.
The surprising turnabout stems from the city’s deep misgivings about Cohen’s
ability to complete the project on the city-owned tract at the corner of Okeechobee Boulevard and South Dixie Highway.
The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency agreed to lease the land to Cohen’s company in April 2020. More than six years later, construction of the office and retail complex, West Palm Point, is still in its early stages.
The real estate mogul, a part-time Palm Beach resident, has faced years of financial difficulties, and James has accused his company of repeated “shenanigans.”
“I've expressed my opinion on the current developer and what I will call shenanigans that they have pulled off during these discussions,” James said. “I have no trust in them whatsoever.”
Still, city commissioners and James voted 4-2 last month to extend the deadline from mid-2027 to January 2029. The amendment also allowed another investment group, Lendlease, to invest $350 million, a cash infusion that Cohen’s company said would jump-start the project.
That vote came after CRA administrators told Cohen’s group early this year that they were in violation of their lease, leading to negotiations over a deadline extension.
Commissioners Christy Fox and Joe Peduzzi both said that they had misgivings after the vote, with Peduzzi saying that the vote “may have been a hasty decision.”
Fox pointed out that “we have given many, many chances to that developer and we continue to be where we are today.”
“We picked one developer, and now it seems as if our agreement is with a completely other lender which we also don't know a whole lot about,” Fox said. “And I just think it's a pivotal time in our city, that we this is our one chance to reconsider whether or not we made the right decision.”
Commissioners did not decide when they would meet again to reconsider the deadline extension. They typically convene once a month as the CRA’s board, but they could plan a special meeting in upcoming weeks.
Chris Roog, the CRA’s executive director, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A representative for Cohen’s company, Cohen Brothers Realty, did not respond to a request for comment. Last month company representatives attributed their delays to “complex circumstances surrounding this project,” including slow city approval of the project’s design and unforeseen delays involving permits from two state agencies.
Cohen’s company also has faced financial struggles, losing several properties after defaulting on a $535 million loan in 2024. Last year, a lender filed a foreclosure lawsuit on the West Palm Point project and accused Cohen's company of failing to pay back a $10 million preconstruction loan.
The lender dismissed the suit the following month.
Andrew Marra is a reporter at The Palm Beach Post. Reach him at amarra@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm rethinks extension for delayed ‘tent site’ tower | Exclusive
