Cypress Realty Buy Spurs Mixed-Use Development

WEST PALM BEACH, FL-Cypress Realty of Florida Inc. has purchased a tract of land from the City of West Palm Beach where it plans to develop a mixed-use project with more than 200 condominium units and more than 20,000 sf of retail space.Cypress Realty, based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, bought 1.3 acres for a little more than $3 million, or approximately $2.3 million per acre. The property is located on the north side of the 400 block of Datura Street, between South Quadrille Boulevard and South Dixie Highway, within the central business district, a block from the future site of the public library and city hall complex.Duane H. Bennett of Irvine, CA-based Sperry Van Ness represented Cypress Realty in the land sale, while the city represented itself. “This property was attractive to the buyer because of its prime location in the redevelopment of Downtown West Palm Beach,” Bennett says in a statement. Cypress Realty won the purchase rights of the property through a request-for-proposal process.With no finalized project plans, the firm does not know the cost of the project, David Ebeling, a spokesman for the commercial real estate investment brokerage firm Sperry Van Ness, tells GlobeSt.com. The developer is in negotiations to develop an additional two stories to the building, he says. The time line for the project was still being worked out at press time.The city sold the property because the area is experiencing a lot of growth in the retail sector, and officials wanted to add the residential component to support that retail, Ebeling adds. Cypress Realty also owns Abacoa, a 200,000-sf, mixed-use development also in Palm Beach County.