Modern Luxury Palm Beach: “Luxe Redux”

Like a holiday present wrapped just as spectacularly as the contents concealed within, The Royal Poinciana Plaza is a lustrous gift Palm Beachers cannot wait to discover. Now that the 180,000-square-foot open-air shopping mecca boasts an updated look and an entirely new vibe—plus an esteemed list of brands on the directory—it is destined to become a major shopping destination for both locals and visitors.

Samantha Perry David, chief operating officer of WS Development and the head of UpMarkets, a division of WS Development, says convincing her associates at the company’s Chestnut Hill, Mass., headquarters that the property was ripe for rebirth was not a hard sell. Not only did the plaza already have “good bones,” thanks to its original architect, John Volk (whose client roster boasted names like Vanderbilt, Dupont, Ford, Dodge and Pulitzer), but it also possessed a very dedicated following. “Our existing tenants are beloved by us and the community,” David explains. “TooJay’s Gourmet Deli is packed every day for lunch, while Palm Beach Grill hardly ever has an empty table for dinner, and the Edward Fleming Salon has been styling grandmothers, mothers and now the granddaughters and great-granddaughters of Palm Beach.”