The reconstruction of the Royal Poinciana Playhouse is moving toward completion and a phased reopening that is expected to start later this year.
Construction began in 2022 on the redevelopment of the historic landmark at 70 Royal Poinciana Way into a mixed-use building with upscale retail, a 200-seat waterfront restaurant, and cultural arts venue with up to 400 retractable seats.
The Innovate, a non-profit organization co-founded by long-time Palm Beach residents Avie and Jill Glazer, is operating the new arts center, which is expected to open before the start of the 2025-26 season.
There will be between five and seven high-end shops in the building, said Alexandra Clark, senior vice president of asset strategy and experience at Boston-based WS Development, which operates the Royal Poinciana Plaza and playhouse site under a long-term lease.
Cartier will be one of the retail tenants, WS Development has said. The others have not been announced.
The restaurant, Tutto Mare, an upscale Mediterranean-concept, will be the only waterfront restaurant open to the public on the island, Clark said.
Clark said it’s exciting to head into the final stretch of the high-profile project that began a decade ago, when WS Development began its search for a tenant to occupy the long-shuttered theater space.
“To be at this moment, working with incredible people like the Glazers, is very exciting,” Clark said. “We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I can’t help but think there’s going to be a little bit of shock and awe that this was finally pulled off.”
The redevelopment plan was approved by the Town Council and Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2022.
Architect John Volk designed the Regency-style plaza and playhouse. The theater opened in 1958 and became a social center for the island in the 1960s and 1970s when it featured tours of Broadway plays, ballets and musical performances and drew A-list celebrities including Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Nightly dinners in the Celebrity Room, on the south side of the building, were part of the glamour and attraction.
The playhouse has been dark since 2004 when its last tenant, Clear Channel Communications, pulled out.
WS Development, which has transformed the once-sleepy plaza into a retail and dining destination on the island, worked for years to reopen the playhouse in a way that would ensure its long-term success, Clark said.
Nearly 8,000 square feet is being added to the original 34,517-square-foot building as part of a plan to create 12,000 square feet of retail and gallery space.
Most of the original building has been demolished. WS Development said borings by geotechnical engineers in 2022 revealed the soil beneath the playhouse to be muck. Structural engineers also found the walls were seriously compromised. To successfully restore the building and avoid future settlement issues, a new foundation was constructed that included hundreds of pilings, pile caps and grade beams.
The walls were rebuilt in their original locations once the pilings were installed.
Elements of the original building that are being preserved include the east façade, which has been braced until it can be attached to the new superstructure. The four statues that stood atop the façade are in storage during construction but will be restored to their original places. Also preserved is the Celebrity Room ceiling mural and surrounding infrastructure; the northwest corner of the building; and the playhouse box office location.
During a July 30 tour of the construction site, a large team of workers could be seen installing mechanical and utility equipment and moving toward completion of the new interior and exterior walls.
The shell of an expanded space for three as-yet unannounced retail shops is visible on the building’s southeast corner, facing the plaza.
To the rear of the shops, on the southwest side of the building, construction is underway on the site of the waterfront restaurant.
The space that will be occupied by Tutto Mare includes the former Celebrity Room. There will be a new indoor bar and lounge area in the former Celebrity Room, with the carefully preserved ceiling mural intact. Immediately west of that room will be an indoor dining room with expansive views of the Lake Worth Lagoon. There will also be outdoor dining.
Customers will reach the restaurant on a canopied and landscaped walkway along the south side of the building.
Behind the playhouse’s east façade, there is now retail space that will be occupied by Cartier. Entry will be gained through new doors that will be built into the façade, beneath the large arched windows.
Additional retail room is also being added on the northeast side of the building, facing the plaza.
The exterior of the new retail space is consistent with Volk’s original architectural design for the playhouse and plaza, Hannah McCallum, senior manager of asset strategy and development with WS Development, said during the site tour.
The Innovate arts center will be accessed through the original entry point to the old theater lobby, on the south side of the east façade.
The 24,000-square-foot arts center will be two floors tall with offices and meeting space overlooking the performance and seating area from the second floor. It will have a view of the lagoon through a new “glass curtain” wall.
The center will be equipped with 16 rows of retractable seating, a state-of-the-art sound system and a flexible design that will accommodate a variety of entertainment, including music, film, dance, comedy, cabaret, and spoken-word presentations, Jill Glazer said.
“A lot of thought and effort is going into making this something beautiful,” she told the Palm Beach Civic Association this week.
The center will have a much larger lobby and more restrooms than the old theater did, she said.
Dressing rooms, a loading area and other support space for the arts center will be located on the northwest side of the building.
Last month, The Innovate announced it had hired Jared Shahid as its executive director. Shahid most recently served as executive director of programming at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Connecticut. He assumes his new post in September.
The Innovate is a corporate sponsor of the Civic Association and is sponsoring the Civic Association’s Welcome Back Community Forum on November 7 at the Mandel Recreation Center. Jill Glazer is a Civic Association director.
Clark has said WS Development searched for years to find the right operator for the new performance space, and that operator turned out to be the Glazers and The Innovate. The Glazers and WS Development share a common vision for a community hub that is modern in its technology while honoring elements of the past.
“The Glazers are embracing that,” Clark said when announcing the redevelopment plan in January 2022. “That is why I am so excited they are on board.”
Other top talent associated with the project includes architects Smith Moore and Spina O’Rourke, and Weitz Construction as the general contractor, Clark said.
“I think we’ve got a dream team and we’re heading toward the finish line as fast as possible,” she said.
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