From the vacant land at U.S. 1 and Northlake Boulevard, the view west ends at a seven-story apartment building. A photograph published by Stet News shows that view, with vacant land in the foreground and the apartment building under construction behind it. The two halves sit on one lot that was once one mall. They are on different calendars because two governments approved them in two different ways.
The western building is Avalon Lake Park. It has 279 rental apartments on 9 acres, and the Palm Beach Post reports that leasing begins in November, with move-ins expected to start in January. The eastern 13 acres sit inside the Village of North Palm Beach. That land is the subject of a lawsuit with a nonjury trial window running through Nov. 20.
A Mall Built on the Border
The lot's split is as old as the lot. Twin City Mall opened in 1971 as the first enclosed mall in northern Palm Beach County, and it took its name from where it sat, across the boundary between Lake Park and North Palm Beach. Sears anchored it. When The Gardens Mall opened in 1988, Sears moved there and Twin City declined. The building came down in 1997.
For most of the three decades since, the town line hardly mattered. It began to matter once each side had a development application in front of it, because each municipality answered its application in its own way.
| Lake Park side, west | North Palm Beach side, east | |
|---|---|---|
| Project | Avalon Lake Park, presented to Lake Park as Northlake Promenade Apartments | Village Place |
| Developer | AvalonBay | NP-Devland Holdings, backed by Cypress Real Estate Advisors |
| Size | 279 rental apartments, 9 acres | 13 acres |
| Height | Seven stories | Not fixed by the approved master plan |
| Status for November 2026 | Leasing from November, January move-ins expected | In litigation, trial window Oct. 12 to Nov. 20 |
What Lake Park Pinned Down
The Lake Park application for Northlake Promenade spelled out its specifics. Florida YIMBY lists the address as 374 Northlake Blvd. and AvalonBay as the developer. The application also accounts for the existing shopping center next door. It lists two existing retail buildings of 4,138 and 6,186 square feet, plus 65,480 square feet of approved additional retail, with that retail approval vested through 2028. The presentation shows façade improvements to that existing retail, and the project was described as connected to a commercial plaza anchored by Publix, with AvalonBay planning upgrades to the shopping center.
For anyone who drives that corner, the conditions of approval matter most. Lake Park tied them to the certificate of occupancy, so the work is due before residents move in:
- The owner funds a new traffic signal on Northlake Boulevard at the site's western main entrance, which the plans call "the Northlake Entry Street."
- The easterly median opening on Northlake Boulevard closes.
- The eastbound dual left-turn lanes at U.S. 1 are extended.
- The existing eastbound right-turn lane at U.S. 1 is extended west to the project's westernmost driveway.
So the first physical change most North Palm Beach households will notice from the mall redevelopment is on Northlake Boulevard. It comes from the Lake Park parcel, and it changes how cars turn into the Publix plaza and onto U.S. 1. The businesses facing Northlake and U.S. 1, including the CVS, TD Bank, Wendy's, Helix Urgent Care and the gas station, are outside the Village Place plan, as are the Publix and the small retailers on the west side.
What North Palm Beach Left Open on Purpose
The Village's half started with bigger plans. NP-Devland bought the property for $19 million in April 2022. Stet News reported its Village Place proposal as 947 apartments, 133 condominiums, a 222-room hotel, a 206-unit senior living facility, a 1.36-acre civic space and 90,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. Cypress has built here before. Cypress Realty of Florida developed Abacoa, the 2,055-acre Jupiter community with a spring training stadium and a Main Street-style retail strip.
The Village wrote a new zoning district for this site in 2023, the C-3 Regional Business District. It allows buildings up to 14 stories under four thresholds: the developer must own at least 5 acres, provide at least half an acre of civic space, dedicate 90,000 square feet to nonresidential use, and deliver public benefits such as enhanced landscaping and innovative architecture. According to Stet News, the question that later went to court came up at the July 2023 meeting where the district was approved. Then-Mayor David Norris asked the village attorney for assurances on the record:
"I want to make sure that the language is such that no developer is going to come through and say 'I met those four thresholds so now I get 14 stories.'"
With those assurances, the council approved the district 4-1. The master plan went before the boards in May 2024 at a joint meeting of North Palm Beach and Lake Park planning boards. North Palm Beach's board voted 7-0 to approve it, on the understanding that approval did not entitle the developer to any height. In August 2024, the council voted on first reading for seven stories, with up to 14 possible in exchange for sufficient public benefit. At final reading in April 2025, it approved the master plan with no height guarantee at all and attached 37 conditions. The Palm Beach Post reports that the vote was 5-0.
That is how the two halves split. Lake Park's approval named a height, a unit count and a list of road improvements. North Palm Beach approved Village Place's master plan and held the height decision for a later site plan stage, after it could see what public benefits the developer would offer. The developer's position, reported by Stet, is that it could not finish a design without knowing its height and density.
The Case Inside Its Trial Window
NP-Devland sued the Village in May 2025, and Stet News has followed the case in detail. It challenges two of the 37 conditions. The first says the master plan carries no approval of height or density. The second binds the developer to "all oral and written representations both on the record and as part of the application/approval process." The Village's response, as Stet reported it, is that the developer attended the meetings where those conditions were discussed and never objected, and that the challenge is premature because the Village has not denied anything.
The case has moved around. In February 2026, the developer amended its complaint and added a Sunshine Law allegation and a federal constitutional claim. The Village then sought to move the case to federal court. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon declined, and the case returned to Palm Beach County Circuit Court three weeks later. At a July 15 hearing on the representations clause, the developer's attorney called the Village's approach "we'll know whether we want to approve something when we see it." The Palm Beach Post reports that Circuit Judge James Sherman then issued an order in August setting a nonjury trial window of Oct. 12 through Nov. 20 if the parties do not settle.
The Village Council's agendas for Sept. 10, Oct. 8 and Oct. 22 did not list the case. The calendar to watch belongs to the courthouse, and that window closes in about two weeks.
The Ruler Residents Already Use
Height has been the central issue on this site since 2023. In the Palm Beach Post's September account, some residents preferred holding building heights at 50 feet, or four stories, and pointed to a building already standing nearby. The 24-story Nautilus 220 towers in Lake Park, about a mile south on U.S. 1, are the tallest of the high-rises developers have brought to the corridor between West Palm Beach and northern Palm Beach County.
The idea that the site should become a destination is older than this developer. In 2015, the Village included the mall property in a revitalization plan prepared by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council. A Citizens' Master Plan in that effort suggested "a lifestyle center like CityPlace or Mizner Park," with shopping, dining and restaurants laid out as an urban neighborhood. NP-Devland has said that is what it intends Village Place to be. Parties on both sides of the courtroom largely agree on the uses. Their disagreement is over how many stories, and who decides that and when.
What Changes This Winter, and What Stays
The Lake Park side's changes come first. Leasing at Avalon Lake Park opens in November, move-ins are expected from January, and the signal, median closure and longer turn lanes on Northlake are conditions of occupancy. The Publix plaza and the corner outparcels sit outside Village Place, and changes there come through AvalonBay's planned shopping-center upgrades. On the Village side, the Village Place plan calls for razing two buildings: a vacant one that once housed the Cars of Dreams Museum, and the one that holds the True Treasures furniture consignment store and BurgerFi's corporate offices. Construction on the Village's half has not begun, and the trial window, open through Nov. 20, is the next scheduled step toward settling how tall it can be.
A large redevelopment beside your street affects more than traffic. It can change what nearby homes trade against and how the corridor's future gets priced. Elizabeth DeWoody follows the U.S. 1 projects closely and can give North Palm Beach owners a clear, private read on what the Twin City Mall outcome could mean for their property. Work With Elizabeth.
