How do you get into The Shoppes at Jupiter if you are heading east on Indiantown Road toward the beach? Town of Jupiter planning staff have an answer, and it isn't a good one. At the plaza's southeast entrance, the median and driveways leave drivers two choices. They can make an eastbound U-turn on Indiantown Road, or they can make an illegal left into the rear loading driveway. There is no place to pull out of traffic and wait for either move.
Most of the talk about the nearly 50-year-old plaza at U.S. 1 and Indiantown Road, across from Harbourside Place, has been about Whole Foods, Total Wine and rumored boutiques. The Town's own staff report for the October 6 Council hearing is about something else. It deals with how cars, trucks and people on foot will get in and out of this corner. Council member Malise Sundstrom called it "the gateway to the beach" at the July 21 meeting. That access work is what the Town is negotiating now, and the store openings come after it.
A problem the Town identified in 2015
The plaza's access problems weren't discovered this year. In 2015 and 2016, the Town studied East Indiantown Road for mobility and "Complete Street" improvements, and the southeast entrance to The Shoppes at Jupiter came up as a safety concern. The Town did not change the road at the time.
The staff report describes several things crowded into one short stretch:
- The plaza's southeast entrance and its rear loading driveway
- A shared two-way drive right next to it that serves both a church and the Ocean Parks condominium community
- An access drive for Jupiter Square on the south side of Indiantown Road that lines up with neither driveway on the north side
What forces the issue now is where the supermarket would go. Whole Foods is planned for the southeast corner of the plaza, right next to that entrance, and staff expect it to bring more cars through it.
What a supermarket adds to the corner
The applicant's traffic statement turns 38,265 square feet of retail space into a supermarket and estimates the trips before and after that change.
| Period | Today's uses | With supermarket | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average daily trips | 7,834 | 11,409 | +3,575 |
| Morning peak hour | 253 | 428 | +175 |
| Evening peak hour | 564 | 1,000 | +436 |
The evening number stands out. Peak-hour trips would nearly double, from 564 to 1,000, and that is the hour when people are heading home from the beach and the inlet. Staff say this counts as a "significant traffic impact" under the Town code. They also say the roads stay within the adopted level of service, so Ram Realty Advisors isn't required to build anything on U.S. 1 or Indiantown Road. What the code does require is that the project not affect public safety, and the Town is using that requirement to get easements for a fix.
The elongated roundabout, and who pays for it
At the June 9 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, staff and the applicant each brought a traditional roundabout design. They differed mainly on whose land would provide the extra right-of-way. The Commission didn't choose between them. It did require easements and asked staff and the Council to give the safety question "special attention."
After that hearing, staff drew a third option. It is an elongated roundabout on Indiantown Road about 600 feet east of the U.S. 1 intersection. It would allow left turns from both eastbound and westbound lanes, giving safer access to the plaza and to the property south of it. It needs no new right-of-way from either side, only easements: a 3-foot utility easement along the plaza's whole southern property line, plus 10-foot temporary construction easements about 170 feet long.
The design was revised again after July. The eastern part of the median comes out so Ocean Trail residents can turn left from Indiantown Road, and a no-left-turn sign would stop drivers from using that opening to enter the retail center. The plan also adds a sidewalk connection and a crosswalk at the plaza's southwest driveway.
Funding is the biggest change since summer. The applicant raised its contribution to the roundabout from $151,200 to $500,000. Staff understood from the July meeting that the Council wanted the roundabout built before Whole Foods opens, and the report says the Town's Community Redevelopment Agency could deliver it on that schedule. Whole Foods is currently expected in spring 2028, which sets an informal deadline for the road work.
Two smaller changes affect anyone driving out. Both southern exits already allow only right turns, but the site plan's arrows show straight-only. Staff's Condition 3b requires the arrows to be changed to right-turn-only. Delivery trucks get their own route, described below.
Four questions from July, and the answers going back on Tuesday
On July 21 the Council voted 5-0 to continue the item and named four issues to resolve. The revised package answers each one.
- Appearance. The first proposal used white and cool gray. The new elevations use beiges with a warm dark-gray accent, a sand-look base wall chosen with the beach in mind, light wood on the canopy ceiling, and wood-look accents on the Whole Foods and Total Wine facades.
- The boundary wall. After a concern raised by a resident of the Ocean Parks Condominium, only about 10 feet of the southern wall would come out, down from 30 to 35 feet in the earlier plan. Another 20-foot section would be lowered to about 30 inches. Staff say the change is meant to improve circulation and safety where the plaza aisles meet the church and condo drive.
- Semi-trucks. Parking at the back of the plaza would be removed so trucks have room for a three-point turn. They would enter and leave at the U.S. 1 signal and never use A1A or Indiantown Road. Condition 6 bans them from entering off Indiantown Road.
- The roundabout money. The contribution rose from $151,200 to $500,000, as described above.
The truck fix has a side effect at Cinépolis. Taking out rear parking would put the plaza below its required spaces, so the applicant offered to remove more theater seats. Under the shared-parking plan, the center provides 1,025 spaces where its uses would otherwise require 1,079. Staff's Condition 4 links the seat reduction to interior buildouts that add parking demand, so the seats come out as the new tenants move in.
One item is still open. The applicant has objected to Condition 3a, which would require a covering over an outdoor seating area. The Planning and Zoning Commission made shade for the outdoor seating at The Parisian a condition, and that restaurant's location page lists its address as Suite D9 in the plaza.
What's open in the meantime
Construction is still a long way off. Ram Realty Advisors of Palm Beach Gardens paid more than $52 million for the center in 2025 and hopes to begin work this year. Here is the published schedule as of September reporting:
- Late 2027: Total Wine & More moves into the longtime Staples space.
- Mid-2027 to mid-2028: Other small-shop tenants open. Ram's chief retail officer, Brian Maloney, said the company was talking with a coffee shop, a cosmetics retailer, fitness outlets and service businesses.
- Spring 2028: Whole Foods Market replaces Beall's.
No closing dates have been announced for Beall's or Staples. Cinépolis, which the Palm Beach Post calls the plaza's best-known tenant, stays but gets smaller. Mary Luz has run MaryLuz Hair Salon next to the theater for 10 years. She told WPTV in July that a renovation "will be excellent."
Some tenants have already left. Golden Pavilion sold soups, chow mein and lo mein in the plaza for at least a decade and has moved about 3 miles southwest to Admirals Crossing at Military Trail and Frederick Small Road, where its neighbors include Sprouts Farmers Market, Planet Fitness and Berry Fresh Cafe. Palm Beach Sports Club and Soul Rebel cafe have closed.
Tuesday night at 210 Military Trail
The hearing is item 9 on the Town Council agenda, Resolution 72-26, at 7 p.m. on October 6 in the Council Chambers at 210 Military Trail. Mayor Jim Kuretski, Vice-Mayor Phyllis Choy, and Councilors Ron Delaney, Dan Guisinger and Malise Sundstrom will hear it as a quasi-judicial matter. That means the decision rests on evidence and testimony given at the hearing. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval 6-1 in June, with Commissioner Cassatly voting no. As of this writing, the Council has not voted.
The full packet, with the staff report, revised plans and the applicant's presentation, went up on the Town's CivicClerk portal on September 29. For questions about the file, PZ 25-6584, the Town's hearing notice lists Jenna Johnston in the Planning and Zoning Department at 561-741-2589.
Changes at the entrance to the beach can affect daily routines and home values on both sides of U.S. 1. If you would like to talk through what the Shoppes at Jupiter plans could mean for your street, the team at Robert Floyd is glad to follow the hearing with you. Let's Connect.
