The Old Twin City Mall Is Being Rebuilt One Town at a Time

At U.S. 1 and Northlake Boulevard, a seven-story apartment building is close to finished on the western part of the old Twin City Mall site. Next to it, the larger North Palm Beach portion is still mostly vacant buildings and open land. Both halves belong to the same former mall, and they were sold within a few years of each other. The difference is the town line. The western parcel is in Lake Park and is moving ahead under a separate plan. The 13 acres on the North Palm Beach side are waiting on a lawsuit over the conditions the Village attached to its approval, and the biggest of those questions is how tall the buildings there can be.

A mall named for the line through it

The Twin City Mall opened in 1971 as the first enclosed mall in northern Palm Beach County. As Stet News reported, its name came from its location, which straddles the boundary between Lake Park and North Palm Beach. Sears and Roebuck anchored the mall. When The Gardens Mall opened in 1988, Sears moved there, the Twin City Mall declined, and it was torn down in 1997.

The North Palm Beach side has been a redevelopment target since then. In 2015 the Village included the site in a revitalization plan prepared by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council. A Citizens' Master Plan from that process suggested "a lifestyle center like CityPlace or Mizner Park," with shopping and dining laid out as an urban neighborhood. Ten years later, that boundary line splits the site into two projects moving at very different speeds.

The Lake Park side: seven stories, opening this winter

The western building is Avalon Lake Park. It was first announced in 2025 as Northlake Promenade Apartments and has since been renamed. According to Florida YIMBY, AvalonBay Communities bought the 9.05-acre parcel for $16.5 million. The building has seven stories and 279 rental apartments.

On October 26, 2026, the Palm Beach Post reported that the building is nearing completion. Leasing is scheduled to start in November, and the first move-ins are expected in January 2027. Its neighbor is the Publix at Northlake Promenade Shoppes, 374 Northlake Blvd. Publix's store page lists the store with regular daily hours.

For anyone driving Northlake, this is the first new building on the old mall land since the mall was torn down almost 30 years ago. It also gives a sense of scale. At seven stories, it is half the maximum height the North Palm Beach side has been arguing about.

The North Palm Beach side: a plan approved without a height

NP-Devland Holdings bought the North Palm Beach portion for $19 million in April 2022 from a company run by car and yacht dealer John Staluppi. NP-Devland is backed by Cypress Real Estate Advisors of Austin, Texas. Cypress's Florida affiliate also developed Abacoa in Jupiter, a 2,055-acre community with a Main Street-style retail strip and a spring training stadium.

The rules came first. In 2023 the Village worked with the developer to create a C-3 Regional Business District for the property. It allowed buildings up to 14 stories if four thresholds were met: owning at least 5 acres, providing at least half an acre of civic space, dedicating 90,000 square feet to nonresidential use, and delivering public benefits such as enhanced landscaping and innovative architecture. At the July 2023 meeting where the district passed, then-Mayor David Norris asked for a specific assurance, according to Stet News:

"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.'"

The Village attorney said the code did not create a permitted height, and the council approved the district 4-1.

The master plan reached the Village Council in 2024. In August 2024, council members voted on first reading to allow seven stories, with up to 14 only if the project delivered enough public benefit. At final reading in April 2025, the council reversed course and approved the Village Place master plan with no height guarantee. Lisa Interlandi, then a council member and now mayor, said at that meeting, "At this point, I don't think we should vest them at any height." Nader Salour, Cypress's local principal, told the council the plan had been designed around certain heights and densities: "We have been losing money for four years. We need a vote tonight so we know what we have to do."

In this layout, the 14-story buildings would go on the parcels labeled 1, 2 and 2A. The hotel and senior-living buildings would be nine stories, and the public civic space would sit in the middle.

What the court case turns on

A month after the April 2025 vote, NP-Devland mailed residents a flyer headlined "Hoodwinked." It then filed suit against the Village and the Village Council. The suit challenges two of the 37 conditions attached to the master plan approval. The first says the developer is not entitled to any height or density until it submits a site plan showing its public benefits. 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 argues that NP-Devland attended the meetings where those conditions were drafted and did not object. It also argues that the suit challenges a denial that has not happened. The case briefly moved to federal court, where U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon sent it back to Palm Beach County Circuit Court. Judge James Sherman heard arguments on the representations clause on July 15. On September 9, the Palm Beach Post reported that the dispute could go to trial as soon as October if the two sides did not settle.

Residents have spoken up on both sides. Ron Okolichany, a 2026 council candidate, told WLRN that the project's size does not fit a village of about 13,000 people. He estimated it would add about 3,000 residents, roughly a 20 percent increase. Norris, who ran for council this year, told Stet News he thinks the C-3 code required the Village to set heights at the master plan stage, and that "the developer cannot create a plan if he is guessing at height and density."

The businesses outside Village Place

Several familiar storefronts on the North Palm Beach side are not part of Village Place, however the case ends. Stet News reported in August that the plan excludes the CVS, TD Bank, Wendy's, Helix Urgent Care and the gas station facing Northlake and U.S. 1. The Publix and the small shops on the west side are also outside it.

The plan does call for tearing down two buildings. One is the vacant building that once housed John Staluppi's Cars of Dreams Museum. The other housed the True Treasures furniture consignment store and BurgerFi's corporate offices when Stet reported on the site in August.

What changes at the corner over the next few months

Here is what is on the calendar for each side, based on the dates already reported:

• November 2026: Avalon Lake Park is scheduled to begin leasing, according to the Palm Beach Post.
• January 2027: The first residents are expected to move into the 279 apartments on the Lake Park side, according to the same Post report.
• Whenever the court acts: A ruling or settlement in Judge Sherman's courtroom will determine whether Village Place goes ahead under the 37 conditions or under the original C-3 rules. Even then, the conditions as approved leave the actual height to a later site plan review in front of the Village Council.

If you want to know how changes along the U.S. 1 and Northlake corridor could affect your own street or building, Robert Floyd Realty is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.