West Palm Beach Jaguar Dealership Could Be Rezoned Downtown

West Palm Beach planning staff are recommending approval of a rezoning that would pull the Jaguar Palm Beach dealership site into the Downtown Master Plan, a change that raises the property’s ceiling from 80,559 square feet of commercial space to as much as 483,351 square feet of residential and non-residential development. The Downtown Action Committee takes up the request at its Wednesday, Sept. 9 public hearing, the first of three scheduled votes before the change could reach the City Commission this fall.

Why it matters

Auto dealership parcels tend to be large, low-density and sitting on prime corridor frontage, which makes them an increasingly common redevelopment target as downtowns run out of vacant land. The Jaguar site occupies 2.466 acres across three parcels at 420 Okeechobee Boulevard and 915 South Dixie Highway, a gateway intersection into downtown West Palm Beach bounded by an office tower under construction, Palm Beach Atlantic University, the CityPlace South Tower and the Woodland Cemetery. Property owner Myers Auto Group, LLC filed the request through attorney Harvey E. Oyer III of Shutts & Bowen, LLP. If the zoning change advances, it reprices the entire Okeechobee corridor for developers and brokers watching the city’s next wave of downtown land assemblage.

The numbers

The site currently carries a Commercial future land use designation and General Commercial zoning, capped at a 0.75 floor-area ratio, dating to a 2001 rezoning that allowed the dealership. The application seeks an Urban Central Business District land use designation and a shift to the Okeechobee Business District-5 zoning subdistrict, which staff is pairing with an incentive overlay allowing up to 6.50 FAR for residential use and 1.50 FAR for non-residential use. Staff’s report calls the site “suitable to be integrated into the Downtown Master Plan,” and recommends approval of both the land use change and the rezoning, finding the request meets the city’s amendment standards.

What’s next

The Downtown Action Committee hears the case Sept. 9, followed by a Planning Board hearing Sept. 15 and a tentative City Commission first reading Oct. 26. No site plan or redevelopment proposal has been filed for the parcels. Developers and brokers tracking entitlement activity in South Florida should watch whether the Commission vote clears before year-end, which would put a marketable, upzoned corner site on the market at one of downtown West Palm Beach’s busiest intersections.