Downtown West Palm Beach: long considered just a professional service center for upper-crust Palm Beach across the intracoastal, West Palm Beach has come into its own as a younger, hipper urban setting. Now, new high-rise condos and apartment buildings are enhancing the residential core - Neighborhoods West Palm Beach

South Florida CEO, March, 2003 by Tina Wingate

Another development of note is Bonita Springs-based WCI Communities' One Watermark Place, a luxury high-rise project well under construction on the Intracoastal just north of the Flagler Memorial Bridge. Units there start at $1 million and climb to $4 million. There's also Esplanade Grande, a 15-story condo by developer Dan Kodsi that's under construction on Datura Street in the heart of the downtown. It has also done well; more than 90 percent sold, construction on the building is up to the fourth floor and rising.

So, besides shopping, shopping and more shopping, what's there to do, exactly, in West Palm Beach? Among other things, you can drink yourself into a coma nightly, especially along Clematis Street, where a slew of bars abound. While many seemingly cater to a college-age crowd, there are some wonderfully venerable establishments, including Rooney's Public House, where the wood is dark and the food is solidly British fare. There is also E.R. Bradley's Saloon at the base of Clematis Street, where the street meets the Intracoastal, adjacent to the main branch of the public library.

For artsy types (or anyone who enjoys a good concert or live show), there's the aforementioned Harriet Himmel Gilman Theater which, in addition to plays, hosts intimate concerts by the Jazz Arts Music Society of the Palm Beaches. For larger scale performances there is the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, which is on Okeechobee Road up the street from the southern entrance of CityPlace. Opened in 1989, the Kravis Center marked a cultural milestone for the city--giving people a reason, back then, to visit the still-blemished downtown.

Times have changed for the Kravis Center, too, and it is currently undergoing a $31 million expansion and renovation. It has become a major draw for the neighborhood, putting on more than 900 performances a year in three separate venues: Dreyfoos Hall, the Rinker Playhouse and the Gusman Amphitheater. A new, 114,000 square foot building is under construction and will, when it's finished, replace the center's Cohen Pavilion, a dedicated teaching and rehearsal space.

There's outdoorsy-type things to occupy a lazy Sunday morning, too. TRG's Bobbie Johnson says one of her favorite things to do is take a walk down to the city's greenmarket on Banyan Street, which helps encourage foot traffic throughout the downtown, not just on Clematis Street or around CityPlace. "There's an arts and crafts component at the greenmarket, which is really nice," Johnson says. "The [other morning] there was a band there and then we hit Bradley's for Sunday brunch." Hey--just another beautiful day in the neighborhood.