Worth Avenue still fills up on a Saturday, but the interesting rebuilding is happening a mile north, on the block between the Flagler Bridge and the Society of the Four Arts. Between a new hotel opening, a hard-to-book Italian room on the Intracoastal, and a wave of leases inside The Royal Poinciana Plaza, the north end of the island has spent 2026 reassembling itself into something residents recognize but visitors do not quite have a map for yet.
If you already live here, the practical read is short. The rooms and shops that will define season starting in November are, right now, still bookable on a Wednesday. That window is the point of this post.
Why the plaza is doing more work than usual
The Royal Poinciana Plaza has never been just retail. It has been the island's second living room since John Volk laid it out in the late 1950s. The property runs to roughly 190,000 square feet arranged around two central courtyards, and it has been carefully restored to its original midcentury character. What has changed in the past year is the mix of tenants inside those courtyards, and the pace at which they have turned over.
The most recent arrival is Bottega Veneta, which opened at 70 Royal Poinciana Way. The nearly 3,000-square-foot boutique brings Italian craftsmanship and several Florida firsts to one of the destination's premier shopping addresses. The store opens with the Fall 2026 collection, featuring new additions introduced under Creative Director Louise Trotter, including the Mini Andiamo, Barbara Tote and the archival Veneta silhouette. It is also the house's first Florida location outside Bal Harbour and the Design District, which puts the plaza's north-end fashion draw on the same shelf as Miami's two most-shopped luxury corridors.
A block west at 340 Royal Poinciana Way, James Perse has opened a new store spanning 1,700 square feet, presenting the full fashion collection alongside home furnishings. The Palm Beach location will work with local clients on furnishing homes with the brand's California-inspired aesthetic, which is a quieter but more revealing signal than a straight retail opening. Perse, like Bottega, is investing in the assumption that the north-end footfall stays year-round rather than following the season calendar.
The dining side of the plaza has moved even faster. Situated on the Intracoastal within Royal Poinciana Plaza, Tutto Mare is the vision of Gabby Karan de Felice, daughter of designer Donna Karan, and one of the prettiest dining spots on Palm Beach Island. It sits alongside the plaza's steady rotation — Sant Ambroeus, Palm Beach Grill, The Honor Bar — but with a waterside orientation the older tenants do not have. Reservations tighten sharply the closer you get to November.
The Vineta Hotel and Coco's, one block off
The most consequential opening this year is not inside the plaza at all. Barts opened its first US property in Palm Beach, and along with it Coco's, which features a bit of the French Riviera vibe, including some signature dishes from the Hôtel du Cap, like steak Diane. The Vineta Hotel gives the north end something it has not had in years: a full-service hotel with a dining room designed to pull islanders in, not just guests.
For a resident, the operational effect is a shift in weeknight geography. Coco's, Tutto Mare, and the Palm Beach Grill now sit within a five-minute walk of one another, which means the north end can absorb a dinner-and-drinks evening without anyone driving south of Royal Palm Way. That has not been true since well before the pandemic.
Two ends of the island, in a shorter frame
The instinct is to treat the north-end refresh as a Worth Avenue substitute. It is not. The two ends of the island play different roles in a resident's week, and the differences have gotten sharper this year, not softer.
| North end (Royal Poinciana Way) | South end (Worth Avenue) | |
|---|---|---|
| Register | Weekday, resident-facing, dinner-forward | Weekend, visitor-heavy, retail-forward |
| Anchor hospitality | Vineta Hotel, Coco's, Tutto Mare | The Colony, The Breakers a short drive south |
| Newest arrivals in 2026 | Bottega Veneta, James Perse, Tutto Mare | Steady rotation, fewer net-new openings |
| Parking | Complimentary valet inside the plaza | Metered, tighter in season |
| Best window to visit | Now through early November | After Thanksgiving |
The plaza is the workday version of the island. Worth Avenue is the season version. Both matter. But if you have been treating Royal Poinciana Way as a lunch stop between errands, the 2026 tenant list is a reason to slow the visit down.
Where the galleries fit in
Retail gets the headlines. The quieter shift has been on the art side. Gavlak Gallery, which began on the property as a pop-up, has held on as a permanent tenant, and the plaza now supports a small cluster of galleries that treat the courtyards as a de facto sculpture garden. The advantage of a Volk-era layout is that it forgives art. Long sightlines between the two courtyards mean that a piece placed near the fountain reads from the arcade on the other side, which is why several dealers use the plaza for staging weekend openings when the Armory Art Center or the Norton is running a major show off-island.
Off-island, the Armory Art Center is worth keeping on the calendar. An Artist Panel Discussion is scheduled for October 14 from 6:30 to 8 p.m., followed by a Heather Couch Artist Demo on October 18 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Neither event runs long, and both pair naturally with a Coco's dinner on the way back over the bridge.
The window, in plain terms
The reason to write any of this in early August is that the north end will not stay this quiet for long. September is the last month before the calendar begins loading. A few dates worth having in front of you:
- Flavor South Florida. The official Palm Beach County restaurant month is coming in September. Tutto Mare, Coco's, and the plaza restaurants are the ones most likely to keep prix-fixe menus on for the full month. Book early rather than late.
- Sailfish Marina Sunset Celebration. The Marina's famous Sunset Celebration is a lively weekly gathering of island beats, local artists, and sea-kissed breezes. It is not on the island proper, but it is the closest thing the north end has to a shoulder-season standing appointment.
- Eudēmonia Summit, November 5–8. The wellness gathering runs in West Palm Beach and marks, roughly, the point at which the island's own calendar takes over. If a north-end lunch feels leisurely in October, it will not in mid-November.
- Morikami Sunset Stroll. The annual after-hours event series moves through the Roji-en: Garden of the Drops of Dew, with docent-led garden talks, a Sean Danconia Pop Surreal Art Show, and Asian-inspired gastronomy from Ramen Lab Eatery, Kaminari Ramen, Kona Ice, and the Cornell Café. Worth the drive out to Delray on a Friday when the island is still catching its breath.
A resident's short list for the next six weeks
- Book Coco's on a Tuesday. The dining room is quieter than the weekend and the kitchen is still calibrating what will stay on the menu into December.
- Walk the plaza mid-morning, not at lunch. The Bottega Veneta and James Perse rooms both reward a slow look, and neither wants to move volume in August.
- If you have been meaning to see the Fresnel-lens shows at the plaza's galleries, do it before the season openings compress everyone's Thursday nights.
- Save Worth Avenue for after Thanksgiving. It will be there. The north end will be busier by then, but not the same kind of busy.
The larger point, if you take one thing from the last twelve months on the island, is that the Royal Poinciana Way corridor is no longer the north-end alternative to Worth Avenue. It is the resident's default, and the 2026 openings have made that quietly explicit. Watching Bottega Veneta, James Perse, Barts, and Gabby Karan de Felice all place bets on the same three blocks is not a coincidence. It is a read on where daily island life actually happens.
If you would like a private walk-through of the north-end properties that trade on this shift — the buildings whose values move with the plaza, not with the Avenue — The CBG Luxury Team works quietly and by referral. Who You Work With Matters. Schedule a private consultation, and we will bring the map.
