West Palm Beach’s Nora District, an arts and shopping mixed-use development similar to Miami's Wynwood, will soon be home to the fourth U.S. location of the famous New York bistro Pastis.
NDT Development, Wheelock Street Capital and Place Projects, the developers behind the Nora District, a pedestrian-friendly arts and shopping district just north of downtown West Palm Beach, announced that Pastis will be the ground-floor restaurant at the boutique Nora Hotel.
The new restaurant is set to open in 2026 and will be the second location in South Florida from restaurateur Stephen Starr after Pastis Miami opened in Wynwood in April last year. Plans include 13,300 square feet of combined indoor and outdoor space on the hotel's ground floor. It will feature the brand’s iconic design cues, including white subway tiles, red banquettes and a curved zinc bar.
Starr Restaurants will also co-create the hotel's rooftop restaurant and lounge, and operate the room service.
The original Pastis was founded in 1999 and was a staple of Manhattan’s Meatpacking District for nearly 15 years before closing in 2014. In 2019, the restaurant reopened at a new location in the West Village before moving to its current location at 52 Gansevoort St.
“Since opening Pastis in Miami last year, the positive response to the restaurant has been astounding. Residents of Palm Beach, West Palm Beach and the surrounding areas have asked me countless times to bring Pastis to their neighborhood,” said Starr in a press release.
After opening in Miami, Pastis opened its third location in Washington, D.C., at the beginning of 2024.
In West Palm Beach, the developers broke ground on the first phase of the Nora District last year and secured an $84 million construction loan from Little Rock, Arkansas-based Bank OZK in June.
Plans call for renovating and repurposing a number of industrial buildings that line North Railroad Avenue — the inspiration for the district’s name — into 150,000 square feet of commercial space, including 55,000 square feet of creative office space and a linear park.
The district has already secured over a dozen retail tenants, many of them originally from New York and expanding into South Florida.
The 201-key boutique Nora Hotel is being developed in partnership with BD Hotels, Wheelock Street Capital and hotelier Sean MacPherson. The group has previously worked on some of New York's most iconic hotels, including The Bowery and recently reopened the historic Chelsea Hotel.