The $3.2 million relocation of two older downtown homes preserves the structures as affordable housing — while quietly preparing another Related Ross-controlled block for whatever comes next.
The move and the development story
A small house at 610 Evernia Street is about to make a very expensive trip. Related Ross is preparing to relocate the former home of West Palm Beach Mayor Joel Daves from the corner of Evernia Street and Rosemary Avenue to 900 Sixth Street in the Historic Northwest. A second house at 520 Evernia Street is part of the same relocation effort. Related Ross is spending approximately $3.2 million to move and rehabilitate the two structures, according to Stet News. The 610 Evernia house is expected to make the roughly mile-long move in October. The preservation story is interesting. The development story behind it may be more important.
What Changed
610 Evernia has sat in an increasingly unusual position: a small residential structure surrounded by some of downtown West Palm Beach’s most valuable development land. Daves bought the property for roughly $26,000 in the late 1970s, when living downtown was a very different proposition. Related Companies eventually purchased it from him for $2.85 million in 2006 and held the property for future development. Public records put the parcel at nearly 0.6 acres. Twenty years later, that future is beginning to take shape. Stet reports that Related Ross already controls and has cleared the remainder of the block. Once the house moves, the property is expected to operate as surface parking for at least five years. That last detail is important. This is assemblage staging, not an announced new tower. No replacement development has been publicly unveiled for the site, and the stated five-year parking use suggests Related Ross is preserving flexibility rather than preparing for immediate vertical construction.
The Bigger CityPlace Puzzle
The block becomes considerably more interesting when viewed alongside Related Ross’ plans for the existing downtown Publix. The current CityPlace Publix sits immediately nearby at Rosemary Avenue and Fern Street. Related Ross has been working with Publix on a substantially larger replacement grocery store farther north near Banyan Boulevard, potentially allowing the existing CityPlace location to eventually be demolished. Stet reports that removing the current Publix would ultimately clear the full block containing the Daves property. That is what makes the 610 Evernia move worth watching. On its own, relocating a house doesn’t create a development site. Combined with Related’s surrounding ownership and a potential Publix relocation, it begins to create something much more valuable downtown: a consolidated block with few remaining physical constraints and no need for Related Ross to decide immediately what to build there. In a land-constrained downtown, optionality has value.
The Houses Aren’t Being Demolished
There is another side to the transaction. West Palm Beach’s CRA has been working with Related on plans to relocate both 520 and 610 Evernia to CRA-controlled land in the Historic Northwest. City documents say the structures are to be rehabilitated and eventually offered for sale to households earning no more than 120% of area median income, adding owner-occupied housing while retaining pieces of downtown’s older building stock. Both addresses also appear on the city’s list of eligible historic TDR sending sites. That designation identifies buildings potentially eligible for historic treatment and transferable development-right programs; it should not be confused with a formal landmark designation. The city’s code specifically notes that inclusion on the list does not guarantee historic designation. For Related Ross, the result is an unusual two-for-one: the structures survive, while their original downtown land becomes substantially easier to redevelop.
The Planned Destination
The two homes are planned to move to the CRA-controlled site at 900 Sixth Street in the Historic Northwest.
Why It Matters
This is the sort of move that can look insignificant until viewed on a map. Related Ross has spent years assembling and repositioning property across downtown West Palm Beach, from CityPlace and its new office towers to additional land north of Banyan Boulevard. The company currently describes its West Palm Beach portfolio as a long-term effort to create a more integrated downtown district rather than a collection of isolated projects. 610 Evernia fits that strategy. There is no announced tower to attach to this site yet, and the proposed parking use means buyers shouldn’t interpret the house move as evidence that another major construction project is about to begin. But land assembly usually happens before renderings. Moving the house removes a constraint. Relocating the existing Publix would remove a much larger one. And Related Ross already controls the surrounding property. For now, the correct status is watchlist, not pipeline.
What We’re Watching
The next signals will be more consequential than the October house move itself: whether the larger Banyan Boulevard Publix advances, when the existing CityPlace Publix is scheduled to close, whether Related files zoning or site-plan documents covering the Evernia and Rosemary block, and whether the planned five-year parking use proves to be a genuine holding period or simply the maximum flexibility Related wants to preserve. Until one of those happens, 610 Evernia is best understood as another piece of downtown West Palm Beach being put into position.
Why it matters
Relocating the two homes preserves them as affordable housing while removing a constraint from a Related Ross-controlled CityPlace block. The move is a long-term development signal, not evidence of imminent construction.
Buyer context
The move makes the Evernia and Rosemary block worth monitoring, but no replacement tower or construction schedule has been announced. Watch for new zoning or site-plan filings and decisions about the existing CityPlace Publix before treating the larger redevelopment as active.
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