Prolific Miami-based architecture firm Arquitectonica opened its first office in Palm Beach County, as it expands its project design portfolio in West Palm Beach.
The firm leased 5,000 square feet at Rosemary Square, Stephen Ross’ mixed-use development in downtown West Palm Beach. The office is at 477 South Rosemary Avenue, according to an Arquitectonica news release.
Arquitectonica Vice President Michelle Cintron, who has been with the firm for more than 15 years, is the director of the new office.
So far, six employees, including mostly new hires, are based in West Palm. The plan is to expand the office to about 20 staff members, according to Arquitectonica’s spokesperson.
Over the past couple of years, the firm has handled more projects in the West Palm area, with three currently under construction.
Arquitectonica designed the Icon Marina Village twin towers with 399 luxury units at 4444 and 4334 North Flagler Drive. Jorge Pérez’s Related Group is the developer.
The firm also designed Jeff Greene’s One West Palm, a pair of 30-story towers with 220 luxury apartments, a 200-key hotel and about 200,000 square feet of offices along Quadrille Boulevard in downtown.
A third Arquitectonica project underway is Two Roads Development and Alpha Blue Ventures’ high-end Forté condominium at 1309 South Flagler Drive. The 24-story tower will have 41 units.
Arquitectonica’s expansion comes as downtown West Palm Beach has grown to become an office, residential, retail and dining hub.
The area has proven to be a magnet for out-of-state financial service firms, prompting Ross’ New York City-based Related Companies to spend over half a billion dollars to purchase the majority of the Class A office space there.
A long-overlooked, 40-acre area in the north end of downtown also is poised for redevelopment, as Miami-based Place Projects and West Palm-based NDT Development got the area rezoned to allow for high-rise and mid-rise projects, as well as preservation of residences and adaptive reuse of industrial buildings. The area, north to south from Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard to Quadrille Boulevard and east to west from Dixie Highway to the FEC Railroad tracks, has been anointed the Nora District.
Arquitectonica’s founding principals, Bernardo Fort-Brescia and Laurinda Spear, started Arquitectonica in 1977. The firm has grown to design major projects throughout the world, including Microsoft’s European headquarters in Paris, the Cyberport Technology Campus and Le Meridien Hotel in Hong Kong, and the Infinity and Lumina towers in San Francisco, according to the company’s website.
Arquitectonica also has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Manila, Lima and São Paulo.