Over the next few weeks, Palm Beach gets a returning Worth Avenue tenant, a refreshed oceanfront café and a first U.S. boutique for a London label. All three are expected before the season starts in earnest. Two other decisions arrived within a month of each other this fall, both made by the Town Council, and they will change the island's dining over a much longer stretch. The first is a 165-seat Stephen Starr restaurant in the former Neiman Marcus building on Worth Avenue. The second is a two-floor Mediterranean nightspot on South County Road. Neither will serve a meal this season. Together they show that this year's biggest island news came from council votes, not ribbon cuttings.
What Opens Before the Holidays
The short-term calendar is mostly about brands and kitchens coming back.
| Business | Address | What it is | Timing as reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottega Veneta | 70 Royal Poinciana Way | New 2,784-square-foot boutique | Opened July 13 |
| Vineyard Vines | 330 Worth Ave. | Return to Worth Avenue in the former Silver Fund space | Expected first week of November |
| Acqua Café | 2875 S. Ocean Blvd. | Renato's sibling, closed for a summer interior refresh | Early-November reopening target |
| Mira Mikati | Royal Poinciana Plaza | First U.S. boutique for the London-based brand | "This fall," no date announced |
Bottega Veneta is the one change already in place. As the Palm Beach Daily News reported via the Palm Beach Post, the new boutique opened July 13 at 70 Royal Poinciana Way. It carries ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, fine jewelry and fragrances.
Vineyard Vines left Worth Avenue two years ago and is coming back at 330 Worth Ave., where The Silver Fund, a furniture and decorative arts business, used to be. According to the Palm Beach Daily News, the company was working on interior and storefront improvements in September and expects to open the first week of November. That is a company target, not a confirmed opening.
Acqua Café closed this summer for an interior refresh, and its owners said they planned to reopen in early November. That plan was published in May. No later report has confirmed an exact date, so the restaurant itself is the best source on when its doors open.
Mira Mikati, a London-based luxury fashion brand, will open its first U.S. boutique at the Royal Poinciana Plaza this fall, according to an October 2 report. No opening day has been given.
All four arrive the same way. An existing name returns, an existing kitchen refreshes, or a new tenant moves into an established center. None needed a new use approved for its building. That is why they can open in weeks.
Seven Years for One Building on the Ocean Block
The former Neiman Marcus at 151 Worth Ave. has been empty since 2020. Its redevelopment shows the island's other clock. Here is the 2026 sequence as the Palm Beach Daily News reported it:
- February. The Town Council approved initial redevelopment plans, and the Daily News described a plan to breathe life into the former Neiman Marcus.
- February 25. The Architectural Commission unanimously approved the redesign on first review. The Daily News called it "a rare turn for what is possibly Palm Beach's most powerful board," and Alternate Member David Phoenix declared it a "major victory."
- September 9. The Town Council conditionally approved special exceptions for the restaurant. It then voted 4–1 on a variance for three more on-site parking spaces. The special-exception approval still depends on a future declaration-of-use agreement.
- December 2027. This is the earliest opening date, from a statement made on behalf of the building's owner, TZ Capital.
The restaurant is tentatively called Room Service and will be Starr's first in Palm Beach. Starr founded STARR Restaurants, whose group includes Le Diplomate in Washington, D.C., and the Michelin-starred Le Coucou in New York. The plan has 165 seats: 133 indoors and 32 on the existing terrace. It also adds a 1,350-square-foot back-of-house space on the third floor. The 2026 application moves the restaurant farther east in the building. The Town's agenda shows the scope of what the council had to consider. Restaurant and outdoor café exceptions, shared parking, site plan changes and a parking variance tied to the third-floor addition were all filed under 151 Worth Avenue Owner LLC and TZ Capital.
Starr told the council he wants a neighborhood-focused restaurant, loosely based on a steakhouse but offering more than steakhouse fare. The Palm Beach Daily News reported a menu that might include lobster mac and cheese, meatloaf, burgers, and Peking duck as a Sunday special. In the same account, Starr told the council, "This one I happen to be proud to do," and said that after New York, "Palm Beach feels like another pinnacle we've reached."
Put the numbers side by side. Vineyard Vines was off Worth Avenue for two years and needed only storefront and interior work to come back. The ocean block's largest building closed in 2020 and will reopen as a restaurant no sooner than December 2027, about seven years later and about fourteen months from now. The Daily News describes the building as becoming a "shopping-and-dining destination" in the ocean block. The reporting so far has not named the other tenants or given a schedule for the wider project.
The Same Council, a Few Blocks Away
Less than a month after the Room Service vote, the council cleared a second dining change near Worth Avenue. The Palm Beach Daily News reported on October 7 that site plans had been approved for "George x Avenue 31." It is a Mediterranean-theme nightclub that will also serve food, across two floors at 380 S. County Road, the Midtown building that used to house the Le Bar a Vin wine bar.
The Daily News headline says the restaurant "could open." That wording is accurate. No operator or opening date has been made public in the coverage so far. The approval is the event. The opening is still unscheduled.
Both projects take a space that sat in one category, a department store and a wine bar, and move it into a different one. That kind of change goes through the council. It is also why the two most talked-about dining additions on the island are on a different schedule from everything in the table above.
Where the Island Gathers in the Meantime
Until those rooms open, the dated fall calendar is mostly run by the Town and its cultural institutions:
- October 23, 6 to 8 p.m. Halloween Happenings at the Mandel Recreation Center and Oakley Gage Debbs Athletic Field, 340 Seaview Ave., with games, magic and family activities, according to the Town of Palm Beach calendar.
- November 7. The Metropolitan Opera's Così fan Tutte screens at The Society of the Four Arts.
- November 14, 2 to 4 p.m. America 250 – Palm Beach Celebration is set for the same Seaview Avenue fields, with live music, games and family entertainment listed on the Town's event page.
Two of these three events are on the Town's own calendar at 340 Seaview Ave., three weeks apart. Vineyard Vines and Acqua Café are expected to open in the gap between them. If both meet their targets, by mid-November the island will have its returning storefront and its refreshed café, and the Four Arts season will be under way. The Starr restaurant at 151 Worth Ave. will still be about a year from its earliest opening date. The nightspot at 380 S. County Road will still have approved site plans and no announced opening date.
Changes like these affect how a Worth Avenue or Midtown address is valued long before the doors open. If you want to talk through what the approvals at 151 Worth Ave. and 380 S. County Road could mean for a property you own or are considering on the island, Kara Cugno offers discreet, senior-led guidance. Request a Private Consultation.
