"This is our beach. This is our inlet village. It is the gateway to the beach in a way." Council member Malise Sundstrom said that at the Town Council's July 21 meeting, as reported by The Palm Beach Post, and it explains why the redevelopment of The Shoppes at Jupiter got a second hearing before it got a vote. That night the council held off, saying it wanted more information on traffic at U.S. 1 and Indiantown Road and on what the plaza would look like.
On Oct. 6, the council approved Resolution 72-26, as amended, by a unanimous vote. In the recording of the October meeting, most of the debate is about the street outside the plaza: truck routes, a boundary wall, and a roundabout on Indiantown Road. They got nearly everything they asked for, with one exception. The roundabout meant to manage Indiantown Road traffic once Whole Foods opens is not yet a project on the town's books.
What the Council Traded For
The owner, Ram Realty Advisors of Palm Beach Gardens, paid more than $52 million for the nearly 50-year-old plaza in 2025. Between July and October, the plan changed in four places, and three of them face outward toward the neighbors and the road.
Trucks. The applicant's representative told the council that delivery trucks will not use Indiantown Road. They will come in from U.S. 1 and circle behind the center. Making that turn safe meant removing about 17 parking spaces from the rear of the plaza. The approved motion spells out that both semi-trucks and box trucks have to use the U.S. 1 access. When a council member raised delivery vans, the reply was that "it's hard to control Amazon," so the rule covers the plaza's tenant deliveries and doesn't reach every vehicle.
The wall. Neighbors at Ocean Park asked about the wall between their community and the back of the center. The applicant had first proposed taking out 30 feet of it. The approved version removes 10 feet and lowers the next 20 feet to 30 inches, which keeps sight lines open for drivers pulling out. A hedge and trees are being added where the power lines allow.
The look. Sundstrom had asked for something "uniquely Jupiter." In response, the architect swapped the white and gray palette for a warm, dark beige, changed the base walls from cool gray cement to a sand finish, and added wood-look materials to the facades.
The money. The October staff report's draft conditions called for a $500,000 contribution toward the Indiantown Road improvement. The applicant pointed out that its engineers and the town's had agreed on a fair share of 12.8%, or $189,000. The council reached consensus on $750,000, roughly four times that fair-share figure, and the applicant accepted it on the record. The amended motion also struck the word "permanent" from the requirement for covers over outdoor seating areas.
The Roundabout Is the Piece Still Waiting on the Town
The design shown in October is an elongated roundabout with a mid-block pedestrian crossing through the middle. That would give people walking between the plaza side and the Harbourside Place side a defined place to cross.
When a council member asked how construction would line up with Whole Foods, town staff gave this sequence, which assumes the project gets created:
- Design, about seven months. Possible completion in May 2027.
- Bidding, about three months.
- Construction, about nine months. Anticipated completion in May 2028.
Whole Foods is set to open in spring 2028. On paper, then, the road and the grocery store finish within weeks of each other. Staff added a caveat at the same meeting. No Capital Improvement Program project exists for the roundabout yet, and building one depends on the council or the Community Redevelopment Agency directing staff to prepare it along with a budget amendment. A council member asked whether that could be made a condition of approval. The answer was that it couldn't be a condition, though the council could give policy direction separately, and members asked for a CRA meeting to add it.
The applicant said it had spoken with the town engineer, who saw the timeline as workable. Every month that passes before the CRA acts takes a month out of that seven-month design window. So the council's next step on the roundabout is the date to watch, more than any store announcement.
The Plaza You Can Shop This Fall
The approval does not empty the center. No construction start date has been announced. The Palm Beach Post reported in August that Ram hoped to start work later this year. At the hearing, the applicant mentioned that the center's drainage pipes had been jetted, which is routine maintenance and not a groundbreaking. Here is where things stood as of the October hearing:
| Business | Status | What the plan says |
|---|---|---|
| Bealls | Open at 59 U.S. Highway 1 North | Whole Foods takes this space, targeted for spring 2028 |
| Staples | Open | Space to be broken into smaller units around a central plaza area |
| Cinépolis | Open | 76 seats removed under a condition of approval |
| The Parisian Restaurant & Wine Bar | Open in Suite D9 | Site of the outdoor seating area discussed at the hearing |
| MaryLuz Hair Salon | Taking appointments, Suite H-2 | No change discussed |
| Former Palm Beach Sports Club space | Empty | Total Wine, targeted for late 2027 |
The Total Wine row differs from earlier reporting. The Palm Beach Post wrote that Total Wine would replace the long-time Staples. At the October hearing, the applicant's team corrected an earlier statement and said Total Wine is going into the former gym space. The team then described breaking the Staples space into smaller units, with Whole Foods anchoring one end of the row, Total Wine the other, and a plaza area in the middle. The hearing did not spell out exact store footprints. That middle plaza is the clearest sign of what the owner wants this center to be.
The theater change is the one moviegoers will notice. The Cinépolis building has two sides. According to the hearing discussion, the operator does most of its business on the right side and has been putting its reinvestment there, while the left side holds about 875 seats and one screen that isn't currently in use. The 76-seat reduction will be verified through an interior build-out permit and a town inspection. Ram's chief retail officer, Brian Maloney, told the council in July that the owner wants to downsize the theater to make room for stores.
Where the Departures Went
Three businesses have left. The Palm Beach Post reported in September that Golden Pavilion, which had served soups, chow mein, fried rice, and lo mein from the plaza for at least a decade, moved to the Admirals Crossing Shopping Plaza at Military Trail and Frederick Small Road. That's about 3 miles southwest, alongside Sprouts Farmers Market, Planet Fitness, and Berry Fresh Cafe. The same article noted that the Palm Beach Sports Club gym and Soul Rebel cafe had closed in recent months.
New tenants will arrive gradually. Maloney said small shops would open between mid-2027 and mid-2028, and that the owner was talking with a coffee shop, a cosmetics retailer, fitness outlets, and service businesses. Plenty of brand names have been floated online. RH has denied any plans for the plaza, and Cava told the Post it had nothing concrete to share.
The Order of Events From Here
Put together, here is the sequence the October record lays out. The plaza keeps operating through this winter, with Bealls, Staples, Cinépolis, The Parisian, and MaryLuz still in place. The CRA has to turn the roundabout into a funded project in time for a design phase that staff expects to take seven months. Total Wine is targeted for late 2027 in the former gym space, with small shops opening from mid-2027 to mid-2028. Whole Foods and the finished roundabout are both pointed at the spring of 2028, the grocery opening on the Bealls site and the road work finishing out front.
Two parts of that sequence are already fixed by the approval: the truck route off Indiantown Road and the $750,000 contribution. The roundabout's funding isn't fixed yet, and it's what decides whether the Indiantown Road side of this corner is ready when Whole Foods opens.
Jared Nelson, who leads The Taylor Kane Group, brings more than 15 years of home inspection experience to his real estate work, and he follows corners like U.S. 1 and Indiantown Road for the same reason: how a property works day to day depends on what's being built around it. If you live near the inlet and want to talk through how the Shoppes at Jupiter timeline affects your own plans, Schedule a Consultation.
