The Harrick Condo Hotel
West Palm Beach, Florida

The Harrick Condominium Hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida is a unique concept in resort living-and a uncommon opportunity to purchase a superbly designed condominium suite devoid of the home ownership hassles of upkeep and repair. Ownership of one of these properties affords the owner all of the lavish amenities of a first class, four star resort-from gourmet, white glove room service to a full-time concierge and caretaker, to nightly turndown services. While you are away form the property, you can elect to participate in the integrated hotel’s leasing program, coordinated by one of America’s pre-eminent luxury boutique hotel firms. The relaxed, luxurious lifestyle of The Harrick Condominium Hotel offers its owners a carefree, lavish alternative to those seeking a second or third home for vacation and relaxation in West Palm Beach, Florida. For business travelers who frequently fly into nearby Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, The Harrick provides a convenient, centrally located refuge in the midst of West Palm’s burgeoning downtown district.

The services and amenities of The Harrick Condominium Hotel and Resort are top of the line-designed and implemented to the highest standards to afford owners and guest with the highest of quality in contemporary living. We’ll even go grocery shopping for you, so you can arrive to a fridge stocked with all your favorite things!

WPEC News 12 | Friday, July 15, 2005

A real estate trend makes its way to downtown West Palm Beach. A small lot on the corner of Lakeview Avenue and Dixie Highway will soon be home to "The Harrick". It's a luxury condo hotel. People buy furnished units, then they have the option of letting the hotel operator book each suite out on a nightly basis. The building has all the amenities of a luxury hotel including housekeeping, 24-hour concierge, and room services. Julieanne Eubank, The Harrick Sales Vice President, said "I'm really proud of this project. It's going to be a very manhattan-style building. It's not going to be anything like it in downtown West Palm Beach." The 138 units are already 90-percent reserved even though they won't be ready until the end of 2007. The units go from the high-500-thousands to almost one-million dollars.



The Palm Beach Post | Tuesday, April 26, 2005

No Room for Doubt in West Palm

The Harrick, a 20-story condo-hotel to be operated by San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels, will rise on a piece of land so small that it would support just a single house in the suburbs.

Ten years ago, West Palm Beach would have killed for a downtown hotel. A convention center hotel has been so hard to come by that the county is spending $10 million just for the land. Not two blocks away, amid rapidly rising apartment buildings, comes The Harrick. If the condo boom didn't convince you, The Harrick should: Downtown West Palm Beach has arrived.

Developer David Gostfrand is taking reservations for The Harrick, which is expected to open with 139 units in 2007. Even though investors can own individual rooms, The Harrick will operate as a hotel. Room owners who pay from $500,000 to $1 million for a furnished unit will split profits from hotel rentals with the developer.

Parking is so tight that elevators will hoist cars to third- and fourth-floor garages, where they will be stacked three high on moveable platforms. At the push of a button, a car will be maneuvered into position for the elevator ride down to a waiting valet. The parking system added $1 million to the project's $30 million cost, Mr. Gostfrand said. To get around one-way streets, valets will drive two blocks west and back again just to park the car. It's the urban prototype that has evaded downtown for years.

The hotel expects to attract lawyers in town for a trial, parents of students at nearby Palm Beach Atlantic University or tourists who want to be near CityPlace on one side and the ocean and Palm Beach on the other. "I know it's a small piece of land, but in New York it's a giant piece of land," said Mr. Gostfrand, a Boca Raton residential builder with 15 years' experience in New York City. "If you look at an urban setting, this is it."

In 1997, West Palm Beach took what looked like a huge gamble. To build CityPlace, even though it would add more traffic than some downtown streets could handle, the city and the county cut a deal. The city would double the number of apartments downtown to 5,636 in five years. If the city fell short, it would not be allowed to add office buildings. If more people lived downtown, the thinking went, there would be fewer rush-hour commuters. A city official confided to me at the time that West Palm Beach never could meet such stringent standards; the standards would have to be "reconsidered" later.

Later has arrived and the standards have been achieved. Downtown has 4,800 residences, with 1,300 more under construction and another 2,800 proposed. That would be nearly 9,000 homes -- far beyond 1990s ambitions.

What happened? The 1995 master plan brought investors. CityPlace attracted national retailers and, with them, a national buzz. City incentives drew apartment-builders. The decades-long trend toward the suburbs eased as Americans began to view urban living as a reasonable alternative to traffic jams. Interest rates hit rock bottom and stayed there.

Forgotten in the success is that few of these new residences are being sold to downtown workers. Prices are so high that the buyers are upscale, often retirees. As a result, the residential boom is doing little to ease traffic. The city has met the letter of the law but not the spirit.

In 1994, a year after the old Woolworth's store pulled out of Clematis -- offering further proof of downtown's doom -- West Palm Beach celebrated a lone pioneer. Developers received city subsidies and federal tax credits to build the 59-unit Ballet Villages, a modest apartment complex beside the railroad tracks amid boarded-up structures, weed-filled lots and razor-wire lined industrial buildings. Now those industrial buildings are selling, whole blocks are being leveled and massive upscale apartment buildings are rising.

Into this downtown comes The Harrick, a Manhattan-style hotel built subsidy-free by investors willing to pay extra for a car-parking contraption just to be downtown. Has downtown West Palm Beach arrived? There's no doubt.

The Palm Beach Post | February 4/5, 2005

The Harrick - West Palm Beach

An all-glass sales center for The Harrick has opened at Esperante. In addition, plans for the luxury condominium units in downtown West Palm Beach were unveiled and reservations were accepted. Prices begin at $320,000.

The Harrick, a condominium hotel, will be at the corner of Lakeview Avenue and Dixie Highway. The concept of condominium hotels is already popular throughout the country.

An owner can offer his or her condo to the managing hotel company, which can, in turn, rent out the unit.

The Harrick will rise more than 20 stories and feature 140 one- and two-bedroom suites ranging from 630 to more than 1,200 square feet of air-conditioned living space. The penthouses will provide sweeping views of the city, Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Ocean.

The Harrick's architecture is elegant and distinctive. Each residence will be fully furnished with high-end designer decor and luxury features, including Poggenpohl kitchens and Sub-Zero appliances. A rooftop pool will offer serenity and breathtaking views.

Top-flight amenities include concierge, maid and room services; a fitness center; communications and security systems; flat-screen TVs; and valet parking.

Less than two blocks from CityPlace, the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and the Palm Beach County Convention Center the Harrick will offer convenience and value.

Palm Beach Illustrated | December, 2005

One of the hottest trends in real estate is a high-rise condominium that doubles as a hotel, and developer David Gostfrand plans to bring one to downtown West Palm Beach. The Harrick Condominium Hotel will be a 20-story, Manhattan-styled building at the corner of Lakeview Avenue and Dixie Highway.

In the concept, owners of the 138 upscale residences may rent them nightly to guests when the owners are out of town. Condo owners and guests alike will enjoy first-rate hotel amenities - everything from room service to a full-time concierge to maid services, provided by boutique hotel operator Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group.

One- and two-bedroom suites ranging in size from 630 to 1,200 square feet are priced from the $500,000s to more than $1 million. They will be fully furnished by Jupiter-based Donald Lilly Associates Interior Design Inc. with contemporary decor and high-end products, including Poggenpohl kitchens with Sub-Zero appliances, plasma televisions, granite countertops and marble floors. Penthouses will afford sweeping views of the city, the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.

Condo owners and guests will have, besides the hotel services, access to a heated rooftop pool, state-of-the-art fitness center and spa, a restaurant and bar, and valet parking. Also offered will be a grocery-shopping service, by which refrigerators may be stocked with owners' favorite foods before they arrive in town.

Completion is slated for 2007.

Swimming in style

Pierce Brosnan, George Clooney, Prince William and Hugh Grant are among the celebrities who sport stylish Vilebrequin men's swimwear, and the French company has significantly raised its profile in Palm Beach. Vilebrequin's retail operation has been relocated from a 240-square-foot via off Worth Avenue to a 1,000-square-foot space between Lacoste and Pucci on the avenue. It is the company's largest store in the United States.

The new store will offer the entire Vilebrequin collection, including hundreds of colorful pairs of swim shorts in prints of fruits, flowers, stripes and animals; accessories; linen shirts, shorts and pants; cotton sweaters; and matching father-son swimwear ensembles.

The Vilebrequin concept took shape in Saint-Tropez in the early 1970s, catching on quickly in major European cities. The company opened in New York in 1999, and now has stores in Southampton, N.Y., Scottsdale, Ariz., Beverly Hills, Calif., Boston and Bal Harbour.

World wear

In an effort to offer more international luxury brands, The Gardens mall in Palm Beach Gardens has added Burberry and Lacoste to its mix of retailers.

Burberry, an England-based company known for its trench coats and check print, opens this month. It will offer apparel and accessories in a 3,700-square-foot space on the upper level next to Tiffany & Co. Founded in Basingstoke, England, in 1856, Burberry has a rich history and calls itself the "authentic British lifestyle brand."

Lacoste, known for its crocodile-embroidered sportswear, has opened a 2,000-square-foot store, its largest in Palm Beach County, on the upper level across from Louis Vuitton. The retailer, based in France, sells clothing, footwear, fragrances and accessories. Its most popular item is its polo, a short-sleeved, collared shirt made of a light, knitted fabric called "jersey petit piqué."

Rapid response

A Palm Beach resident has co-founded a company that has the stated purpose of giving people peace of mind in a dangerous world. The Emergency Contact Network (ECN), owned by Oliver "Piper" Quinn of Palm Beach and Andrew Reilly, is an inexpensive service that informs a client's loved ones immediately if he or she is in an emergency situation.

Clients are given a personalized card to keep with them at all times. In an emergency, good Samaritans or emergency personnel call the ECN support team, which contacts family and friends. The service is valuable in hurricanes or other natural disasters, when telephone, e-mail and cellular service are limited. ECN's Web site is ecn911.com.

Sleep tight

DUX Bed, a Swedish manufacturer of state-of-the-art mattresses, has opened its first Florida store in Boca Raton. The store, DUXIANA, offers DUX Bed's three different models, all of which contain 11D2 miles of steel wire configured into a support system that purportedly distributes body weight evenly to maximize circulation. A king-sized DUX bed contains about 4,980 springs. The highlight of the Boca Raton DUXIANA store is a quiet sleep chamber where customers can try any DUX bed for up to four hours. Owner David Cohen, who lost a New York City clothing boutique in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, opened the store because a DUX bed cured his severe back pain.

Soothe your sole

As its name suggests, The Shoe Spa in Palm Beach Gardens is about pampering your feet. The new boutique, owned by Beth Weingarten, offers upscale footwear by makers that tout a combination of comfort and style.

The store carries top brands of both men's and women's shoes, including Allrounder by Mephisto, Arche, Cole Haan, Donald J. Pliner, Icon, Rieker, Stonefly and Taryn Rose.

The Shoe Spa is at Downtown at the Gardens on PGA Boulevard.

Lending an ear

The Deaf Service Center of Palm Beach County has expanded its HEARING WELLness Center in Delray Beach, adding full-time staff and staying open additional hours. Previously, the facility was open limited hours and staffed by employees from the West Palm Beach facility.

The center's new audiologist, Gary Friedman, specializes in hearing testing, hearing-aid fittings, patient counseling and other audiology services.

Besides operating the centers, the Deaf Service Center distributes telephone equipment to residents who are hard-of-hearing or deaf, and provides referrals, client advocacy, case management and community education.

Flexing its muscles

Northern Palm Beach County residents with neuromuscular diseases now have an outpatient clinic nearby, thanks to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The facility, at Jupiter Medical Center, serves people in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast who have any of the 40 diseases in MDA's program, including the forms of muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. The center, headed by neurologists Russell Wilson, Mark Stafford and Linda Pao, provides diagnostic and follow-up care from physicians and a physical therapist. Patients also have access to occupational therapy, speech and language pathology, and pulmonologists and cardiologists.