- On Oct. 29, the ultra-luxe condo project to replace the Ambassador hotel and lakeside Edgewater House earned Town Hall approval for the bulk of the project’s design.
- But architectural commissioners still have questions about the choices of materials and elements like the proposed glass balconies.
- The project also still needs the Town Council’s approval of 20 variances to the zoning code tied to the current plans.
A much-awaited ultra-luxe condominium project to replace the aging Ambassador hotel and an adjacent lakeside building is now headed to the Town Council, after the Architectural Commission voted to approve the bulk of the proposal’s designs, as previously reported by the Palm Beach Daily News.
“We appreciate (the Architectural Commission’s) thoughtful review, feedback and approval of the Ambassador hotel redevelopment project to move forward to the Town Council,” OKO Group, a co-developer of the project, said in a statement released after the commission’s Oct. 29 meeting. “Over the past three years, our development team has worked together with community members to design a luxury residential project that reflects the refined sensibilities and quality that have long defined Palm Beach. We look forward to delivering on this project that will bring renewed life and opportunity to the community.”
But the project is still far from construction, as the Architectural Commission 5-2 vote for approval came with several conditions that ranged from a call to increase the amount of landscaping proposed, to a demand to restudy the materials used to accent to the building, including the proposed glass balconies.
Vice Chair Richard Sammons and Commissioner Elizabeth Connaughton cast the dissenting votes.
Miami-based OKO Group, which is developing the project with London-based private equity firm Cain International, must also have the Town Council approve 20 variances required to build the project as presented during the Architectural Commission meeting.
The plans would replace the aging oceanfront Ambassador Hotel & Residences with two five-story buildings. An adjacent lakeside residential building known for years as the Edgewater Hotel would be replaced by a single five-story building. Both sites would feature underground parking.
The properties are addressed as 2720 S. Ocean Blvd. and 2730 S. Ocean Blvd. The developers bought the property in October 2022 in three deals totaling $147.6 million.
Under the current plan, the buildings would exceed several of the zoning code’s thresholds, the most important of which is a request from the developers to supersede the maximum amount of “fill” material needed to raise the elevations of the proposed buildings.
Without the extra amount of fill, the underground parking garages would qualify as separate floors, a designation that would violate Palm Beach’s Comprehensive Plan, which bans condo buildings taller than five stories.
That variance is likely to move forward, as the Town Council told the developers during a May 14 meeting it would accept the fill variances, so long as the project receives support from all neighboring properties.
Those properties — the Beach Point Condominiums at 2660 S. Ocean Blvd.; the condominium at 2770 S. Ocean Blvd; and the Regency of Palm Beach condominium at 2760 S. Ocean Blvd. — had representatives voice support for the project at the Architectural Commission October meeting.
The other variances to the zoning code include measures affecting the height threshold set for rooftop mechanical equipment; the amount of roof space that equipment would occupy; the overall height of the buildings; and the size of the buildings’ side yards.
But some of those variances, like those of the side yards, are needed because of restrictions imposed by the town’s outdated zoning code, representatives of the project have argued. In that case, proponents say, it’s not the buildings that would extend beyond the town’s minimum size for a side yard, but the underground parking garage.
Commissioners voted 4-3 at the October meeting in favor of 18 of the project’s 20 variances, with Chair Jeff Smith, Vice Chair Richard Sammons and Commissioner Elizabeth Connaughton voting in dissent.
But the two variances which the commission voted against — and which may elicit debate during the Town Council’s Nov. 13 review — were those needed to exceed the town’s limit on these proposed buildings’ “footprints,” or the percentage of property covered by the buildings.
The above-ground structures would take up 27.53% of the lakeside lot, and 24.22% of the oceanside lot. The town’s lot-coverage threshold for the site’s zoning region allows no more than 22% of a property’s ground to be covered.
That variance request was met with pushback by the Architectural Commission, even by members who otherwise supported the development, including Alternate Commission David Phoenix.
As Phoenix put it, “28% versus 22% — maybe there is a way they can tighten that up and not have that variance (for) lot coverage,” he said.
The Town Council will review the project at its next development-review meeting. The project also is expected to return to the Architectural Commission for further review during its Feb. 25, 2026, meeting.
Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com.
