West Palm Beach has just landed its own piece of downtown New York luxury as The Nora Hotel, the 201-key hotel from the team behind Hotel Chelsea, The Bowery Hotel, and The Mercer, officially welcomed its first guests on October 19, 2026, in the Nora District.
The Leading Hotels of the World hotel brings the iconic Pastis, the Parisian-style brasserie from New York, to the ground floor, Jack's Lobby Bar, a rooftop pool deck, bar and restaurant, and Florida's first Sisley Spa, all to one address. It is BD Hotels' first ground-up hotel outside New York, and the first major project the group has built together outside New York City.
Sean MacPherson and BD Hotels, the company Richard Born and Ira Drukier founded in 1986, developed The Nora with NDT Development, Place Projects, and Wheelock Street Capital, the three firms behind the $1 billion district around it, which has quickly become one of West Palm Beach's newest hot spots — filled with brands like Sunday Motor Co., IGK Salon, Loco's, Warby Parker, Sports & Rec, Del Mar, Celis Juice Bar, and more.
Christine and John Gachot, whose studio's work includes Shinola Hotel, Bar Pendry, Glossier, and The Shepherd, reinterpret Spanish Colonial Revival and early 20th-century Mediterranean influences with nods to Henry Flagler, Addison Mizner, and the grand hotels of Palm Beach. The exterior takes Palm Beach's brightness and its green and pink palette, while the interiors shift into something darker and more intimate. With pecky cypress woodwork, custom GACHOT furniture, and curated antiques, the public rooms have a collected, residential feel, and the art throughout was curated by The Madison Melle Agency.
At 201 rooms, Gachot designed the guest rooms to feel eclectic but to also give people a sense of place. The rooms are unmistakably Florida, with bright interiors, rattan closets, and tropical notes, but elevated with gold accents and moodier patterns, which makes the stay feel similar to a remote destination like the United States only private island resort, Little Palm, versus an urban hotel.
Stephen Starr, the James Beard Award-winning restaurateur behind Pastis, Le Coucou, and Makoto, oversees the kitchens. Jack's Bar anchors the ground floor as a lobby bar built around retro glamour, warm lighting, and ice-cold martinis, inspired by the kind of place John Kennedy might have made his own, and Pastis brings the brasserie's New York-born charm to the ground floor beside it.
Upstairs at Lilly's, an original concept from Mama Hospitality, the group behind West Palm Beach and Nantucket's iconic Mary Lou's, founded by Alex Melillo, Joe Cervasio, and Topher Grubb, there is the rooftop pool and deck lined with pink lounge chairs, umbrellas, private cabanas, and palm trees. It will run as three connected experiences under one name: Lillys Pool for daytime poolside dining and service, Bar Lilly as an intimate aperitif lounge built around cocktails and sunset, and Cafe Lilly as the rooftop's full-service restaurant, with Mama Hospitality shaping the programming and STARR Restaurants cooking.
The plan calls for live music, poolside sets, special events, and collaborations across music, fashion, art, and food. Lillys is one half of Mama Hospitality's move into the district. The group is also opening Macs 44, an 80-seat performance salon with nightly shows in the Nora District, which takes it from one West Palm Beach venue to three.
The hotel also brings Florida's first Sisley Paris to West Palm Beach, which already runs spas in New York, California, and Arizona. The spa holds four private treatment rooms, a co-ed steam room and spa lounge, an outdoor terrace, and men's and women's locker rooms. The menu is rooted in Sisley's phyto-cosmetology and pairs the brand's signature skincare rituals with deep-tissue, hot stone, sports, and Swedish massages, facials, and body scrubs, alongside seasonal wellness activations, private group experiences, and a retail selection of Sisley Paris products. It is open daily, with reservations required.
Outside of the Nora Hotel opening, the Nora District itself has quickly emerged into another heart of downtown, reworking a row of century-old railway warehouses into a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood of shops, restaurants and bars, art galleries, fitness studios, and a year-round events program, with the hotel as its anchor.
The district's first phase delivered more than 150,000 square feet of retail and more than 55,000 square feet of second-floor Class-A creative office space. Future phases are adding multifamily residences along with more retail and office, with Nora House and Nora Apartments expected to deliver in 2029.
Reservations are open at norahotelwestpalm.com