10/21/2025
UDS Project:
Plan for 100 homes in Northwood gets underway
City relaxes zoning rules for GL Homes
Andrew Marra
Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY NETWORK
Shop signage in Northwood Village in West Palm Beach. THOMAS CORDY/PALM BEACH POST
Work is beginning on an unusual development in West Palm Beach’s north end – a large-scale housing development by one of Florida’s largest homebuilders.
GL Homes, best known for building large communities on undeveloped land, is starting work on about 100 new homes on lots amassed by Huizenga Holdings in the century-old Northwood neighborhood.
The undertaking is said to be the largest redevelopment of a single-family neighborhood in the city’s modern history, and the company is relying on help from city leaders to get it done.
In September, city commissioners aided their efforts by loosening the rules in the neighborhood for minimum lot sizes and how far homes have to be set back from their property lines.
Doing so makes it easier for the company to build modern homes on the smaller lots in the neighborhood, a 10-block neighborhood bordered by 40th Street, 45th Street, Broadway and North Flagler Drive.
City rules generally require home lots to be at least 60 feet wide, but commissioners agreed to reduce the width to 49 feet within the neighborhood. The minimum lot size was reduced to 5,000 square feet from 6,000.
The new rules also allow homes to be built closer together and closer to the road than in the rest of West Palm Beach.
Ken Tuma, an urban planner representing the project, told commissioners that loosening the rules would let GL Homes build houses more consistent with the character of the neighborhood, where most existing homes were built between the 1930s and 1950s and predate modern zoning
rules.
He pointed out that of the roughly 150 lots in the neighborhood, just 21 meet the city’s current requirements.
A GL Homes spokesperson told The Palm Beach Post that the company has begun constructing four model homes in the neighborhood.
“We received approval to begin construction on our new West Palm Beach community last month and have since started work on four model homes, which are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026,” the spokesperson said in a prepared statement. “We are finalizing additional details for the community and look forward to sharing more information once plans are confirmed.”
GL Homes is best known for its planned communities on undeveloped land across the state, including the Valencia and Canyon communities west of Boynton Beach, Apex at Avenir in Palm Beach Gardens and neighborhoods in Arden west of Royal Palm Beach.
The company says its project in Northwood will be its first within an existing urban area, underscoring the rising interest in the city’s north end, where the waterfront is being remade by luxury condo towers.
Road signage at the east side access to Northwood Village in West Palm Beach on Sept. 13, 2024. THOMAS CORDY/PALM BEACH POST
The GL Homes houses will be built on lots that were acquired by Huizenga over the years. They will be built around existing homes on lots not owned by the company.
The project is just one part of Huizenga’s development plans in the area. The company is also planning a $2 billion waterfront district nearby with four condo towers alongside the Safe Harbor Rybovich marina.
Carlos Vidueira, vice president of Huizenga Holdings, told commissioners that his company had been working with city planners on a neighborhood plan that would leave city leaders “very pleased.”
“We’ve been able to come up with great compromises that will create a community of the future, that will take West Palm Beach in a new direction on the north end,” he said.
