The Bristol was the priciest. The Berkeley, a new West Palm condo, will be close behind

The developer of The Bristol condominium plans to build another condo in West Palm Beach that will be a scaled-down version of the priciest and most luxurious condo ever built in Palm Beach County.

The new tower, dubbed The Berkeley, will rise 25 stories and be built on Clear Lake, the body of water on the city's western boundary that also serves as the city's drinking water supply.

"It's going to be Bristol-quality, but we're doing it for a lesser price," according to Allan Adelson, who co-developed The Bristol in 2019. "But because it's me, I'm going to give them The Bristol look, feel and quality. It'll be Bristol-esque, for sure."

The Bristol, a 68-unit tower rising 24 stories, features units costing an average of $10 million each. The tower sits at 1100 S. Flagler Drive and is billed as an ultra-luxury condominium.

The Berkeley, estimated to cost $500 million to build, will have many of the same luxury amenities as The Bristol. This includes balconies on the west and east sides of each unit and a white marble lobby floor.

Like the Bristol, the Berkeley also will have unobstructed water views, albeit facing west toward Clear Lake instead of the Intracoastal.

Even the project's design is a wink to The Bristol: The building's wavy exteriors consist of a distinctive "B" pattern.

But unlike The Bristol, The Berkeley will cater to families. These units will feature two, three and four bedrooms, plus a bonus room for a playroom or office. There will be no one-bedroom or studio units.

And unlike The Bristol's $10 million-plus units, The Berkeley's 191 condos will sell for between $1.7 million to $4 million, or about $1,000 per square foot. Units on higher floors, which will also offer north- and east-facing ocean views, will cost more, as will penthouse units.

The Berkeley's target buyers are professionals with families who work in the city's new crop of financial firms, Adelson said in an exclusive interview with The Palm Beach Post on Tuesday, May 7.

"Our market is the people coming to work here but who aren't the chairman or the president of the company," Adelson said. "Still, they earn a very good living."

Most importantly, they have families. Therefore, unlike The Bristol and other high-rises planned in the downtown, Adelson said, The Berkeley will be family-oriented, with plenty of bedrooms and perks for children.

Thomas Morrison, who owns the land where the condo will be built, characterized The Berkeley's focus in an interview last December: "The demand coming here has changed from retirees and old money to young families coming here for new business and new employment."

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The sales launch comes at a time when numerous new condominium towers costing at least $2 million already are trying to attract preconstruction buyers.

These condos are mostly planned or being built along Flagler Drive, facing the Intracoastal Waterway.

But Adelson isn't concerned that there are too many condos for sale in the downtown.

"I am a strong, strong, strong believer in the West Palm Beach market," Adelson said.

"People who are way richer than me and smarter than me have made fantastic commitments to the area," he added, singling out Related Cos. Chairman Stephen Ross.

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Ross, owner of the NFL's Miami Dolphins, is the city's dominant office building owner and developer. Related built CityPlace in 2000 and then placed a big bet on West Palm Beach during the pandemic by building and buying the city's top office towers.

The move supercharged efforts to create a budding financial district in the city, which continues to draw a range of hedge funds and private equity and technology firms. These companies, in turn, are fueling demand for upscale housing, including luxury housing throughout the city and the county.

"And I don't see what's going to change about this," Adelson said. "All this housing being built will eventually get absorbed."

Nevertheless, the competitor in Adelson couldn't help boasting about what he sees as his project's advantages over other proposed condos in the city: The Berkeley, like The Bristol, is the only condominium project sighted from north to south, he said.

This means that each unit will offer full water views and not partial or even blocked views, like all the other new or proposed condos that are squeezed into parcels of land running east to west.

The Berkeley's investors are local residents, including some who own condos at The Bristol in West Palm Beach

The Berkeley tower will be built on 2 acres at 601 and 621 Clearwater Park Road along South Australian Avenue. The site is just east of Interstate 95 and north of Okeechobee Boulevard.

The Morrison family of Palm Beach bought the sites in 2021 and 2022 for a combined $13.5 million, then teamed with Adelson to develop The Berkeley.

Also part of the team: Rocco A. Marcello, founder of Windsor Private Capital in Toronto. Marcello, a longtime seasonal Palm Beach resident, owns Cafe L'Europe restaurant in Palm Beach.

Several current and former Bristol residents also are part of The Berkeley investor group.

They include tech entrepreneur Tom Garvina; and former Intech Investments Chairman Robert Garvy, who bought a unit in The Bristol for $11.8.5 million in 2019 and then sold it for $21 million in 2023 to John J. Nelson, an insurance executive. Nelson is a partner in The Berkeley, too, Adelson said.

Also on the team: Bob Ernst, a physician-turned-real estate developer from Michigan; and former NFL player Joe Conwell, who formerly played for the Philadelphia Eagles. Conwell is now a real estate agent who will lead The Berkeley's sales. Both Ernst and Conwell recently moved to Palm Beach County.

Area real estate brokers were introduced to the project on May 9, and preconstruction sales are commencing. Already, 11 units have been sold to both investors and would-be residents, Adelson said.

Parking won't be a problem for The Berkeley's residents: Adelson plans a 425-space garage, and he expects each condo will come with two parking spaces.

All the complex's space will be used for perks and views.

Details about The Berkeley in downtown West Palm: Rooftop lounge, private dining room, adult pool

The tower will have a rooftop lounge and bar, private dining room, and adult pool and spa. On the seventh floor, atop the parking garage, there are perks for the whole family including a fitness center, spa, lounge, kids and teen room, and a family swimming pool with a water spa and cabanas.

A sales center is under construction on the ninth floor of an adjacent office building at 500 S. Australian. The space will offer potential buyers the same sweeping water views of Clear Lake that they can expect if they buy in The Berkeley, Conwell said.

The Berkeley's backers all talked about creating a neighborhood in this section of the city, which is close enough to the downtown to be convenient but far enough outside to escape the increasing traffic gridlock.

The site also is easy to get to and from I-95 as well as Australian Avenue, Conwell said.

Over time, this section of the city could become "Hudson Yards South," Conwell quipped, referencing New York's Hudson Yards, the once-overlooked west side of Manhattan that Related Cos. transformed into a residential and office enclave.

During the next few years, this section of the city could get an added boost if plans to bring a Vanderbilt University campus to nearby government-owned parcels come to fruition.

The Nashville-based private university is interested in building graduate business and computer schools to 7 acres once intended for a University of Florida campus.

Talks continue between Vanderbilt officials, government officials and top business officials, but no plan is completed yet.

Alexandra Clough is a business writer and columnist at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. Twitter: @acloughpbp.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Developer of Bristol plans waterfront West Palm Beach Berkeley condo