The Square complex in West Palm Beach reverts to its former, beloved name: CityPlace

A West Palm Beach gathering spot by any other name will still be called CityPlace.

And it looks like CityPlace's owner has come to terms with that fact, because the office, residential and dining center has changed its name from The Square back to CityPlace.

The change went into effect on Wednesday, May 1.

A spokesperson for Related Cos. of New York, the center's owner, offered this explanation.

"The neighborhood has expanded, evolved and grown into a true district with a full live, work, play and stay community," the spokesperson said on Wednesday. "The name reflects who we are as a brand as we continue to build on what we’ve established in downtown West Palm Beach.”

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The spokesperson didn’t elaborate on why The Square brand was ditched. But in recent years, the complex has pivoted to become more of an office and residential complex, with a lessened emphasis on shops.

CityPlace opened in 2000 as a shopping, dining and entertainment center. The complex's name was changed to Rosemary Square in 2019 because the complex no longer was mostly a shopping mall, Related officials said at the time. The name subsequently was shortened to The Square.

A look back at CityPlace's beginnings: 21 years ago, West Palm Beach's CityPlace opened to crowds

But it's clear that a name containing a regular polygon never quite took hold.

"Most visitors still called it CityPlace," said Peter Ricci, director of Florida Atlantic University's Hospitality and Tourism Management program.

"The Square never caught on as a brand name because CityPlace to me identifies a tourism, retail, entertainment, dining and festive location. The heart of a city," he added. " Whereas The Square didn't really resonate as to what it was."

But for tourists, "the name, CityPlace, sounds like a big downtown something or another that I want to see," Ricci said. "I applaud them for realizing it's a better name and let's go back to it."

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Tim Harris, a longtime West Palm Beach resident, real estate agent and member of the West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority, said The Square name didn't catch on with him, either.

Even in Palm Beach Post articles, The Square's name usually was followed by the clause, "formerly known as CityPlace," similar to how the social-media platform named X also is described by its former name, Twitter.

The public's resistance to the rebranded CityPlace isn't unusual with South Florida gathering spots, Ricci said.

For some older Miami Dolphins football fans, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami-Dade County will always be Joe Robbie Stadium and never its other monikers: Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Land Shark Stadium, and Sun Life Stadium.

iThink Financial Amphitheatre started out as Coral Sky Amphitheatre, also went through a half-dozen name changes including Sound Advice and Perfect Rum, and today still remains known to many concert aficionados as Coral Sky.

And where does the Miami Heat basketball team play? Not the Kaseya Center, formerly the FTX Arena. For many fans, the Miami venue always will be known as the American Airlines Arena.

Failed name changes aren't limited to gathering spots, however.

The most famous example is Coca-Cola's unsuccessful attempt to rebrand Coke as New Coke, with a new taste formula, too. After a few years, the fizzy soda drink reverted to the original recipe and original name.

Meanwhile, even the best-thought out names can fall victim to changing circumstances.

In West Palm Beach, the Avalon apartment complex at 333 Fern St. started out as ISIS, a name derived from an Egyptian goddess.

Then the murderous group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria emerged in 2014 in the Middle East. The downtown apartment building's name was quickly changed to 3 Thirty Three Downtown, then The Alexander and most recently, Avalon, when the complex sold to a new owner.

Still unknown is the future of the newly renamed Banyan Cay Resort & Club in West Palm Beach. A new owner has renamed the golf club Dutchman's Pipe Golf Club, after a flowering vine that is favored by swallowtail butterflies.

But according to the University of Florida's Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, the vine's colorful and pipe-shaped flowers are smelly and toxic, and the plant is considered invasive.

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

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: CityPlace in West Palm Beach is back to its original name