Murray Goodman, the developer whose Phillips Point office towers forever changed the face of West Palm Beach, died Dec. 21 at age 99.
In the early 1980s, Goodman had just opened The Esplanade on Palm Beach, the high-end fashion retail center anchored by Saks 5th Avenue at the east end of Worth Avenue, when he began buying land on Flagler Drive at the foot of the bridge leading to the island.
The city, still smarting over its much-maligned approval of the residential Waterview Towers in 1979, had an aversion to high rises when Goodman, backed by his top lieutenant, Bob Sanders, went to work. They countered neighborhood opposition with a coalition of business support and the Black community to eke out a 3-2 City Commission approval in October 1982.
Goodman also built Okee Square on Okeechobee Boulevard and regional malls in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas. He teamed with developer E. Llwyd Ecclestone Jr. in 1996 in an unsuccessful attempt to win the city’s support to develop the land that became CityPlace.
Phillips Point’s towers of 19 stories and 13 stories with expansive water views ushered in the waterfront building boom that still looms today. Barnett Centre, Northbridge Center, The Plaza (formerly Trump Plaza) and Flagler Center soon followed.
Phillips Point never lost its luster. It sold several times over the years, most recently for $282 million in 2021.
And Goodman maintained his office there, continuing to go to work as recently as a few weeks ago, Sanders said.
To read more about Murray Goodman, here’s his paid obituary that appeared in The Palm Beach Post. And here’s a tribute to him placed by Lehigh University, where he graduated in 1948 and became a formidable donor.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
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