Nora Hotel West Palm Beach Opens October 19 With Pastis, Just in Time for Palm Beach Season

The Nora Hotel is scheduled to open on October 19, 2026, in West Palm Beach’s Nora District. It is the first ground-up hotel outside New York City from BD Hotels, the group behind The Bowery, The Mercer and The Greenwich. Better still, it brings Pastis, Stephen Starr’s Parisian-style brasserie, to the ground floor.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Nora Hotel

The timing is the point. Palm Beach season runs from October through April, and The Nora arrives right at its start. As a result, the island’s winter crowd gains a new base just north of downtown West Palm. The house has 201 rooms, including 14 suites, and joins The Leading Hotels of the World.

The team is pure New York. BD Hotels, led by Richard Born and Ira Drukier, developed the property with hotelier Sean MacPherson, a partner in Hotel Chelsea and The Bowery. Its partners include NDT Development, Place Projects and Wheelock Street Capital. Meanwhile, Stantec designed the five-story building, and Gachot Studios created the interiors.

Still, the building looks to Palm Beach rather than Manhattan. Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival details run throughout, from arched walkways to tile mosaics. Guests enter through a loggia garden. Upstairs, the hotel promises sunlit, richly layered rooms with generous bathrooms. Several categories, including the Grand King Terrace, also add a private terrace.

Pastis is the anchor. The brasserie spans more than 13,000 square feet on the ground level. Expect the classics, such as onion soup, escargots, steak frites and raw bar platters. Beside it, Pastis Privé serves as the hotel’s private event venue. So far, Pastis West Palm Beach has announced only a fall 2026 opening.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Nora Hotel

Above it all sits Lillys, the rooftop restaurant and lounge that STARR Restaurants co-created with the hotel. The deck pairs a pool with private cabanas, garden dining and two bars. In addition, STARR runs the hotel’s in-room dining. On a warm January evening, this is likely to be the most wanted table in the district.

Back downstairs, the hotel adds a Sisley Spa Paris, alongside a fitness center and a lobby bar. Sisley’s other American spas are in New York, Los Angeles and Scottsdale. Outside, the Nora District turns century-old railway warehouses into a cobblestone street of restaurants, shops and studios. Its name, fittingly, comes from North Railroad Avenue.

In short, West Palm now has a hotel with a downtown New York pedigree, built for Palm Beach rhythms. For anyone who winters here, it changes the math on where to stay. Our advice is to book the opening weeks, before the gala calendar takes over the rest of the season.

The Nora Hotel is at 1135 North Railroad Avenue, West Palm Beach. Reservations are open through the hotel and The Leading Hotels of the World.

For more of Haute Living’s Palm Beach coverage, see why Palm Beach season is officially starting and the island is about to triple in size and the private car club coming to West Palm Beach in 2028.