The Nora Hotel in West Plam Beach, Fla., slated to open in 2026, is BD Hotels’ first newconstruction project outside of New York.
DEVELOPMENT
GOING SOUTH
BD HOTELS BRINGS NEW YORK ATTITUDE TO WEST PALM BEACH.
Contributed by STEFANI C. O’ CONNOR
Pulling a new neighborhood out of the ground is not for the faint-hearted, something the partners involved in cultivating the nascent destination known as The Nora District in downtown West Palm Beach, Fla., know full well.
Collaborators on the 40-acre project include NDT Development, Place Projects, Wheelock Street Capital and, notably, BD Hotels, which has stepped outside its New York City comfort zone, where it has transformed and owns some two dozen exceedingly Instagrammable hotels ranging from economically trendy to look-at-me luxe.
While its West Palm Beach foray signals a geographic pivot for BD Hotels, led by principals and long-time compadres Richard Born and Ira Drukier, whose fathers were also
52 hotelsmag. com July / August 2025