Palm Beach Old Guard Revolts Over First New Luxury Condos in Decades
A dated hotel is at the center of tensions between flashy new arrivals and the area’s longtime retirees and snowbirds.
The Ambassador Palm Beach Hotel and Residences.
Photographer: Saul Martinez/BloombergJust a few miles down the road from Palm Beach’s multimillion-dollar beachfront estates, there’s a palpable shift on the Florida island. Opulence and glamor give way to a sleepy boulevard with mid-century condos housing retirees and snowbirds.
There lies the Ambassador Hotel, a three-star property with AC units hanging out of the windows and a musty smell in the elevators. In one of the nation’s wealthiest towns, it’s taken a broader role as a center of tension between longtime locals and the new money arriving to accommodate affluent transplants who have poured into the area since the pandemic.