Opening a Business in Downtown West Palm Beach: A Checklist

Two tax receipts and an inspection

West Palm Beach requires a local business tax from anyone doing business in the city, and a city receipt is issued only after its inspections pass. The business then needs a Palm Beach County receipt too, and City Hall staff at 401 Clematis Street complete the zoning sign-off on the county form.

• City business tax receipt from Development Services, issued after the initial inspections pass
• A certificate of use for some businesses, including those that rent property
• The county receipt from the Palm Beach County Tax Collector, in addition to the city's
• Both renew between July 1 and September 30 each year

Ask the DDA before you spend

The West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority lists grand opening assistance that reimburses part of the cost of an opening and facade improvement grants of up to half the cost of exterior work, including signs and awnings, inside its district. Its larger business incentive grant is closed until further notice, so confirm current terms first.

The DDA also promotes downtown businesses for free. One form shares promotions and specials and another shares business anniversaries through its weekly newsletter, website and social media, with every submission approved first. Its events calendar accepts events inside the downtown district that have a permanent event web address, excluding financial seminars, political events and private events.

The city's Community Redevelopment Agency runs separate incentives for its Downtown/City Center and Northwood/Pleasant City districts, including a facade and exterior improvement program downtown. Amounts change, so check the CRA's incentives page before you budget.

Design the storefront to the city code

West Palm Beach regulates signs in Article XIII of Chapter 94 of its zoning code. Billboards are prohibited, wall signs may project no more than 18 inches and murals need a mural permit. A new business may show temporary grand opening signs for up to 30 days, except on lots with more than one business.

Restaurants and shops with sidewalk seating have one more rule. A-frame and portable signs are not permitted anywhere in a permitted sidewalk cafe area. A cafe may have one menu board and one specials board attached to the building facade, subject to the sign code, and the sidewalk cafe permit itself runs from October 1 to September 30.

Permits for the opening event

An opening event on private property needs a Private Property Special Event application at least four to six weeks ahead, and tents, stages, generators, banners or alcohol can each trigger additional permits. Events on public property or in the public right-of-way go through the city's Community Events Division instead.

Tell people how to get there

Put arrival directions on the website and the Google profile. The city manages the Banyan Street, City Center, Clematis Street, Evernia Street and Sapodilla garages, metered parking takes ParkMobile and Brightline's West Palm Beach station is within walking distance of downtown. The old downtown trolley no longer runs.

The city's West Palm Move service, a fixed route with on-demand rides, has replaced the earlier trolley and on-demand pilots, with stops that include downtown and Clematis and CityPlace. BrightBike is the city's official bike share. Brightline lists its station at 260 Quadrille Plaza Drive.

Search reviews and press

Create one Google Business Profile with the business's real-world name and no added keywords, import it into Bing Places and ask every customer for a review the same way, with a link or QR code. Google prohibits incentives for reviews. Then pitch local editors through the routes each outlet publishes.

Clematis Street has been the city's main retail street for well over a century, and CityPlace has been a downtown destination since Related opened it in 2000. That history gives an opening a natural local angle. WPTV takes story ideas by phone and through an online form, CBS12 asks for press releases at a single news tips inbox, WPBF takes tips by email and Stet News, a nonprofit newsroom covering only Palm Beach County, takes tips by email too.

The checklist

Work through these in order. Licensing comes before advertising, the DDA comes before spending and the event permit comes four to six weeks before the party. Most downtown opening problems are timing problems, not budget problems.

• City business tax receipt, inspections passed, then the county receipt
• A call to the DDA about grand opening and facade grants before any exterior work
• Storefront and signs designed to Article XIII, with the landlord's sign criteria checked
• No A-frame signs in the sidewalk cafe area; menu and specials boards on the facade
• Private Property Special Event application four to six weeks before the opening
• Google Business Profile with the real name, a Bing listing and a website that match
• Parking, Brightline and West Palm Move directions on the website
• A promotion and an anniversary submitted to the DDA's free forms
• A local story pitched through each outlet's published route