Will the long-awaited Biba Social private club ever open in West Palm Beach?
Club officials say yes. Look for an opening this fall, said Anne-Marie Houston, Biba Social’s newly-appointed managing director.
The members-only club originally was set to open in the fall of 2024, then the fall of 2025. The opening date subsequently moved to early this year in time for the start of the winter season.
Now the project’s schedule has been adjusted again because an interior restoration and renovation is taking more time than expected. “There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes,” Houston said.
The private, members-only club is being built in the now-shuttered Hotel Biba, formerly the Mount Vernon Motor Lodge. The 320 Belvedere Road property is just east of South Dixie Highway, south of downtown.
Private clubs are a new perk planned for West Palm Beach’s increasingly affluent community, and two others are in the works in the downtown.
Two years on, Biba Social still in the works
In the two years since Biba Social began construction and started selling memberships, it has weathered a series of stops and starts, changes in managers and builders, and the occasional lawsuit.
Since January, two lawsuits have been filed against the club’s parent company, WPB Royal Palm Hospitality, LLC.
One complaint, filed on Jan. 29 in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, was a $2.5 million foreclosure filed by Davar Rad, as Trustee of the Davar Rad Revocable Trust, against Biba Social’s parent company, Royal Palm WPB Hospitality, LLC.
But just as quickly as the lawsuit was filed, it was voluntarily dismissed and the matter closed, court records show.
In an email, Biba Social owner Elizabeth Rad said the lawsuit was filed in error. An attorney for Davar Rad didn’t return requests for comment.
However, another Palm Beach County Circuit Court lawsuit remains outstanding. This one was filed by Barrel Aged Mgmt LLC, a Miami hospitality company led by Seth Alexander.
The Feb. 4 lawsuit claims Barrel Aged Mgmt is owed $39,500 in unpaid consulting fees, due since Nov. 20, in violation of a contract to supervise construction and management of the Biba Social project.
Houston said Biba Social had no comment on the complaint.
Hotel Biba’s historic past
Club Biba is owned by Elizabeth Rad, manager of Palm Beach-based Corrado Properties. Corrado owns and develops boutique luxury hotels and resorts including the Sorrel River Ranch Resort and Spa in Moab, Utah.
Rad purchased Hotel Biba through an affiliate, Royal Palm WPB Hospitality, in late 2020 for $4.5 million, according to property appraiser records.
The nearly 1-acre property, built in the “Bermuda vernacular” architecture, was designed by renowned architect Belford Shoumate. The site, which opened in 1941, also is among the first motor lodges built in the United States and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
“When you’re working with a historical building, we want to get all the details right and we want to make sure we partner with the right individuals and make sure everything is perfect, given the story of Biba,” Houston said.
During the past couple of years, a renovation of the property began, then stopped. In 2024, the boarded-up property seemed abandoned even asBiba Social continued to sell memberships.
In Sept. 2024, Cove Construction Group of West Palm Beach sued Royal Palm WPB Hospitality, according to Palm Beach County Circuit Court records. The complaint alleged Royal Palm WPB Hospitality owed Cove $548,051 from November 2023.
A little more than three weeks after the lawsuit was filed, the dispute was settled and the lawsuit was dismissed, court records show.
In February 2025, a Biba official said the project had a new general contractor, DC Green of Palm Beach Gardens.
But DC Green no longer is working on the property. Instead, Mercurio Construction LLC of North Palm Beach is the contractor now.
Meanwhile, in early 2025, Apicii, a New York-based hospitality management company, was brought on as the company’s hospitality consultant.
But by September, Miami-based Barrel Aged was in charge, at least for a few months last year.
What will Biba Social offer members?
When completed, Biba Social will feature dining and drinking options, a small hotel for members and a swimming pool, all set amid a retreat inspired by the French Riviera.
The property also has 26 hotel rooms, nine of which are suites.
Houston said Biba Social will feature “a very interesting food and beverage program.”
Joining the club is Monaco-based MayaBay Restaurant Group, which is opening its first Thai-Japanese restaurant in the United States at Biba Social.
In addition to the MayaBay restaurant, Club Biba will have a cocktail bar, a poolside lounge, as well as another unnamed restaurant. This restaurant will feature a jewel-box dining room, as well as outdoor dining space. Also coming: a rooftop cigar lounge.
Why private clubs are hot in West Palm Beach
Private club operators say the city’s increasingly affluent population is creating interest in private spaces where people can gather away from crowds and the stress of competing with the public for dinner reservations.
Like other new private clubs planned in the downtown, membership will include residents of both West Palm Beach and Palm Beach.
But Houston said interest in Biba Social now has gone global, with potential members coming from all over the world.
Club Biba’s membership fee, once set at $50,000 per member, has climbed, according to sources familiar with the club. But these sources also said some would-be members have soured on the club because of its delays. A few people have asked for and received their money back, the sources said.
Two more clubs in the works for downtown
Biba Social isn’t the only private club coming to West Palm Beach.
Just to the club’s north, in the heart of downtown, the Bellini Rooftop Lounge is set to open in late 2027 at 320 Lakeview Ave. The club is part of the 27-story Mr. C Hotel & Residences being built by Terra Group and the Morrison family in partnership with members of the famed Cipriani family.
In addition, the Related Ross firm in West Palm Beach and Leisure Resorts LLC of Hartford, Connecticut, are working on a joint venture to build a private club next to the Palm Harbor Marina along North Flagler Drive.
Alexandra Clough is a business writer at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. X: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Biba Social club in West Palm faces delays, lawsuits; new opening date set
Reporting by Alexandra Clough, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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