Carolyn DiPaoloOffices, schools and a club for affluent newcomers.
Fortune magazine just published a look at Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross’ ambitions to make West Palm Beach a model city for the country.
Why it’s important: The article, reported with Bloomberg, pulls together the developments Ross is pursuing to make South Florida more like Manhattan.
What happened: The billionaire noticed that the Bristol luxury condo on Flagler Drive quickly sold out, the article reported. His office building at CityPlace, 360 Rosemary, was also booming.
“When I saw what was happening with COVID and saw how they were renting,” Ross, 83, told Fortune/Bloomberg, he said “There’s a real opportunity here.”
The story noted that Palm Beach County had a $7 billion net gain in adjusted gross income from 2020 to 2021, the most in the United States.
And that, as of the first quarter, Ross’ Related Cos. was building nearly two-thirds of the roughly 334,000 square feet of offices under development in downtown West Palm.
Related’s latest office project, One Flagler, has landed tenants including HighPost Capital and a firm tied to billionaire John Paulson, Fortune/Bloomberg reported.
The developer is in talks to open a location of Eataly, the Italian food marketplace, in West Palm, a person with knowledge of the plans told the reporters.
Ross wants to develop more amenities for affluent newcomers but said it isn’t easy. They include:
A big-time graduate school
As Stet News first reported, Ross is leading an effort to raise $300 million to lure Vanderbilt University to the downtown location where plans to build a University of Florida campus fell apart.
An elite prep school
Related and Frisbie Group have hired staff to better understand the business of education, but it’s been a challenging process, even with a slew of wealthy donors standing by, the article said.
Pine Crest, a top private school with a campus in Boca Raton, was exploring a West Palm location but isn’t moving forward, a person with knowledge of the situation told the reporters.
A private club
Throughout the area, golf clubs nearby are full, Fortune reported, so Ross is building a three-course club called Apogee 30 miles north of downtown West Palm in Martin County.
The bottom line: The man who developed CityPlace in 2000 is going all in to make West Palm Beach a new power center.
Read the paywalled article here.
Bloomberg summarized its reporting in this one-minute video.
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I am a co-founder, writer and editor for Stet News. I am also a former senior editor at The Palm Beach Post. For 20 years, I oversaw some of the most consequential stories published by the paper, including the “Corruption County” reporting project that led to multiple arrests of elected officials. I am a member of the Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2013. I live in West Palm Beach with my husband, Bill DiPaolo.
