Real estate magnate Stephen Ross sees Palm Beach County becoming akin to Silicon Valley, filled with technology and engineering professionals, including those fleeing California’s high taxes, he told a small group in Palm Beach on Jan. 14.
At an event hosted by Bloomberg at the Brazilian Court hotel, Ross spoke about West Palm Beach’s rising status as a “model city,” even as he remained largely silent about his Miami Dolphins soccer team, which had just finished a losing season.
The exceptions: Ross said he was offered $15 billion for the team, which he turned down; and he has one key requirement for a new head coach: “I am interested in one win coach,” Ross told a reporter after his on-stage speech.
Here are four things Ross said to the Palm Beach group about his plans for Palm Beach County:
Ross said he envisions the county becoming the new version of Silicon Valley. “I believe it will happen, and it will be here in Palm Beach County,” he said.
The key to creating this reality is an environment where engineers and entrepreneurs want to live and start the next generation of businesses.
Once these start-up companies gain traction, they will in turn attract venture capital firms willing to invest in them and help them grow, he said.
Ross said California’s high cost of living, combined with regulations, has already driven businesses out of the state.
Now there’s a new reason for tech leaders to leave: a proposed tax on billionaires.
“That scares everyone out there,” he said.
Florida, on the other hand, has many advantages, including a business-friendly environment and no income tax.
But to make West Palm Beach even more attractive to businesses, Ross said he knows the city needs progress in education and health care.
“You’ve never seen a place grow without a great university,” Ross says, citing Stanford University’s presence in San Francisco as a catalyst for that community.
That’s why Ross said he helped broker a deal to attract Nashville-based Vanderbilt University to build a graduate business school in downtown West Palm Beach.
On Jan. 12, Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier announced that the private school had raised the $300 million needed to build the downtown school. Ross contributed $50 million for the campus.
The Nashville-based private university, which will open its campus in fall 2029, will feature degrees in business management, finance and engineering.
