The techies and billionaires luxuriating in Palm Beach mansions and upscale nabes like Wellington in the western part of Palm Beach County can’t get enough of that easy, breezy, state income tax-free Florida lifestyle. Now, they’re moving their firms with them, gobbling up Class A office space in West Palm Beach.
At a mere 3.95 million square feet, West Palm Beach’s Central Business District is 100 times smaller than Midtown Manhattan but, thanks to the demand, it’s seeing big city rents over three-digits — and now another 1 million square feet is on its way.
“People are moving here and moving their companies here and absorbing space,” said Brian Gale of Cushman & Wakefield who is leasing the new boutique office project at 300 Banyan Blvd. “It’s not musical chairs. It’s positive, new-to-the-market absorption.”
According to Cushman & Wakefield, without renewals, 267,535 square feet was leased in 2024, with Class A average asking rents at $105.31.
There was a vacancy of 19.1% as new towers were added to the market but is quickly being absorbed with deal activity increasing 90% year over year.
According to Green Street data, all of Palm Beach County has an occupancy of 90%, which has pushed up office asking rents 63% over the last five years.
So who are these billionaire Palm Beach boosters behind the boom? You can blame most of it on Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. His local company, Related Ross, developed and just opened a complex on a former church parking lot at the end of the Royal Park Bridge to Palm Beach known as One Flagler, where two other billionaires, John Paulson and Ron Baron, have now leased offices.
This 285,000-square-foot project aka 180 Lakeview Ave. is 95% leased with other tenants including Diameter Capital Partners, the Chicago-based GTCR and Vipertec at rents exceeding $120 per foot.
Designed by David Childs of Skidmore Owings Merrill, the crown of this 25-story tower is lit with white LEDs. Its low-rise garage is covered in lush greenery and its top serves as a 19,000-square-foot amenity terrace. Already, the buzzy Greek restaurant, Milos West Palm Beach, is a hit in its base, while a new eight-piece reflective sculpture, Portals, by Fred Eversley, has become an icon in the adjacent park.
Across Lakeview Avenue to the north, the red and glass towers of 777 S. Flagler Dr. have been home to Morgan Stanley since they opened in 1985. Known as Phillips Point, these two towers have 449,000 square feet, parking for 1,174 cars and a Morton’s The Steakhouse — nevertheless, Related Ross is also planning upgrades.
Ross also updated the Esperante Corporate Center at 222 Lakeview and developed the new 360 Rosemary, which is just north of Ross’ signature project at CityPlace.
“This environment, the community and the types of amenities have resonated here more than in Miami,” said Jordan Rathlev, SVP of Ross’s local company, Related Ross. “We own 95% of the Class A market and are not sellers.”
But Ross and company didn’t just transform Palm Beach overnight — this explosion was decades in the making.
About 30 years ago, Related, Himmel & Co. and the O’Connor Group won a city request for proposals (RFP) and began developing CityPlace into a 600,000-square-foot lifestyle center with offices, condos and rental apartments surrounding about 60 retailers and restaurants. Opening in 2000, it transformed and energized downtown West Palm Beach into a walkable, mixed-use and dynamic community with green spaces and programmed activities.
To its west is the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts which opened in 1992, while to the south, across Okeechobee Boulevard., is the Palm Beach County Convention Center which opened in 2004 (it’s where Pres. Trump gave his election night victory speech last fall). The adjacent Hilton Hotel was also developed by Related.
Rathlev says the key to Ross’s success boils down to health care, education, attainable housing and mobility.
“If you need to move a company you need to have a workforce,” Rathlev said. “We need to have homegrown talent.”
That why after being inspired by his experience on New York’s Cornell Tech Council, Ross is bringing Nashville’s Vanderbilt University to 7 acres in the western part of the city where it will build a $300 million graduate campus designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects focused on computing, engineering and innovation tech for 1,000 students.
It will be situated on the east side of the Amtrak station, while the west side will soon have a $500 million, 150-bed Cleveland Clinic hospital at 400-450 Australian Ave., also orchestrated by Ross.
Last week, Related Ross broke ground at CityPlace on two towers with 1 million square feet of offices and retail on the site of the former FAO Schwarz toy store. A Macy’s closed in 2016 and is now a luxury rental.
“Smaller format stores and more tenants with an experiential presence are more appealing than department stores,” said Rathlev.
The upcoming 25-story 15 CityPlace was designed by Arquitectonica and will be topped with an expansive sky garden designed by Gensler. This tower will be anchored by 150,000 square feet of medical offices and outpatient facilities for the Cleveland Clinic, which already has a smaller spot in CityPlace.
The adjacent, 22-story 10 CityPlace was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and will feature private outdoor terraces. Both buildings are set to open in 2027.
Just to the north is Related Ross’ first luxury apartment rental, the Laurel at 575 Rosemary, where Equinox West Palm Beach will open in 35,000 square feet at the end of 2025.
“You have major companies, money managers and all kinds of private offices. I get calls from all over the country looking for real estate here.”
William Reichel of Reichel Realty & Investment
It’s no wonder that local real estate insiders call the town, “Relatedville.”
“It’s incredible and unprecedented in the country,” said William Reichel of Reichel Realty & Investment about Ross’ reshaping of Palm Beach. “He has invested $8 to $10 billion in West Palm and has his hands in getting us a nice university and the Cleveland Clinic. There are incredible dynamics going on.”
Reichel recently marketed a $10 million development site at 605 S. Olive Ave. that had five offers and is now contracted to a local developer. A 10-story building of 51,150 square feet plus parking and mechanical space can be built with zoning for anything from a boutique office to a hotel and residential.
“You have major companies, money managers and all kinds of private offices,” Reichel said. “I get calls from all over the country looking for real estate here.”
JLL is marketing a 72,000-square-foot boutique office at 205 Datura St. with expected pricing of $48 million — around $680 per foot. It has a 257-car garage and is 80% leased to tenants including AltaRock Partners, Sound Point Capital Management and Stone Point Capital.
The seller, Morning Calm, paid $14 million after PNC left in 2019 and added $10.8 million in upgrades.
“They love the building but it’s time to move some capital and look for other opportunities,” said Hermen Rodriguez of JLL who leads the marketing with Ike Ojala and Matthew McCormack.
A few blocks north, Gale of Cushman & Wakefield is leasing the new, dramatic office building at 300 Banyan, developed by Brand Atlantic and Wheelock Street Capital and designed by B+H Architects, that is hospitality-focused with many terraces and amenities.
“It’s the most gorgeous boutique office building both inside and out,” said Gale. Asking rents are between $110 and $120 per foot. Alvarez & Marsal and the specialty telecom contractors, Dycom Industries, are among the tenants.
It’s adjacent to the developer’s update of the low rise 111 Olive St. which hosts small offices and, soon, the Mediterranean restaurant Kyma which has a location in Related’s Hudson Yards in New York.
The Banyan & Olive project wraps onto historic Clematis Street which reverberates with dining and even dancing when it becomes a festive, pedestrian-only party that is particularly loved by those that can walk to their very affordable condos.
For those that party too heartily, NYU Langone has doctors’ offices on Clematis and is building a new $75 million medical tower at the nearby 324 Datura St., better to serve both its Big Apple snowbirds and those that have nested here permanently. “It’s been an unbelievable evolution of West Palm Beach,” said Rodriquez.
