Vanderbilt University officials will travel from Tennessee to West Palm Beach to meet with city and county officials. A new college campus could follow close behind.
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The West Palm Beach City Commission and Palm Beach County Commission will consider resolutions next week that will start to pave the way for a 300K SF campus in the heart of the city that could host up to 1,000 students as soon as the fall of 2026.
City commissioners will consider a resolution on Monday that would donate city-owned parcels across the street from the West Palm Beach Tri-Rail station to Vanderbilt for a graduate college focused on business, artificial intelligence and data science.
New details of the planned campus were disclosed in a presentation that Vanderbilt officials are slated to give to county commissioners Tuesday outlining their vision and the school’s estimated economic impact.
Stephen Ross, the billionaire former head of Related Cos. who now leads the West Palm Beach-focused development firm Related Ross, has been working behind the scenes to lure Vanderbilt to West Palm Beach.
He hosted South Florida’s high society at his Palm Beach mansion in April for a reception with Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier while Ross was working to raise up to $300M in donations to bring the college to West Palm Beach.
Vanderbilt is planning to spend $519M on campus construction, which is slated to include a main academic building, student housing and a parking garage.
“We are assessing the potential for expanding our business education and computing programs to West Palm Beach, an area of tremendous growth and investment in private equity, venture capital, fintech and investment banking,” a Vanderbilt spokesperson said in an email.
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The academic buildings on the campus would host graduate programs at the Owen Business School and an engineering school, according to an overview of the economic impact of the planned campus submitted to the county. The overview was prepared by Austin-based research firm TXP on behalf of Vanderbilt.
Part of the campus would be an “innovation hub,” which is briefly described in the presentation as a point for students and faculty to connect with local officials, business leaders and entrepreneurs to promote collaboration.
The fall 2026 start date is cited in the presentation as the earliest potential timeline. Once the planned class of 1,000 students arrives, the presentation says Vanderbilt would spend $119M annually on operations and support 866 jobs between faculty and staff.
The campus would be built on donated land from the city at 386 S. Tamarind Ave., 810 to 910 Evernia St. and 913 Fern St. in Downtown West Palm Beach.
The parcels are northwest of CityPlace, the 35-acre mixed-use property that Related Cos. has been redeveloping with new retail and office space.
Ross left his role as chairman at Related Cos. last month to launch Related Ross, although he is maintaining his investment and nonexecutive role in Related Cos.
Related Ross is taking over the development of some of Related's West Palm Beach projects, including the CityPlace repositioning and a 108-condo waterfront project where units start around $6M.
Jordan Rathlev, now a senior vice president at Related Ross, told an audience at a Bisnow event in December that Related Cos., his employer at the time, had a 1.3M SF office portfolio in the city and a 2.5M SF development pipeline.
“Chairman Steve Ross’ vision for West Palm Beach is to make this the model American city, and he's working very closely with the mayor on that,” Rathlev said at the time. “That's attracting new healthcare, affordable housing and new education.”
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