University Of Florida Halts West Palm Beach Campus Plans Amid Dispute With Billionaire
The University of Florida is putting the brakes on the development of a 12-acre West Palm Beach campus just six months after it announced the plans.
UF announced the news in a Tuesday press release, citing “regrettable divisions in the local community” as a main factor in the deal not moving forward, The Palm Beach Post reported.
The dispute centered around an agreement the school had previously reached with billionaire developer Jeff Greene to name the campus after him. The naming rights were agreed to as part of a deal that involved Greene donating 5 acres the billionaire owns in the heart of the city, but the university backed out of the deal after it declined some of Greene’s requests, the PBP reported.
“UF is committed to being a unifying presence throughout the state and does not want to divide communities we aim to serve,” the school said in statement. “The university has an obligation to the public to take a fresh look at any possible South Florida graduate campus.”
Another 5 acres for the campus was slated to be donated by Palm Beach County, while West Palm Beach was prepared to contribute 2 acres of city-owned land — on the condition that the county and Greene provide their acres to the university.
"We are hopeful that this is a pause and not an end to negotiations," West Palm Beach said in the statement, per the PBP.
The school had previously offered to name the campus the Jeff Greene School of Technology and Innovation. Amid negotiations, Greene added conditions of his donation — including that the land would revert back to him if construction timelines weren't met — while then-UF President Kent Fuchs suggested naming one building after Greene, rather than the whole campus, the PBP reported.
Related Cos. Chairman Stephen Ross, whose company is the largest developer of office buildings in West Palm Beach, said “there is nothing finalized" about the campus negotiations.
“We can do this without Jeff Greene,” Ross told the Palm Beach Post. “I think we can get to a deal there.”
The Palm Beach County Commission greenlighted the land exchange with the university in August for 5 acres at 810 Datura St., while the city approved donating 2.2 acres in February 2022, the South Florida Business Journal reported. The remaining 4.5 acres needed for the campus are owned by Greene.
"I still just want to be a donor and make this happen for our wonderful community, and just do the deal that the University of Florida offered and we accepted," Greene told the PBP before Tuesday’s announcement. "They offered it. We accepted it ... A deal's a deal."
The decision to halt development plans for the proposed campus comes as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis charged forward earlier this month with plans for a sweeping overhaul of Florida’s state university system, dubbed his “war on woke.” DeSantis appointed former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse as UF president last year.
The idea for UF to have a West Palm Beach graduate campus originated with Fuchs, who met with local officials over the matter during his tenure at the school.
The pullback comes as a blow to local business figures who were hoping the campus would bring an influx of talent to boost economic activity in the region. West Palm Beach has attracted new offices of BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Point72 Asset Management in recent years, and ensuring they and future companies moving to the area have an educated workforce is a key local priority.
Other universities eyeing West Palm Beach as an option for a new hub include Palm Beach Atlantic University, which is expanding its campus this year into a six-story, 126K SF business school that will include a 314-seat tiered lecture hall and a stock trading room. It will also include franchising and public policy centers.
