Vanderbilt plans $520 million Palm Beach campus, tapping wealth migration

Vanderbilt University is asking local Florida officials to approve its proposal to build a $520 million campus in wealthy Palm Beach, taking advantage of a growing region transformed by new outposts of financial firms.

The Nashville school envisions buildings totaling 300,000 square feet for 1,000 students and more than 100 faculty members. The West Palm Beach site was previously targeted by the University of Florida for a similar project that ultimately failed.

The first step took place this week. Vanderbilt officials asked West Palm Beach to donate city and county land for the campus. West Palm Beach is located on the mainland, just across the Intracoastal Waterway from mansion-lined Palm Beach.

“We are evaluating the potential for expanding our business and computing education programs in West Palm Beach, an area of ​​tremendous growth and investment in private equity, venture capital, fintech and investment banking,” Vanderbilt said in a statement. sent by email. “We are in the early stages of discussions with local leaders.”

Before Vanderbilt can move forward, the county and city must conduct a detailed review of the project and, once complete, put it to a vote — a process that will take at least a month, said Palm Beach County Mayor Maria Sachs. The city and county agreed to continue that review during public meetings Monday and Tuesday.

The lack of elite school options — from kindergarten to college — has been a major sticking point for a wave of younger affluent families who have moved to South Florida from New York, California and elsewhere for work at firms such as Ken Griffin’s Citadel, Blackstone. Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. And there is a dearth of top universities to develop talent to feed those firms.

“We need to have great schools,” West Palm Beach billionaire developer Steve Ross told a meeting of county commissioners Tuesday. “There’s no place I’ve ever grown up that doesn’t have great universities, great schools.”

Read more: Wall Street South move crowding Florida’s elite private schools

The potential expansion of a brand name college in Florida shows the dichotomy in US higher education today. Smaller colleges with declining student populations and few resources are closing, while an elite group of universities like Vanderbilt have the wherewithal to expand.

Vanderbilt, whose nearly $10 billion endowment makes it one of America’s richest universities, plans to open the satellite campus on land originally promised to the University of Florida. The proposed campus, slated to break ground in fall 2026, would focus on business, artificial intelligence and data science programs, according to plans filed with West Palm Beach County. Vanderbilt will ask area donors, including alumni, to help cover start-up costs.

Read more: Palm Beach Elite Raises money to lure Vanderbilt to Florida

Vanderbilt alumni began trying to lure the school to West Palm Beach last year after the deal with the University of Florida fell through. Vanderbilt was already exploring a second campus, and Chancellor Daniel Diermeier began looking at West Palm Beach after being approached by local alumni at a Vanderbilt football game.

Vanderbilt has more than 1,100 alumni in the West Palm Beach area, and they have put together a plan to raise $300 million to help fund a campus. In April, Steve Ross hosted a reception at his Palm Beach mansion for Diermeier to discuss fundraising plans and alumni support.

Ross played a major role in the development of downtown West Palm Beach, where the campus will be built, with new office and residential towers.

On Tuesday, Ross said Vanderbilt will help transform the region, just as Stanford University helped create Silicon Valley in Northern California. “To miss this opportunity would be a crime,” Ross said at the commissioners’ meeting.

Photo: Bloomberg

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