Stephen Ross, Kenneth Himmel and Gopal Rajegowda

Can Stephen Ross make West Palm Beach happen? At the very least, the legendary developer is already off to a phenomenal start. 

During the height of the pandemic, Ross’s properties, then under the ownership of Related Companies — which he also founded — lured some of the biggest names in finance to open offices in West Palm Beach. These included Goldman Sachs, Rockpoint, J.P. Morgan Chase, Point72, Elliott Management and Millennium Management. 

Last year, Ross doubled down on his mission to turn West Palm Beach into a finance and business mecca, launching a venture called Related Ross, which took ownership of the real estate that Related Companies had developed. 

Now Ross is planning a major expansion in the city and across Palm Beach County. With the help of Kenneth Himmel and Gopal Rajegowda, Ross’s full vision for West Palm Beach includes 6 million square feet of office space, 1.4 million square feet for condos, 700,000 square feet of retail and 870 hotel rooms. There’s also a new campus from Nashville-based Vanderbilt University, which Ross lobbied hard for and is partly funding, and a major mixed-use development in Wellington. 

And Ross is putting his money where his mouth is by mostly self-funding this effort, in part by selling minority stakes in his Miami Dolphins NFL team. 

While Palm Beach County remains the focus for Ross, he’s still winning in Miami.  

Related Companies — in which Ross remains the largest shareholder — is developing one of the highest-profile projects in the Magic City: Ken Griffith’s 54-story, mixed-use tower that will house the global headquarters of the financier’s two companies, hedge fund Citadel and market maker Citadel Securities. The move was a nice recovery for Related Companies after a nearby office project never materialized.