Sign of the Times

April 2025 | Mike Vogel

SPOTLIGHT

The economic development organization in Palm Beach County for years has made a habit and a splash pitching wealthy seasonal residents and visitors to move themselves and their businesses there permanently. The latest came at Thanksgiving with a “Wall Street South” billboard in Times Square carrying the message, “Dear NYC, it’s not you. It’s me.” And also: “Make your move at BDB.org.”

The Business Development Board says the county has seen a surge in financial firms such as Goldman Sachs, Paulson Capital and Elliott Management moving offices to Palm Beach. It now hosts 483 asset management firms, either headquarters or satellite offices, managing $18.2 trillion locally and $36.4 trillion globally. The county is home to 59 billionaires and 71,000 millionaires.

Board CEO Kelly Smallridge says the ad generated 25 leads immediately from companies in manufacturing, aviation and finance “but we received 100 laughs.”

Smallridge says the campaign next goes to Boston and Chicago.

Given plans by Vanderbilt University to open a grad school campus in West Palm Beach and Cleveland Clinic’s plans to open a hospital too, “there is still a really good vibe and positive outlook for Palm Beach County,” Smallridge says. She predicts that more companies will move there now that Stephen Ross’ One Flagler office building has opened.

MANUFACTURING

• Energy components manufacturer Hoerbiger Corp. of America will move its North American headquarters from Pompano Beach to a site west of Delray Beach. The company will employ more than 500 at the $60-million plant it will build.
• Boca Raton-based air conditioning company Blue Frontier contracted with the Defense Department to demonstrate its tech in the commissary and other facilities at Fort Moore in Georgia and a bowling alley at an Air Reserve based in Massachusetts.

UTILITIES

Water supply officials in Stuart and Port St. Lucie stopped, at least temporarily, the adding of fluoride to drinking water, citing health concerns raised by Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo about the effect of the chemical on babies in the womb and children’s IQ, cognitive development and potential attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

HOSPITALITY

• Ten months after hiring Mark Kirke as CEO, West Palm Beach-based deli chain TooJay’s replaced him as head of the 20-store chain with Joe DiGangi, who was president and CEO of Skillets, a breakfast and brunch chain in Bonita Springs. No reason was given for Kirke’s departure.

REAL ESTATE

• The Rooney family’s Palm Beach Kennel Club, which exited dog racing after a 2020 state voter ban on dog racing, will relocate its casino to a 60,286-sq.-ft. new building by 2027 on the northern portion of its property, freeing up 42 acres on its site for residential development. Pari-mutuels across Florida have been revitalizing their real estate following the end of dog racing.
• Sugar company Florida Crystals’ FCI Residential unit plans to build up to 100 apartments at the Wellington Vista development near Lake Worth Road in Palm Beach County. A quarter of the units would be designated for workforce housing.
• PulteGroup purchased 4.5 acres from the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency to build 19 single-family residences and 22 townhouses that will be placed in the county workforce housing program. Cottage District, as it’s called, will be the company’s fourth workforce development in Palm Beach County. Cottage District residences will be priced for the lowest two area-median-income categories. An affiliate of Miami-based Fort Partners paid $20 million for waterfront apartment buildings in West Palm Beach near the Southern Boulevard bridge to Palm Beach.
• New York-based Time Equities wants to build a $500-million, 898-unit market-rate rental project in Boynton Beach.

EDUCATION

• A decade after Broward voters agreed to an $800-million bond referendum to upgrade school facilities for safety, music, art, athletics and technology, the school board has decided to end the program. Voters were told the bonds would enable $1 billion in work completed by 2021. Instead, less than half the work was done for $1.7 billion and the bond funds were depleted a couple years ago. A statewide grand jury in 2022 said school administrators mismanaged the program and misled the public. Some school board members advocate bringing a new bond referendum to voters.

TRANSPORTATION

• The growth of passenger airline Breeze Airways will lead to Vero Beach Regional Airport spending $5 million in local funds and federal and state grant money to add parking, restrooms, covered walkways to aircraft, covered baggage claim and other improvements.

FINANCIAL

• Flagler Credit Union, a Dort Financial division, signed a $22.5-million, 15-year naming rights deal for Florida Atlantic University’s football stadium. FAU says it’s the largest corporate sponsorship deal for a football stadium in the American Athletic Conference and among the largest in the Group of Five conferences.

CIVIC

• Organizers of the proposed Center for the Arts and Innovation in Boca Raton have dropped plans to partner with the city for a facility at the mixed-use Mizner Park development. The center had trouble raising money on the timeline it agreed upon with the city. The group says it will look at alternatives, including a new deal with the city.

SOURCE: https://www.floridatrend.com/2025/04/15/sign-of-the-times/