The $520 million Vanderbilt University campus planned for West Palm Beach grew much larger.
West Palm Beach City Commission voted unanimously this week to donate two acres of city land to the university as Palm Beach County commissioners work on final decisions to donate five acres of county-owned land.
County officials agreed this week to hash out a more detailed construction plan on Sept. 17 before final contract agreements as early as Oct. 8.
It’s a long-term commitment for Vanderbilt, a leading research university based in Nashville, Tennessee.
The planned 300,000-square-feet business school in Downtown West Palm Beach, between Datura Street and Fern Street in an area dubbed Government Hill, would generate — over the next 25 years — $7.1 billion in economic activity, according to the university's consultants.
The number doubles to $14.2 billion over 50 years and then $25 billion over 75 years. That’s $285 million annually. Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Vice Chancellor Nathan Green cited the projections from an economic-impact study by TXP, an Austin-based consulting firm.
Green said Vanderbilt will treat the West Palm Beach campus like the original one in Nashville.
"To locate a second campus in this wonderful community, it's going to be world class. It's not a satellite campus. It's a second campus,” Green said. "The commitment and the investment that we'll make here is reflected in the independent economic impact study.”
READ MORE: Palm Beach County sees record investment returns, but braces for more property foreclosures
The private university's campus, which would includes an innovation hub, projects to have 1,000 students who will have access to fintech, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and other business programs — and a faculty of about 100 to 125 people.
Green mentioned aspirations to work with Superintendent Mike Burke for K-12 education initiatives and Palm Beach State college for workforce development.
West Palm Beach has skin in the game
Mayor Keith James called the project a “once in a lifetime opportunity.”
James said the city has put forth “sufficient safeguards,” that if the donated land isn’t used for educational purposes, the title would revert back to the city.
Vanderbilt will “need to begin vertical construction within five years,” James said.
Vanderbilt wants to place its graduate-level school around the same location University of Florida’s campus would’ve gone – before plans were scrapped last fall over land and naming rights disagreements between developer Jeff Green and UF. Greene’s land isn’t required for the current Vanderbilt deal.
Safeguarding the county and city
During the presentation, Vanderbilt did not present any architectural site plans or renderings that would illustrate the size and scope of the campus or its impact on traffic. Commissioners requested a site plan for the next discussion. And officials are expected to discuss solutions to traffic related concerns in the next meeting.
County commissioners have also directed their staff to use some of the same language and provisions from the previous UF contract, which had required UF to meet certain construction milestones and conditions, such as the county’s right to access and validate the master plan prior to development.
Keeping talent close to home
Palm Beach County, specifically West Palm Beach, has experienced significant population and business growth in the last few years — attracting companies from major aerospace and finance industries to manufacturing headquarters.
“I learned in the early nineties, as I watched IBM, Motorola, Pratt Whitney, and Sony leave Palm Beach County, how important it was to have a strong education ecosystem,” said Kelly Smallridge, president of the county’s business development board.
“When we conducted our exit interviews, it was clear that those companies sought states and counties that had a great education, a wide array of colleges and universities to keep them competitive.”
Developer Stephen Ross equates a Vanderbilt campus in West Palm Beach to “the growth of Silicon Valley, where the startup business ecosystem has access to schools like Stanford University.
But, to sustain growth in West Palm Beach "the biggest need in this county, in this state, is the kind of workforce housing that’s required,” he said.
The construction of the campus is expected to create nearly 5, 700 jobs.
Vanderbilt's annual operation spend for the campus hovers over $100,000 million with students expected to spend, on and off campus, nearly $20 million annually.
