Florida’s Gold Coast: Ambition Accelerated

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Florida’s Gold Coast spans from West Palm Beach down through Fort Lauderdale to Miami, forming a unified region poised to be America’s next great hub of innovation and growth. Ambition Accelerated is a new campaign putting a spotlight on this region as one of the best places in the country to build and scale a business. Tellingly, the campaign wasn’t launched in New York, Washington D.C., or Silicon Valley – it debuted in West Palm Beach, at the Wall Street Journal’s Invest Live event on February 2, 2026. Backed by $10 million from billionaire developer Stephen M. Ross and hedge fund titan Ken Griffin, Ambition Accelerated is aimed at CEOs, founders, and investors who are evaluating where to grow their companies. The message is clear: Florida’s Gold Coast is where the next generation of American business and innovation is being built, offering the conditions needed to accelerate ambition in a pro-growth, future-focused environment.

Why Florida’s Gold Coast? Key Metrics

What’s fueling this surge of interest in South Florida? By the numbers, the Gold Coast stands out against other major U.S. metro areas:

• 🏆 #1 in GDP growth over the past three years.
  
  

• 🏆 #1 in new business formations per capita – leading the nation in entrepreneurial activity.
  
  

• ⭐ #3 in talent attraction, drawing skilled workers at one of the highest rates in the country.
  
  

• 💡 Gas and utility costs up to 1/3 more affordable than peer markets, lowering operational expenses.
  
  

And statewide advantages make Florida even more appealing:

• 💰 #5 in tax competitiveness among populous states – with no state income tax (it’s constitutionally prohibited).
  
  

• ⚖️ #2 for least business regulations per capita, meaning less red tape for growing companies.
  
  

• 🎓 #1 higher education system in America, supporting workforce development and training a pipeline of talent right here in Florida.
  
  

These metrics show that the Gold Coast isn’t just a destination for sunshine and quality of life – it’s a strategic choice for business growth, cost efficiency, and long-term scaling. It offers the talent, the favorable cost structure, and the predictability that modern companies need. As the Florida Council of 100 (the driver of the Ambition Accelerated campaign) puts it, this region combines “global connectivity with an increasingly strong innovation and investment ecosystem”.

Engineering a New Innovation Hub

It also matters who is betting on Florida’s Gold Coast. In this case, it’s power players like Ross and Griffin – people who have already built massive businesses in New York and Chicago, respectively. They didn’t just predict growth here; they’re actively engineering it. Both relocated to South Florida themselves, convinced it’s “the best state in the country to run a business”. In fact, Ken Griffin has gone so far as to call Florida “the only place a founder can scale” in today’s environment.

When the people who decide where capital goes start personally investing and recruiting others to a place, it creates a gravitational pull. West Palm Beach has developed that kind of gravity. Ross and Griffin’s involvement is creating national and international gravity toward the Gold Coast – a signal to other decision-makers that this is the place to be. And once such gravity forms, it sparks an excitement and energy that transforms a region. We’re seeing that transformation unfold now: what was recently considered a secondary market is rapidly becoming a primary hub for finance, tech, and entrepreneurship. Real estate values are climbing, yes, but more importantly the character of the city is evolving to match its new stature. When top-tier investors actively recruit their peers to join them in South Florida, a city doesn’t just get more expensive – it gets elevated into something entirely new.

“So let’s look at what’s already underway,” as local observers are saying, “and why this area is being taken so seriously by people planning decades ahead.” The initiatives and investments happening on the Gold Coast right now paint a picture of a region gearing up for generational growth.

Laying the Foundations: Education & Talent

One of the first things visionary builders like Stephen Ross understand is that before talent moves and companies scale, you must lay the groundwork. People considering moving their families and businesses to a new city want to know what life will look like – where will their kids go to school? How will the workforce be trained? Ross has been proactively tackling those questions by investing in education at all levels. “We really concentrated on bringing schools, hospitals, recreational facilities ... and all the infrastructure and amenities needed for a place that’s growing,” Ross noted of his strategy.

A prime example is Wingrove Academy, a new PreK–12 private school that Ross’s firm Related💠Ross is co-developing in Palm Beach County. Set on a 45-acre campus (opening 2028 in Wellington), Wingrove will serve 1,700 students with a cutting-edge STEAM curriculum. Ross sees such educational investment as critical to attracting and retaining top professionals. “[This] top-tier educational offering... is essential to developing Palm Beach County’s full potential as a magnet for growing businesses and thriving culture,” he said. In other words, to become a true business hub, the region must produce and nurture its own talent pipeline. It’s not just about luring established pros from elsewhere – it’s about giving the next generation a reason to build their futures here.

Higher education is part of this foundation as well. Florida already boasts the #1 public higher-ed system in the nation, and now institutions from outside are coming in. Vanderbilt University is developing a new graduate campus in West Palm Beach, focused on business and cutting-edge fields like AI. This provides a steady stream of highly educated graduates and research activity right in the Gold Coast. For the first time, Florida isn’t just attracting talent – it’s positioning itself to develop and retain that talent locally. Historically, many of Florida’s best and brightest would earn degrees and then leave for jobs up North. Going forward, efforts like Ross’s education partnerships (and even scholarship programs funded through the Related💠Ross Foundation) aim to keep more of that brainpower in-state, feeding the needs of growing companies.

All of this shows that this growth spurt is no short-term blip – it’s infrastructure for permanence, built with a long-term horizon in mind. New schools and campuses, training programs, and talent initiatives are being put in place so that companies can confidently plan decades ahead in South Florida. The foundation is being laid for a self-sustaining ecosystem: educate the workforce, attract the companies, which then create more opportunity for the workforce – a virtuous cycle under construction right now on the Gold Coast.

Building for Growth: Offices and Corporate Relocations

With a strong talent pipeline emerging, the next piece of the puzzle is ensuring companies have a place to call home. That’s where West Palm Beach’s building boom comes in – particularly in Class A office space. And these aren’t speculative “build it and hope they come” projects; they’re rising to meet real demand. Office development doesn’t happen by accident or based on vibes. It happens when vision and opportunity align. In West Palm, we’re seeing exactly that.

Stephen Ross has been busy developing modern office towers downtown, and the uptake from major firms validates his strategy. Take One Flagler, Ross’s recently delivered 25-story trophy office building overlooking the water. It opened in early 2026 95% leased and attracted marquee tenants – perhaps the most significant being Wells Fargo, which is relocating its Wealth & Investment Management headquarters from New York to One Flagler in West Palm Beach. This move will shift about 100 senior executives to the city, making Wells Fargo the first major U.S. bank to base a key division in Florida. The new 50,000 sq ft West Palm office is slated to open by August 2026 and cements West Palm’s status as a serious financial hub. Wells Fargo’s leadership cited South Florida’s “strong business climate and expanding economic opportunities”, and the need to be closer to high-net-worth clients in this “high-opportunity market”, as reasons for the move. In short, they see long-term growth here and want to be at the center of it.

That tells you exactly who these new office buildings are for. One Flagler and its peers aren’t being built for show; they’re built to house the top echelon of finance, tech, and corporate America. And they are coming. In addition to Wells Fargo, Wall Street firms have planted flags in West Palm – BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Point72, and Elliott Management are among the big names with offices in the downtown corridor. This clustering of industry leaders is very much by design. As Ross’s team and city leaders often say, this isn’t scattered, haphazard development – “it’s density with intent.” The Okeechobee corridor in downtown West Palm is being carefully master-planned into a high-density business district, so that firms can be near each other, talent can collaborate, and supporting amenities (hotels, restaurants, culture) can thrive around them.

The momentum is such that more major deals are being announced seemingly every quarter. ServiceNow, a ~$200 billion enterprise software company, recently chose West Palm Beach for a major expansion – a move that underscores the Gold Coast’s emergence as a tech and innovation magnet, not just a finance hub. ServiceNow will anchor the upcoming 10 CityPlace tower (a Related💠Ross project), taking up to 200,000 sq ft of space to establish a new AI Innovation Hub on the Gold Coast. Branded by CEO Bill McDermott as an “AI Institute,” this facility will focus on enterprise AI development, include a startup accelerator, and house a ServiceNow University program for training tech talent. The company’s commitment comes with a pledge to create 850 jobs in West Palm Beach over the next few years, and an estimated $1.8 billion economic impact locally. “The AI innovation economy has a new epicenter on the Gold Coast of West Palm Beach,” McDermott said, highlighting the city’s fast-growing talent pool and favorable business environment as key draws. Federal, state, and local officials are on board too – Florida approved a $15 million incentive package to support ServiceNow’s expansion, and the city matched with additional grants. The arrival of ServiceNow (expected to open its hub in 2028) complements the region’s push into tech and validates that West Palm Beach is competing for, and winning, some of the most dynamic growth companies.

Rendering of Related💠Ross’s planned 10 CityPlace office tower in West Palm Beach, which ServiceNow will anchor as an “AI Institute” hub for enterprise technology. ServiceNow’s move is far from an isolated case. It adds to Southeast Florida’s growing reputation as a technology and innovation hotspot, supported by initiatives like the Gold Coast Tech Accelerator (a new startup accelerator backed by Ross, the Florida Council of 100, and others) and events like eMerge Americas. The cumulative effect is that companies large and small now view the Gold Coast as a viable (even preferable) location to expand or relocate their operations. Office space is filling up with an enviable tenant mix, and new developments are underway to keep pace with demand. The local real estate mantra has essentially become: build it as fast as you can, because they are coming.

Health & Quality of Life Infrastructure

Another clear indicator of long-term confidence in a region is investment in healthcare. Companies may move first, but to sustain growth, cities need top-tier hospitals and quality-of-life services for the people who live there. For a long time, Palm Beach County lagged in this area – local lore joked that if you got really sick in Palm Beach, your best hospital option was “the airport.” That’s changing fast. Healthcare giants are now investing in the Gold Coast, signaling they expect the population of high-value residents to keep booming.

Most notably, Cleveland Clinic – the nation’s #1 heart hospital and a world-renowned health system – recently announced plans to build a new hospital in downtown West Palm Beach. This facility, expected to have roughly 150–200 beds and a full emergency department, will be the first newly built hospital in the city in decades. It’s part of a broader $500 million expansion of Cleveland Clinic’s presence in Palm Beach County, which also includes a 120,000 sq ft state-of-the-art outpatient center nearby. Funding for these projects has come from a mix of community philanthropy and private investment – with Stephen Ross himself reportedly donating $50 million as a lead gift to kickstart the hospital plans (reinforcing how committed he is to plugging critical infrastructure gaps).

The new hospital will rise just a short distance from the future Vanderbilt campus and the core of downtown, ensuring that the growing business and residential community has access to top-notch medical care close by. This is a huge milestone for West Palm Beach. It means families and executives can feel confident that, as they put down roots here, their healthcare needs will be met locally at the highest standard – from routine checkups to advanced specialty care. And beyond the health benefits, a hospital is an economic engine of its own. Cleveland Clinic’s expansion is expected to create thousands of jobs (doctors, nurses, researchers, support staff) and attract related medical businesses. It cements the Gold Coast’s status as a place not just to work and play, but also to live well for the long haul. In Ross’s holistic vision, every piece of the puzzle matters: schools, offices, and hospitals all interlock to support a thriving, permanent community. West Palm Beach is getting all three in a very short span of time – something virtually unheard of in most mid-size American cities.

Ross and Griffin: Transforming a Region Together

It’s important to appreciate how coordinated and intentional these developments are. They’re not happening by luck. They’re happening because of leadership from people like Stephen Ross and Ken Griffin, who are leveraging their resources, reputations, and networks to accelerate South Florida’s rise. One is building the physical environment; the other is validating it by bringing his own enterprise and capital. Together, they’re a powerful one-two punch driving the Gold Coast’s momentum.

Stephen Ross, as a developer, is connecting all the dots. He’s not your typical real estate guy just putting up one-off buildings – he’s executing a master plan. Over the past 25+ years, Ross (through Related) has invested about $10 billion in West Palm Beach’s transformation, with projects spanning 6 million sq ft of offices, 1.4 million sq ft of residences, plus hotels, retail, cultural venues, and more. He has said he wants to create a model city for the 21st century – a place where people can live, work, and find everything they need in an urban core that still feels welcoming. To that end, he’s involved in every detail: pushing for zoning changes to allow taller buildings when needed, incorporating sustainable design and public art, even working with the city on traffic solutions and workforce housing programs. “We are involved in every single detail of what it takes for people to have a lifestyle that’s the best in the country,” Ross told Palm Beach Illustrated. His approach has been one of “inclusive growth,” partnering with city officials like Mayor Keith James to ensure that as downtown prospers, benefits extend to the broader community (through affordable housing initiatives, education scholarships for local students, etc.). In short, Ross is building an ecosystem, not just buildings.

Ken Griffin, for his part, provides a potent signal boost and financial heft to the region. Griffin moved his investment firm Citadel’s headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022, a headline-grabbing relocation that immediately put South Florida’s business appeal on the map. Since then, he’s been an unofficial (and now formal) ambassador for the Gold Coast’s advantages. By funding campaigns like Ambition Accelerated and speaking out about Florida’s pro-business climate, Griffin is actively encouraging other CEOs and financiers to follow his lead. His personal investment in the area (from buying high-end real estate to pledging philanthropy) and Citadel’s growing presence underscore that serious people can operate and scale from here. In effect, one visionary (Ross) is building the stage, and another (Griffin) is inviting the cast of players to perform on it.

This dynamic is accelerating something that was already underway – the migration of talent and capital to the Sun Belt – and focusing it like a laser on Florida’s Gold Coast. The synergy between public vision and private investment here is creating what economists might call an inflection point. We’re no longer talking about a slow, gradual evolution; we’re talking about a step-change in the region’s profile. And importantly, it’s not based on hype alone – it’s backed by metrics (as we saw) and by concrete commitments from world-class institutions (finance, tech, healthcare, academia). Ross and Griffin are essentially engineering growth and catalyzing a self-fulfilling prophecy: they believe in South Florida’s potential, they invest heavily to realize that potential, and by doing so, they attract even more believers.

From Offices to Homes: A Surge in Ultra-Luxury Living

All of this economic and business momentum has a corollary effect: a booming residential market, from luxury condos to family homes. If the Gold Coast is the new place to build a career or company, it’s also the new place to live – and live well. That’s why projects like South Flagler House exist now. South Flagler House is a twin-tower ultra-luxury condominium Ross is developing on West Palm’s waterfront, and it’s directly a response to the influx of “serious people” who need a place to put down roots. As one local observer quipped, this isn’t just a nice place to vacation anymore; it’s a place where serious people can operate and scale their lives.

South Flagler House, in fact, is making waves for achieving prices on par with Manhattan or Palm Beach Island. The two towers will have 105 residences, with units ranging from about $8 million up to a record-setting $73 million for the largest penthouse. It’s the most expensive new condo development ever in West Palm Beach, yet buyers are signing up – the project is already roughly 50% sold out in pre-sales. One headline-grabbing deal was former Apple CEO John Sculley and his wife entering contract for an 11,000 sq ft penthouse, paying $40 million (around $3,600 per square foot). Think about that: an 86-year-old former Fortune 500 CEO, who could live anywhere, choosing to invest $40M in a West Palm Beach condo. It’s a strong endorsement of where this city is headed. As Sculley’s purchase indicates, the demand at the very high end is real – and it’s driven by people who see West Palm not as a speculative play but as a long-term home for their families and wealth.

Rendering of the ultra-luxury South Flagler House towers in West Palm Beach, where units have reportedly sold for up to $3,600 per square foot. Critics might call such lavish development “excess,” but local market experts point out that it’s actually a response to genuine demand. During the pandemic and in the years since, wealthy individuals from the Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast flocked to South Florida. Now with the Gold Coast’s business credentials rising, many of those folks are staying for good and upgrading their living situations – hence the appetite for five-star high-rises with expansive units and top-notch amenities. And it’s not just luxury condos; the residential surge spans price points. New rental buildings are going up to house the influx of young professionals. Suburban single-family home markets in Palm Beach County are staying hot as families move in. Ross’s firm itself has been active on this front beyond South Flagler House: they opened The Laurel (a luxury rental) in 2022, and have other projects in the pipeline like Shorecrest and Nora District housing. They’re also working with the city on solutions for workforce and affordable housing, knowing that a healthy city needs options for all its workers. In short, a rising tide is lifting all boats in the real estate market.

For current residents and investors, this is an exciting cycle to witness. New office towers fill up with blue-chip tenants; that brings high-earning employees; those people then seek quality housing, dining, schools, healthcare – which spurs more development in those sectors. The pieces we’ve discussed (education, offices, tech, healthcare, residences) aren’t isolated – they reinforce one another as part of an integrated growth story. And thanks to coordination by visionaries like Ross (and support from public officials), West Palm Beach is managing this growth in a planned way, aiming to avoid the pitfalls of other boomtowns. It’s density with intent, growth with a guiding hand.

Florida’s Gold Coast: The Future of American Business

The bottom line? Palm Beach County – and the broader Gold Coast – isn’t “becoming” a major business hub… it already is. The transformation is well underway. The question is simply whether the rest of the world catches on now or later. Those who recognize early what’s happening here have an opportunity to position themselves intentionally and reap the benefits of an ascendant region. Those who lag may find themselves reacting to changes after the fact. As history has shown with the rise of Silicon Valley or other innovation centers, the biggest winners are often those who sense the shift before it’s obvious to everyone.

Florida’s Gold Coast has all the ingredients for sustained success: pro-growth policies, a flood of talent, a friendly tax/regulatory climate, and massive investments in the infrastructure of life and business. It’s being engineered not just to have a moment, but to have permanence as a leading economic region. As one headline put it, “They got rich in New York and Chicago. They think Florida is the future.” Indeed, many of the folks driving this growth have experienced the alternatives – they’ve seen what works and what doesn’t in older hubs – and they’re now actively designing the Gold Coast to be the ideal place to start and grow the businesses of tomorrow.

In the words of the Ambition Accelerated campaign, “If you’re boxed in by your city, the doors to the Gold Coast are wide open.” The invitation is there for anyone with big ambitions. This region is ready to support and accelerate those ambitions. What we’re witnessing in West Palm Beach and beyond is the early innings of what could be America’s next great economic success story. The people who are making it happen aren’t waiting to “see what happens” – they’re making it happen, right now. And that sense of possibility, coupled with tangible action on the ground, has created an atmosphere in South Florida that is electric.

Florida’s Gold Coast is where ambition is accelerated, and the momentum is only increasing. For entrepreneurs, executives, and investors evaluating where to bet on the future – take a good look at what’s unfolding here on the Gold Coast. You might just decide that the future has already arrived in West Palm Beach.

👉Watch the Full Story on YouTube here. 

Learn more about the Gold Coast initiative here: 👉 https://goldcoastflorida.com/