Palm Beach County presents a “tremendous amount of opportunity for growth,” says an executive vice president for Related Ross, a leading real estate firm with many high-profile projects across South Florida.
The executive, Jordan Rathlev, recently discussed the firm’s generational, community-driven approach to development and why the company wants to further home in on Palm Beach County.
Rathlev’s remarks came during a recent real estate event hosted by the Miami Realtors and RWorld called “Rock the Market Palm Beach.” There, Rathlev told nearly 1,000 attendees that Related Ross’ “sole effort and focus of a $10 billion-plus pipeline is here in Palm Beach County.”
Why? “For a lot of reasons,” Rathlev said.
Of Palm Beach County, he said there is “a tremendous amount of opportunity for growth, whether that’s single-family homes, businesses relocating or building out the downtowns.
“The opportunity is pretty remarkable here.”
Related Ross has kept a strong focus in Palm Beach County. Consider:
— It was a little more than a month ago that the firm confirmed an effort to buy the Boca Raton Innovation Campus, a 1.7-million-square-foot office park at 5000 T-Rex Ave. between Yamato Road and Spanish River Boulevard.
— Related Ross first planted roots in West Palm Beach in 1997, starting a portfolio of projects that includes Class-A office buildings such as One Flagler and The Laurel luxury residences.
— CityPlace is the company’s mixed-use project in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach.
— The firm helped trigger an initiative to bring Vanderbilt University’s Owen School of Management to downtown West Palm Beach, where a $520 million campus mirroring the school’s facilities in Nashville, Tenn., is expected to house 1,000 students who would focus on computing and innovation.
— Just recently, Related Ross announced the Village Landing project, a 71-acre mixed-use “destination” in Wellington with restaurants, shops, a hotel and a private school.
In his presentation, Rathlev noted the county’s wealth, citing the county’s resident billionaires and large companies.
“As we continue to build out West Palm Beach, we’ve obviously identified markets throughout the county, particularly Wellington and Boca, where we’re expanding now,” he said.
In June, another Related Ross executive vice president, Jordan Bargas, confirmed the company’s plan to buy the Boca Raton Innovation Campus, known as BRiC.
“Related Ross is excited about the opportunity to expand into Boca Raton at BRiC, an incredible asset with a rich history,” Bargas had said in a statement. “We look forward to contributing to Palm Beach County’s success through a mixed-use destination designed for Boca Raton.”
After his “Rock the Market” talk, Rathlev walked about one block from the Palm Beach County Convention Center across Okeechobee Boulevard to CityPlace. On the short trek over, he spoke with the South Florida Sun Sentinel about the work ethic driving Related Ross’ real estate initiatives.
On that day, construction was active on 10 CityPlace, an upcoming office building along South Rosemary Avenue.
Not far away along CityPlace’s retail strip, young professionals picked up lunch orders at Sweetgreen, a fast-casual restaurant offering salad bowls and wraps, while children played in a water pavilion outside restaurants, including the upscale Italian spots, Eataly and Il Bellagio.
“We think about the broader infrastructure pieces,” he said. “It can’t just be individual buildings that you build and flip out of.”
Work continues on the 10 CityPlace structure in West Palm Beach, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Also part of CityPlace is the Related Ross Experience Center, which displays maps and models of what Related Ross has and plans to build. For example: the Curio Hotel by Hilton, which could break ground by the end of the year; a Restoration Hardware store; 515 Fern, a fully approved office building.
Rathlev said Stephen Ross, Related Ross’ founder and current owner of the Miami Dolphins, “likes to view it as generational investing.”
“We own these assets forever, so we invest in them on the front end. We manage them, we operate them,” he said. “If there’s issues on infrastructure or there’s issues with housing affordability, we have to think about this because our product, our projects aren’t successful without thinking about that infrastructure piece.”
When asked if that sentiment would carry to Boca Raton, Rathlev said: “Everywhere.”
“These are long-term initiatives, long-term investments that you can’t come and build trust with the community if they think you’re just coming in to think about the last dollar in profit,” he said.
Rathlev also said each market is unique “in terms of the industry you’re going to attract or how you’re going to develop it.”
“Boca is not a high-rise market. Wellington is not a high-rise market,” he said. “We are mindful and cognizant of every market we go to, what’s appropriate and what’s the right scale, but it’s really just learning from what we’ve done in each of those prior projects.”
Jordan Rathlev, Related Ross executive vice president, speaks to the Rock the Market conference at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Jordan Rathlev, Related Ross executive vice president, looks over a model of CityPlace at the Related Ross experience in West Palm Beach, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Jordan Rathlev, Related Ross executive vice president, is seen in the promenade of CityPlace in West Palm Beach, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
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Jordan Rathlev, Related Ross executive vice president, speaks to the Rock the Market conference at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)