West Palm Beach is no longer just a sun-soaked getaway for retirees and winter tourists — it’s rapidly becoming one of the country’s most sought-after business destinations.
As tech firms, financial giants and fast-growing startups move in, top executives say the city’s lifestyle, tax climate and talent influx are rewriting Florida’s economic identity. And for leaders already investing there, one message to other companies is clear: “Come and see for yourselves. You’ll find that it’s a lot easier than you think.”
“I believe that this place will win because it provides a dynamic growth environment, great lifestyle, obviously a great tax structure, and what’s important is growth,” Visium CEO John Rajchert told Fox News Digital. “This is a multi-year strategy.”
“I think if you were starting a job or starting a business, having certainty is always top of mind. And the certainty to do business, to get things done, there’s no better place to do that than South Florida. And we believe West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County are really at the epicenter of that,” Related Ross Executive Vice President Jordan Rathlev also told Fox Digital.
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Over the last five years, Palm Beach County has seen the relocation of more than 140 companies, the creation of 13,110 direct jobs and more than $1.12 billion in capital investments, according to the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County. Since the 2020 U.S. Census, West Palm Beach has seen the largest population gain in the county at nearly 10,000 new residents.
Names like Citadel, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Vanderbilt University and tech-health firm Visium have all expanded their presence in West Palm Beach, and business has been nonstop for people like Rathlev, who help these companies find their ideal real estate.
“Florida said, hey, we’re open for business,” Rathlev said. “We saw a huge number of the financial service firms that are already based in the Northeast and other parts of the country have a small footprint, and as the pandemic shifted to, where do people want to live, where do businesses want to grow, they all started to recognize that South Florida is really a great place to do business. And we’ve truly benefited from that from all sectors of the economy.”
Reasons for a company’s relocation to West Palm Beach are no different from the rest of South Florida: talent mobility, low taxes, high quality of life and a pro-business climate.
“We’ve got a bunch of employees here who are delighted to be here simply because of the lifestyle and the connectedness that West Palm Beach provides,” Rajchert — who moved Visium from Orlando — noted. “Willingness to move is very, very, very good. So what we’re finding is that we have a national talent pool that’s prepared to move here.”
“What has happened, and what I’ve noticed since I’ve been traveling here regularly over the last few years, is this big transformation from a lifestyle destination to a career destination,” Rajchert said.
“I think there’s no question when a company relocates here … the number one thing that they think about is, how do we attract and retain talent? That becomes the number one emphasis for anything that we’re trying to do,” Rathlev added. “We’ve seen the average age drop from 45 to less than 39 in West Palm Beach within a five-or six-year period.”
Rajchert ultimately chose Rathlev and the Related team to help him pick his new office and lab space, where both continue to fuel a partnership instead of a singular commercial real estate transaction.
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“This move could not have been easier. We’re connected with an architect, with general contractors. We were able to stay in control of the budget and the program,” Visium’s CEO said. “It’s worked a lot smoother than any of the other moves that I have done in my career.”
“Look at the facts, listen to the story, and then come and see for yourselves.”
“As it relates to Visium, not only are we hosting them, but we view them as partners … We’re using their technology in our buildings,” Rathlev said. “We’re really creating great communities in any city that we find ourselves in.”
Every fast-growing city faces growing pains. For city developers like Rathlev, potential challenges to West Palm Beach’s momentum include traffic, affordability and sustainable planning and expansion.
“There’s no question that as a city grows, you’re going to be faced with challenges, I think, primarily on the infrastructure side. And I think some of the biggest criticisms of some of the cities that maybe grew a little too fast or weren’t thinking about infrastructure are traffic and housing affordability,” the developer said.
“Housing affordability always comes into the conversation,” Rathlev continued, “because you need people of all income bands, all job descriptions to be able to afford a house and live in the community where they’re working … And I think for us to grow as a region, again, having the optionality for price points in the housing market and being thoughtful of how we think about mobility and traffic will be key to the growth of this region.”
The business leaders offered a call to action to other entrepreneurs who want to make West Palm Beach their home base, the same week the economic development agencies of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties are traveling to New York City to pitch more businesses to move south.
“From a weather perspective, from a culture perspective, just environmentally, it works for me. So it’s an easy move,” Rajchert said. “And yes, you will see a lot more of me as the years come and go.”
“When we opened this office eight years ago, four of us called West Palm Beach home. There’s over 160 today,” Rathlev reflected. “This is where people want to be and this is where you want to raise a family.”
“There’s no question that people are fully, fully aware of what’s happening here. And I think we’re [in the] very early days for what’s gonna be a tremendous growth story to come.”
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