Vanderbilt University is moving ahead with its plans to build a graduate campus in West Palm Beach. The Nashville-based institution intends to break ground on the $520 million project, which will focus on graduate programs in business and technology.
The effort represents a collaboration between Vanderbilt and influential figures in West Palm Beach real estate. Steve Ross, chairman of Related Companies, pledged $50 million to support the campus in April. He has also organized fundraising events for the university and advocated for the development. At a county meeting in 2024, Ross stated, “To pass up this opportunity would be a crime. There’s no place that’s ever grown that doesn’t have great universities, great schools.”
Ross is developing multiple office and residential projects in West Palm Beach and has worked to attract major organizations to the area. The Cleveland Clinic will anchor his planned 15 CityPlace with a new outpatient center, and he donated $50 million toward an additional hospital planned by Cleveland Clinic at 400 and 450 South Australian Avenue.
Other contributors to Vanderbilt’s planned campus include billionaire Jeff Greene and Cody Crowell of Frisbie Group, who is an alumnus of Vanderbilt and committed $5 million.
Vanderbilt started its fundraising campaign for the West Palm Beach campus last year with a goal of $300 million. While the university did not specify how much it has raised so far, it announced plans for a second phase aimed at securing an additional $250 million.
In 2024, local officials approved giving Vanderbilt seven acres of public land for the campus. County commissioners also agreed on a development and conveyance agreement requiring Vanderbilt to invest $300 million in capital expenditures and create 4,500 construction jobs. Within five years of opening, the university must employ 200 full-time staff members, enroll 1,000 students, and maintain an annual operating budget of $70 million.
This expansion follows Vanderbilt’s recent opening of another satellite graduate campus in New York City at 440 West 21st Street.
