Vanderbilt Plans $520 Million Campus in West Palm Beach
Credit: Walter Bibikow / Getty Images- Vanderbilt University is planning a $520 million campus in West Palm Beach.
- That new campus would include Vanderbilt’s Owen Business School, Engineering School, and a planned innovation hub.
- The plan relies on land donations from city and county officials.
- University officials say the new campus would generate billions in economic impact as financial services firms flock to South Florida.
Vanderbilt University is planning a $520 million campus and innovation hub in West Palm Beach, Florida — a major expansion with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and business.
That 300,000-square-foot campus would include Vanderbilt’s Owen Business School, Engineering School, and the planned innovation hub, according to an August presentation to Palm Beach County commissioners. The campus would serve 1,000 students.
Tennessee-based Vanderbilt’s expansion into South Florida comes amid a surge of financial service companies in the region, according to the presentation.
“Palm Beach County and West Palm Beach are hot. As the epicenter of a broader movement that saw the relocation to Florida of over $1 trillion in total assets under management from 2020 to 2023, South Florida is now the location of nearly 20,000 financial services companies that employ more than 250,000 people,” the Vanderbilt presentation reads.
Vanderbilt’s new campus, university officials said, could serve as a key partner for those financial services companies, developing a workforce and providing key research into emerging areas like AI and financial technology (fintech) that are set to reshape the financial services landscape.
“It is not surprising that West Palm Beach has earned and trademarked the nickname ‘Wall Street South.’ This industry shift is creating opportunities in private equity, venture capital, fintech, and investment banking that require intellectual capital and talent.”
University officials say the new campus could generate billions in economic impact over the next decades.
Vanderbilt is uniquely positioned to step into the tech-heavy financial services environment as companies look to embrace artificial intelligence and other financial technology.
Separate from its planned investments in West Palm Beach, the university plans to establish a college dedicated to AI. That new college will be its first since 1981 and sets Vanderbilt up to be a leader in AI research.
The West Palm Beach City Commission voted Aug. 19 to donate more than $12 million of city land for Vanderbilt’s new campus, according to The Palm Beach Post.
The Palm Beach Post reported that Vanderbilt’s plan also relies on Palm Beach County’s donation of more land.
Nathan Green, Vanderbilt’s vice chancellor for government and community engagement, characterized the project as a “second campus” rather than a satellite campus, according to Stet News.
Vanderbilt officials made their pitch Aug. 20 to Palm Beach County commissioners. The county commissioners voted unanimously to negotiate a contract agreement and will get another update from the university in September, according to WPTV.
A final decision is expected by mid-October.
The past year has kicked off a number of business-focused university building projects.
Purdue University, for example, is building a $125 million new home for its revamped Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business. That 164,000-square-foot building is set to include labs for financial trading, experiential learning, and data visualization.
Vanderbilt’s ambitious expansion stands out for the sheer scale of the proposed investments being made — $520 million in initial construction alone, coupled with $100 million in annual spending.
This isn’t the first time a major university has planned a new campus in West Palm Beach.
The University of Florida previously proposed a Global Technology and Innovation Campus, but that plan fizzled over disagreements on terms for a land donation, The Palm Beach Post reported.