New-to-market investment bank Solomon Partners and analytics firm MSCI landed at one of Steve Ross’ downtown West Palm Beach office properties.
The deals come as Ross, the octogenarian billionaire who is downtown West Palm’s biggest office landlord, is re-making the area, including into a hub for financial service firms.
Solomon leased 4,200 square feet and MSCI took 7,500 square feet at the Phillips Point complex at 777 South Flagler Drive, according to a Related Ross news release.
Both firms are based in New York. While Solomon has a Miami office in Coconut Grove, MSCI lists no offices in South Florida.
Solomon’s new space will be for South Florida business development and client engagement, as well as entertainment for clients, including industry networking events, the release says. The investment bank is led by Marc Cooper.
MSCI provides analytics, indexes and other data as a support to investors, including asset managers, hedge funds, insurers and banks. It’s led by Henry Fernandez.
In the meantime, law firm Greenberg Traurig, which has had a West Palm presence for over four decades, will move from Phillips Point to Ross’ 15 CityPlace project that’s under construction.
The law firm, which was founded in Miami, inked a 10-year lease for a full floor at the 26-story project, according to a news release. Tracy L. Gerber is managing shareholder of the West Palm office, which has more than 80 attorneys and staff.
The deals come on the heels of Woodbridge, Virginia-based technology consultancy IntegrityPro Consulting taking 1,300 square feet for its second headquarters at Phillips Point. IntegrityPro is a partner of ServiceNow, an AI behemoth that has pre-leased at Ross’ 10 CityPlace project that’s also under construction.
Ross bought Phillips Point, consisting of the 13-story East Tower and the 19-story West Tower, in 2021 for $282 million. His West Palm-based Related Ross firm is working on a $120 million renovation of the property, including a façade facelift designed by Roger Ferris + Partners, according to the release.
Related Ross also is developing the 23-story 10 CityPlace and 15 CityPlace on a portion of the CityPlace mixed-use complex in downtown West Palm that Ross completed in the early 2000s.
Over the past half-decade, Ross, 86, has made downtown West Palm his playground, marking a new chapter for his real estate career. Ross founded New York-based Related Companies over 50 years ago, stepped back from the firm in 2024 and put its Southeast U.S. holdings under his newly formed Related Ross.
As a whole, Related Ross has about eight office buildings in downtown West Palm, including those under construction and planned. He is also building condo projects and has completed the Laurel apartment tower.
Ross has tapped his New York network to quickly tenant his office buildings with financial service firms, which has aligned with the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County’s yearslong bid to turn the county into “Wall Street South.” The BDB also worked on the IntegrityPro lease.
More recently, Ross has also pushed to turn Palm Beach County into a tech mecca. ServiceNow, a Fortune 500 firm that helps businesses automate and organize tasks, pre-leased 211,900 square feet at 10 CityPlace, marking the biggest office deal in South Florida last year.
