Related Ross pushes past West Palm into Boca and Wellington
Public record Town-Crier Data feedCompany announcement Related Ross
Stephen Ross said he is focused strictly on Palm Beach County. Two submarkets are about to get their first institutional comp.
Related Ross says it intends to buy the Boca Raton Innovation Campus, the 1.7 million-square-foot former IBM complex at 5000 T-Rex Avenue, in what would be Stephen Ross’s first Boca Raton acquisition. No contract or price has been disclosed, and the deal is still in negotiation. It follows Village Landing, the 71-acre mixed-use project Related Ross unveiled in May on Wellington’s K-Park site, and together the two moves spread the West Palm Beach bet across Palm Beach County.
Why it matters
For nine years the Ross thesis was a single hub. That hub is now financed to the hilt, with a $772 million Ares-led construction loan on 10 and 15 CityPlace, the largest ever recorded in Florida. What the Boca and Wellington moves add is a spoke strategy, and for developers the consequence is comps. Submarkets that priced off local buyers are about to get an institutional bid setting the top of the range.
The site-selection read matters more than the headline. Both targets are large, single-control parcels with entitlements already worked, one a legacy corporate campus and one a village-owned tract. That is what a buyer of this size can absorb. Ross’s framing is blunt: “We are strictly focusing all of our attention in Palm Beach County.”
The numbers
BRiC covers 123 acres and is held by a joint venture of CP Group, Rialto, DRA Advisors and Las Olas Capital Advisors. It traded for $320.2 million in December 2021, about $188 a foot, after CP Group and Rialto paid $179.3 million in 2018, about $105. The current owners already have a conversion plan on file for 1,243 residences, 125,000 square feet of retail, 85,000 square feet of medical office and a 140-room hotel.
Wellington shows the land reset. The village bought K-Park in 2003 for $8.5 million, roughly $120,000 an acre. The January agreements split it, with Related Ross at $885,714 an acre on the east tract and school operator ElevateEd at $457,143 on the west. When ElevateEd withdrew, Related Ross took all 71 acres for $46.3 million, cutting its blended basis to about $652,000 an acre.
What’s next
Watch whether the BRiC intent converts to a contract, and at what number against that 2021 trade. In Wellington, a fall groundbreaking would be Related Ross’s first vertical start outside West Palm Beach. More South Florida coverage.
On the record
Primary record
- Our dataRelated Ross's blended land basis at K-Park is roughly $652,000 an acre, about 26 percent below the $885,714 an acre it had agreed to pay for the east tract alone before the school buyer withdrew. We calculated both figures from the two purchase-and-sale agreements the Wellington council approved.
- Public recordRelated Ross's own May 12 release puts Village Landing at about 220,000 square feet of retail and 90,000 square feet of office, larger than the 210,000 and 75,000 square feet circulating in secondary coverage, with groundbreaking anticipated this fall.View the record on relatedross.com
- Town-CrierWellington Village Council Approves Rezoning Of K-Park Land
Company announcement
- Related RossRelated Ross Introduces Village Landing, a 71-Acre Mixed-Use Destination in Wellington A company statement, not independently confirmed.
- Related RossRelated Ross Secures Landmark $772 Million Construction Financing Loan Led by Ares A company statement, not independently confirmed.
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