Writer: Gabriela Enamorado
3 min read October 2023 — The highly anticipated University of Florida West Palm Beach campus plans recently fell through after a monthslong delay and concerns over the naming of the campus.
The university’s Global Technology and Innovation Campus was expected to elevate the educational offerings in Palm Beach County and also support the county’s growing tech and financial industries. The campus project was first announced in 2021, with plans to offer graduate level courses in financial services, financial technology, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. One-thousand students were expected to be enrolled full-time with more than 100 staff members.
“It’s regrettable that despite considerable time and effort, we couldn’t realize the University of Florida West Palm Beach campus project,” Kelly Smallridge, president of the Business Development Board, told Invest:. She referred to the termination of the project as one of the greatest economic development losses she’s witnessed over the past three decades, according to Palm Beach Post.
Two acres of the City of West Palm Beach and five acres from Palm Beach County gifted to the University of Florida would have comprised the campus, with an additional five acres that would have been donated by Palm Beach real estate entrepreneur Jeff Greene. The campus was poised to open in fall 2026.
UF and Greene could not come to an agreement on certain terms, including naming rights. The university allegedly promised to name the campus “Jeff Greene School of Technology and Innovation.” It was later communicated that only a building would be named after him instead of the whole campus.
“Education, at every level, plays a pivotal role in driving economic development, and we view this as a significant setback,” Smallridge told Invest:. “Our county is currently witnessing an influx of individuals and businesses, and we are committed to pursuing another opportunity that will further our endeavors in cultivating an innovation-driven economy.”
There are several other developments in higher education underway in the county. Palm Beach State College broke ground on a $50 million, 83,500-square-foot new Dental and Medical Services Technology building on its Loxahatchee Groves Campus in May 2023. The college will locate its dental health education programs to the new 75-acre site once completed.
Near the end of last year, Palm Beach Atlantic University unveiled plans to build a six-story building that will house the Marshall E. Rinker Sr. School of Business. The 100,000-square-foot building is estimated to cost $60 million and expected to be ready by May 2025. The building will have a stock trading room, a 314-seat lecture hall, the LeMieux Center for Public Policy and other features. In a press release announcing the project, PBA President Debra Schwinn said, “By reinvesting in our campus and our students today, PBA will continue to inspire and launch the next generation of business leaders.”
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