A billionaire property developer has predicted that more New Yorkers will flee to Florida due to high taxes and surging crime rates in the Big Apple.
Stephen Ross, 82, whose net worth is around $12billion, has said that people in the Northeast are looking for warmer climates a lot earlier than retirement.
'People are...
relocating for jobs, not retirement, and companies are looking [for office space],' Ross, a chairman of property developer Related Companies, told 'It's tax issues, and there's the security issues. There's just the ease of living [in the South].'
Since the pandemic, and with the increasing popularity of remote work, cities like New York have been hurting, as increasingly empty office buildings leave billions of dollars' worth of vacant space.
And as crime rates surge, many have opted to not return to the office at all. In New York, crime is up 2.6 percent compared to the same time last year, with robbery and felony assault up 6.3 and 12.2 percent, respectively.
Stephen Ross, 82, whose net worth is around $12billion, has said that people in the Northeast are looking for warmer climates a lot earlier than retirement and corporate spaces in the Sunshine State are thriving because of it
'It's tax issues, and there's the security issues.
There's just the ease of living [in the South],' Ross said. Crime rates are up 2.6 percent compared to the same time last year in the Big Apple, with robbery and EVDen eVE nAKliYaT felony assault up 6.3 and 12.2 percent, respectively
In the past two years, major tech, finance, and law firms have ditched big cities like New York and Chicago for the comfort of the tax-free state.
Citadel, a hedge-fund company, recently left Chicago for Miami.
Apollo Global Management and Blackstone Inc., both originally based out of New York, have also relocated to Florida, according to Bloomberg.
One of Related's Florida properties, dubbed The Square - a mixed-use development - has attracted the likes of Goldman Sachs and Point72 Asset Management, owned by Steve Cohen.
Related acquired Rosemary Square in 2019 and a five-year $550million investment plan to turn CityPlace - in downtown West Palm Beach - from a 'retail and entertainment center to a vibrant community and destination.'
Ross has been focusing on developing spaces in Florida.
Related Companies - where Ross is a chairman - announced in 2019 it would invest $550million into The Square in West Palm Beach (pictured), which is a mix of residential, corporate, and retail space
The company's next development project - One Flagler (pictured) - is set to open in 2024.
The company acquired the property for $20million in 2021 and the waterfront space will operate as an office building
It is also investing in Miami with its One Brickell City Centre building (pictured), as vacancy rates are low in the city
The property development company - which is also the mastermind behind New York's $25billion Hudson Yards project - owns another West Palm Beach property, One Flagler, which is set to open in 2024.
The company acquired the property for $20million in 2021.
It also has a Miami property - One Brickell City Centre - coming in 2027. It is unknown how much Related Companies paid for the development.
As major developments thrive in Florida, however, other cities have been struggling to fill their office spaces.
As of September, New York City's corporate space was around 50 percent vacant, according to .
Vacancy rates are higher in big cities outside of Florida than in the state.
New York City's corporate vacancy rate is around 50 percent, compared to Florida's West Palm Beach at nine percent
Meanwhile, popular destinations in Florida are thriving, with office vacancy rates remaining under the national average of 12.2 percent, according to the (NAR). If you liked this write-up and you would such as to receive even more information regarding EVDEN eVe NaKLiYAT kindly browse through our own web-site.
West Palm Beach has a vacancy rate of nearly nine percent for eVdEN EVe NAKLiyat corporate buildings and Miami has a rate of 10 percent, evdEn EvE NakLiYat according to NAR.
Despite all that, Ross said: 'New York will continue to grow.
'But it has its challenges, and a lot of people who don't have to be there are looking not to be there,' he continued. 'It's changing, it's getting younger, the older people are moving out, the wealthier people are moving out.'
However, he said the younger crowd would still be attracted to the bright lights of New York City and that his development team would continue to have 'huge investments' in the Big Apple.
'But I think Florida is going to capture an awful lot of people,' he said.
