Podcast - Palm Beach County Real Estate and the Next Wave of Transformational Development

Herman Lipkis: My name is Herman Lipkis. I'm a partner in the Real Estate & Hospitality Practice at Holland & Knight, resident in the Fort Lauderdale office. And today I'm joined by Jordan Bargas. Jordan is the executive vice president of development at Related Ross. Welcome, Jordan. 

Jordan Bargas: Thank you, Herman. It's great to be with you and looking forward to this.

Herman Lipkis: Wonderful, thank you for making the time. So Jordan, you're with Related Ross. And Related's been in the news quite a lot, a lot of exciting projects here in Florida, also in New York, and other parts of the country. But I'd love to get to know a little bit about you and how you got started in real estate. So maybe you could just share a little bit about your background and what sparked your interest in real estate, specifically development.

Jordan Bargas: Sure. You know, I grew up here in Palm Beach County. I was born and raised in Boca Raton. My grandfather was actually a real estate developer way back. So it was kind of one of those subjects that was talked around the table growing up, but I left for school and went to University of Michigan. Happened to study at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at Michigan, but even then I wasn't so sure what I wanted to do. I ended up in New York after college and got my first job actually in finance, but kind of found my way to real estate, and then a couple years later ended up with Related in New York and working on the Hudson Yards project, which was an incredibly exciting and transformative development in its own right. I just kind of remember thinking after that, how do you do something that's bigger and more transformative than Hudson Yards? Because that was the largest private development in U.S. history, so obviously a really exciting project to be part of. So when Steve started working on his whole vision for South Florida and for Palm Beach County, I didn't think it was possible to do something bigger than Hudson Yards, but I think we found ourselves in a situation where we're working on something that might even be more transformative. So it's just exciting to be part of it. 

Herman Lipkis: Wow, that's quite a story. So you mentioned your grandfather, so he was in real estate?

Jordan Bargas: He was. A little bit different. He built single-family home communities across South Florida, a couple condo projects in Lighthouse Point, which is where my dad grew up. But that was a long time ago. Florida was a lot different back then.

Herman Lipkis: I'm sure it was. It was a lot different even five years ago, I'm sure. So you went to college in Michigan. And you studied at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business. So were you doing brokerage or finance, arranging financing at that time?

Jordan Bargas: I started as an analyst a couple years out of college, working across all different asset classes. Actually funny enough, at the time when I was breaking into real estate, I had actually interviewed at Related for a different role, not in the development side, and you know, it was one of those things they actually said, we like you, but we look for people with a little bit of real estate experience, so come back to us after you get a couple years of real estate experience. So that is what I did, and ended up at Related at couple years later.

Herman Lipkis: Wow. Good for you. So did you start in Related in New York, or did you move here first?

Jordan Bargas: I started in New York. I started with Related in New York in 2015. I was in New York with Related for about seven years before relocating to South Florida.

Herman Lipkis: And what was it that was the spark that made you come to Florida? Was there a particular project? Was it family? What brought you out of New York?

Jordan Bargas: You know, I'd really say it was opportunity. You know, it's funny, growing up here, when I was graduating college, it didn't feel like South Florida was necessarily a place where you were able to grow your career. But I think starting in, you know, 2021, we all saw it and the incredible shift that happened in our country. I think people for the first time started to look at Florida in a much more serious way from a business perspective, and as a place to grow your career. And I think in 2022, you can look around the country and see where the growth was happening. And there was no question that South Florida in particular was one of the places over the next 10, 15, 20 years was going to be one of the most important growth stories in the entire country. And I wanted to be a part of that. It happens to be nice that my family was here, but that certainly wasn't the driver of it. I was always kind of seeking out where the best opportunities were in real estate development. I think if you look back over the last few years, there hasn't been a more active and exciting market than South Florida.

Herman Lipkis: It certainly has been non-stop, which is great. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the projects that you've been involved with since you came down here?

Jordan Bargas: I'm located in West Palm Beach along with our entire team at Related Ross. We're almost 200 people now in this office. And it's amazing how much it's grown with everything that we're working on. And I would say, I spend a lot of time on various projects, but I think one of the things that I'll talk a little bit about is the infrastructure work that I'm involved in but we're really working on together as a team here, because we know how important that is for the whole. In our world, right, it's about community building and how do we build up that community, and it's not just building buildings, it's about creating an entire ecosystem that works well together. So I think for what I was kind of alluding to before, it's how do make this a place for businesses, right? How do we make this a place for everybody, a place that people want to live and a place [for] people that want to have families, they want to have fun in kind of creating that entire ecosystem that's going to help attract and retain the people and the talent. And so a few years ago, Steve really had this big vision for what Palm Beach County can become. You know, we knew we needed to solve some of these infrastructure pieces, and that is education — both higher education and K-12 —  it's healthcare, it's transportation and mobility, and it's entertainment. And I think we kind of went down the list and just really tried to tackle each one of them by sometimes partnering with others in the community but also partnering with the public sector and working together to make that happen.

You know, we can look at something like higher education. Palm Beach County has an A-rated school system. And we continue to try to support and grow the public schools system here in West Palm Beach, too. Stephen actually started the Related Ross Foundation, which supports some of the local high schools here. Palm Beach Lakes High School, Forest Hills and really any student in certain parts of West Palm Beach. So we're really excited about that.

And on the medical side of things, on healthcare, it's amazing the types of talent and the types of professionals that you'll have coming to downtown. So you couple that with a lot of the transportation and mobility efforts that we're doing. You know, there should be an exciting announcement hopefully in March about that. And we're already building the infrastructure within our project in West Palm Beach and connecting it to some of other Steve's ecosystem to just start to think about how we can kind of have that connectivity throughout South Florida.

And then I mentioned also entertainment. And I think that goes from just kind of having the restaurants and places that people want to go and brands that people are familiar with. Really kind of creating an amazing urban downtown. It makes it a great place that we can allow companies to come here and recruit and attract the best talent, because that's really what this is all about. And I just think if you look back 10 years ago, and to say that one of the top companies out of Silicon Valley is going to be moving to West Palm Beach, Florida, to open up an AI hub, I don't think anyone would have ever expected that. But that's the type with momentum and the activity that we're seeing here, which is really exciting.

So you factor like all of those things I just mentioned, right? These are the types of professionals that you'll get, the type of conversations you'll have, the types of conferences you'll have that just kind of support that whole ecosystem. It's really just an exciting moment for Palm Beach County and for the region. And really I think just kind of signals the transformation of this as a place to do business, which I think historically it wasn't really known for that.

Herman Lipkis: Well, amazing projects spanning all different areas of industry. I have to ask you about the air taxi, because I was reading about that the other day. I thought, oh my, that is unbelievably cool. Very interested. Quite a few of us have been discussing it. Could you share a little bit more about that?

Jordan Bargas: Yeah, I'd say I think the latest I've heard is that they could be flying as early as June or July in Florida, and they're working through some things right now with the state. And you look at these types of technologies that are coming to South Florida, and I think it's another example of the tech-forward nature of our state, right? And how this is a place where people want to come do business. And it's a place of the future. The opportunity here is so obvious, I think, to us because we're here every day. But when you look at companies that can do business anywhere across the country, right, whether it's California, or New York, and they're choosing now to kind of really ramp up their operations in places like Florida. And it's becoming, what we see coming is kind of the next tech hub for the country. I think this has the opportunity to be the next Silicon Valley.

Herman Lipkis: What would you say, there's a lot of demand of folks coming down here. You speak to people, I'm sure all over the country, potential tenants, potential JV partners. What would say are one or two of the struggles or hindrances that maybe you hear from folks who might be interested in coming to Florida, but they're not sure about this or they're sure about that. What are some of those things that you're hearing?

Jordan Bargas: Well, I can certainly say it's not the quality of life and the lack of taxes. People love Florida and they're familiar with Florida, which I think is great. I think you look at some of the other places across the country that have seen some growth, and there's places like Nashville in Tennessee and Texas [that] have certainly seen that type of growth, but I think people, whether it's from New York or Boston or Chicago, these big cities, everyone's been to Florida, everyone is familiar with Florida, and they know what they're getting with Florida. So a lot of the things that we talked about earlier, that was some of the early feedback we received, right? So that's why we spent, I would say, at least half of our time here working on these infrastructure items, like education, like healthcare, these were some of the concerns that people had. And now, you fast forward two, three years and all of that stuff's here, right? It's all board approved. It's all happening. So in the next few years, I think a lot of those questions that people have, they're answered. And that's what I think is so exciting about this opportunity here. And it's not really, we talked a lot about West Palm Beach, it's really the whole county. And West Palm Beach, I think, acts as kind of like the hub of Palm Beach County. And we have a great project that's out in Wellington. A big retail project, mixed-use project. We're looking at opportunities elsewhere in Boca [Raton] and throughout elsewhere in the county, and we really see this whole region as an area that's going to have an opportunity to grow.

Herman Lipkis: Well, certainly Related has done tremendous work in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County. I'm just curious, you personally, is there one that you are more excited about than the rest?

Jordan Bargas: I love all my projects. I love my projects equally. No, I think everything that we're doing is so transformative, and we've got an amazing team here working on so many different things. I am so passionate about the infrastructure side of things that we’re working on. I think having the opportunity to work with the public schools in the community and kind of have that type of impact to me, like as a born and raised Floridian, it's really impactful for me personally. And I think one of the things that's most rewarding for me is some of the work I'm able to do as the chair of the Related Ross Foundation, which is a foundation that's deep. Really kind of seeded and started a couple years ago. And since then, we've been able to really grow the foundation. Every single one of our corporate tenants now, we have it so that they contribute a dollar per square foot each year to the foundation. And so we have recurring revenues from the foundation in addition to the ongoing financial support that we're providing through Related Ross. And that becomes incredibly meaningful, right? You look at that every single year, that's $2, $3 million dollars that we are able to invest in some of the areas of West Palm Beach that haven't received the same type of investment that we put in the downtown and making sure there's an opportunity for all to grow. So I mean, that type of work is so unique. And obviously, we love building buildings, that's our core business, right? That's what allows us to operate the way we do. But I think being able to do all of these other things, like give back to the community and support these not-for-profits and some of these infrastructure investments. I think to me that that's the most rewarding and something that I'm particularly passionate about.

Herman Lipkis: Excellent. Well, I'm curious what you are seeing in your crystal ball in terms of goals and predictions, if you will, for the rest of this year for South Florida real estate and for Related.

Jordan Bargas: I'm predicting another very strong year for South Florida. I see a lot more people and businesses moving to South Florida. Tech companies [are] moving here, and I think the people are going to be younger, I think they're going to educated, and I think it's a really exciting time for South Floridians. And I think we're at this moment where if you were kind of look back five years ago, even three years ago, and kind of see where we are today, I don't think anyone would have believed it. But I think if you were to take that same time frame and fast forward two, three years from now and look at the skyline, you wouldn't be able to believe that either. So I just think it's a really exciting time and we're happy to be able to play such a big part of it.

Herman Lipkis: It's not our grandparents of Florida anymore, right? So different world, and Related's had a big role in that. So thank you. This has been great. Appreciate your time today. And I hope we have a chance to reconnect in person again soon. So thank you.

Jordan Bargas: Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Herman. Really appreciate it. This was fun and yeah, look forward to seeing you soon.