You’ve Got To Be In It To Win It

Despite an historic pandemic that has roiled the economy, the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County is bringing businesses and jobs to the area.

That’s great news for Palm Beach County because we need investment and we need job creation.

So I was thrilled to see my longtime friend Kelly Smallridge, the CEO of the BDB, talk up deal after deal on a recent Urban Land Institute webinar.

But as the presentation rolled on, I noticed something: Delray Beach wasn’t getting any deals. Boca was getting them—a lot of them. Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, West Palm Beach and Boynton Beach too. Even the long passed over Glades had a few deals in the hopper.

But I never heard the words Delray Beach mentioned.

Now, I don’t blame Kelly or the BDB. I’ve served on that board twice and I know personally that Kelly and her amazing staff are fans of Delray.

And of course, I might have missed something or there may be something in the hopper that isn’t public yet and let’s hope so because we need to be in the economic development game. But I am concerned that the Delray Beach Office of Economic Development doesn’t have a director. When I visited the city’s website, the name of the departed director was still listed and the latest news was dated April 8, 2019. Sorry, folks that doesn’t cut it.

Economic development is a competitive endeavor. You have to want make something happen and you have to be out there selling your community as a great place to do business.

All. The. Time.

Despite the city snoozing, we are seeing some interesting investments—I love “The Linton” a new project by Menin Development on Linton Boulevard and I’m interested to see how the company’s bold move to build and operate the largest food hall in Florida downtown fares.

Good stuff, all of it.

It’s also nice to see some tenants moving into the iPic office building. We need the daytime activity.

Out on Congress Avenue, Grover-Corlew has done a good job repositioning the old Arbors office building into Delray Central and I’m guardedly optimistic that sometime we might actually get an overlay district on Federal Highway, an effort we have paid consultants to complete but for some inexplicable reason remains unfinished despite years and years of talking about it.

Meanwhile, the region is thriving.

Miami hired its first chief technology officer to provide “concierge” services to help tech companies navigate the bureaucracy when they come to the city. Softbank, the massive venture capital fund, just announced a $100 million commitment to fund Miami area companies, a testament to how hot the Magic City has become.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has been fielding inquiries via his Twitter account from a variety of companies and has gotten inquiries from Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Facebook investor Peter Thiel among others.

“There is an attitude that has been expressed by some leaders that says, ‘We don’t want you and we don’t need you,’” Suarez said to NBC News alluding to how business owners say they feel they are being treated in Silicon Valley. “It’s the opposite of the ‘How can I help?’ attitude, ‘How can I grow this ecosystem?”

Well said Mr. Mayor. How can I help is sure better than take your jobs and money elsewhere.

Meanwhile, to our immediate south, Boca has the amazing Jessica Delvecchio leading the economic development charge. Jessica heads a small office but you would think she has an army at her disposal. She sends a constant stream of good news about Boca and the merits of investing in the city. She’s a rock star.

So is Andrew Duffel, who runs the FAU Research Development Park.

Rock stars are helpful, but what’s as important is a coherent economic development strategy that is worked relentlessly by people who believe.

Such a strategy should be aspirational and realistic—two terms often at odds but indulge me for a moment.

Aspiration is essential—you have to identify a North Star and articulate why it’s important to reach for that star. It helps if the community is rowing in the same direction.

But while dreams are important, they have to be tempered by reality. So many cities want to be another “Silicon Valley” but that’s not likely.

It’s OK to borrow inspiration from a successful region or city, but I think the best strategies build off your own unique strengths.

For Boca—well the strengths are pretty amazing. Great schools, emerging universities, a world class parks system, a low crime rate, attractive neighborhoods and stable local government.

Delray has a vibrant downtown, beautiful beach, historic neighborhoods, great “scale”, loads of charm and proximity to some of those emerging universities we just mentioned.

Combined—the two cities can’t be beat. They are complementary places strategically located in the heart of South Florida.

So I’m bullish on the future but only if…

–We get in the game.

We need an economic development director. I was alarmed when a candidate at a recent forum at the Arts Garage said we didn’t need an economic development director. Sorry, Price Patton, you’re a smart man but that’s a short-sighted answer. Don’t let the crowds on Atlantic Avenue fool you. Like the rest of America, our economy has been hit hard by Covid-19. We need jobs and to help struggling parts of our city. There’s even vacancy downtown and along Pineapple Grove. We need to be in the game.

–We maintain our charm and scale. (P.S. Please ignore those goofy fear mongering mailers saying candidates want to turn us into Fort Lauderdale. That. Won’t. Ever. Happen. We won’t ever raise height limits downtown. We won’t ever have skyscrapers. We won’t even be Boynton or Boca which allows 10 and 12 story buildings. But we do have to manage growth and insist on great design. It’s good to be vigilant about our future, but it doesn’t serve anyone well to exaggerate. Let’s raise the level of discourse if we can).

In addition, we have to fix City Hall.

Businesses coming into a city need to know that they can rely on an efficient and fair approval process.

Leaders set the course, staff implements the vision. Staff is lost if there’s a poor culture and or no vision.

Poor leadership wastes a good staff. Good leadership without a good staff doesn’t work either. You need both sides of the equation.

It’s also essential to have a good story/vision.

It’s not about incentives—a compelling vision and a process free of gutter politics, bureaucratic fear and inefficiency goes a long, long way.

Ideally,-the vision comes from the community with the City Commission leading the way and serving as the guardian and driver of the vision making sure things get done and that we stay true to what the community wants. And by community I mean everyone willing and able to show up or weigh in.

We can’t afford to leave anyone behind. We can’t afford to ignore stakeholders.

We are so quick to label in this town.

The developer is always greedy and rapacious—some are, but most aren’t.

The business community has been labeled by some as a self-serving “special interest”—and yet some of the most caring, committed and dedicated contributors own businesses in town. Shouldn’t they have a voice? And what’s wrong with making a profit, this is America and in order for a city to be sustainable we need a strong and prosperous business community.

On the flip side, opponents of projects are often labeled NIMBY’s, which stands for not in my backyard. In other words, they don’t want to see anything happen. Sometimes that’s true. But many citizens just  have some questions that need to be answered or suggestions that might make the project function better.

Regardless, effective economic development means that we need to have a common vision, a staff to carry it out, a great story to sell your town to investors and a climate that doesn’t resemble Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

But most important, if you want jobs, opportunity and tax base—(and we do because if you’re stagnant you die) you have to get in the game.

I hope we do.

Hotels and multi-family projects have their place. But job creating commercial enterprises are also needed. We shouldn’t mistake the two—and I fear we do.

Boca, Palm Beach Gardens and West Palm Beach are reeling in companies that create jobs and make their economies less reliant on food, beverage and tourism which we have learned can be very vulnerable to economic cycles, pandemics and even extreme weather events.

We need to diversify. We need to innovate. Complacency is a killer.

 

Here’s a look at some deals coming to Palm Beach County:

—Beacon Pharmaceutical is building a 200,0000 square foot life sciences accelerator in Jupiter. The $80 million investment will support up to 50 companies.

—NYU Langone Health is bringing 500 new jobs to Boynton Beach with a 100,000 square foot patient access contact center.

—Misfits Gaming is creating 30 new jobs in Boca. Average salary $95,000.

—Northwest Company is bringing 35 jobs to a new corporate headquarters in Boca.

—Logistics/Distribution. 15 distribution centers occupying nearly 5 million square feet is planned for Palm Beach County. 1 million square feet and 300 jobs are coming to the Park of Commerce and 150 jobs in 75,000 square feet is coming to North Military Trail in Boca.

–The BDB’s “Behind the Gates” initiative targeting financial firms has yielded 2,500 jobs and counting.

—Wealthspire Advisors is establishing a presence in east Boca.

—Project Rack is in the hopper for Boynton Beach, 270 new jobs in distribution.