Stephen Ross
Related founder, de-risking GOAT, now remaking West Palm Beach
Who they are
Stephen Ross is the Detroit-born tax lawyer who, by his own lore, talked his way out of a Wall Street job and in 1972 started Related Companies with a $10,000 loan from his mother. He began by bidding on affordable-housing deals and built that into one of the country's most institutional developers, one The Promote has pegged at roughly $60B. His monuments are Time Warner Center and Hudson Yards. The Promote's view is that his real genius is the exit. Ross pulled more than a billion dollars out of Related tax-free before the 2008 crash. At Hudson Yards he sold office and retail condos, took on JV partners like Mitsui Fudosan, and sold the observation deck. By the time a market turns, Ross has usually cashed out.
In mid-2024 Ross stepped down as Related's chairman, left New York to Jeff Blau, and moved full-time to South Florida with Related Ross, a largely self-funded vehicle. The Promote calls it his return to cowboy mode. His playbook is big deals, loud philanthropy and close ties to City Hall; he once told West Palm Beach's mayor he was spending money in his city "like a drunken sailor." The plan is roughly $10B of office, condos, retail and hotels across about 70 acres. He has lured Vanderbilt to build a satellite campus, and Ares has become something close to his house lender: it financed the CityPlace office towers and bought a slice of the Dolphins.
The past year brought a $190M hotel buy, a Wells Fargo wealth office and air-taxi plans. Now he is closing in on the former IBM campus in Boca Raton, a 1.7M sf site where he pictures a "micro city." There has been friction too. Rival billionaire Jeff Greene is suing West Palm Beach, alleging the city retaliated after he criticized its 55-acre land sale to Ross as a sweetheart deal. The Promote's verdict at 86: the goat keeps goating.
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