West Palm Beach mayor highlights housing gains, Vanderbilt and Cleveland Clinic partnerships

Mayor Keith James said West Palm Beach has exceeded earlier affordable housing targets and is on track to reach an even larger goal by the end of his term.

"When I became mayor, I set a goal of 300 affordable and workforce housing units to be completed or under development in the ensuing three years," Mayor Keith James said. He told the Chamber of Commerce audience that the city surpassed that benchmark in the first year and that he later raised the target to 1,400 units by the end of his mayoral tenure in 2027. "I'm proud to announce that we are on track to exceed that goal as well," James said.

The mayor said that since 2019 the city has seen 815 housing units either completed or under development, and that in 2024 specifically 263 units began construction and 269 entered pre-development. He singled out two private developments supported by city incentives: The Spruce, which he said will add 117 affordable and workforce units in Northwood Village, and a project at 8111 South Dixie that he said will deliver 90 units on a long-vacant site. James credited tools such as density bonuses, grant funding and tax-increment financing for helping attract private investment.

James used the speech to announce and defend large institutional partnerships he described as transformational. He said the city donated land to support a proposed Vanderbilt University Innovation Hub focusing on artificial intelligence, data science and business programs, calling the hub an investment in a future workforce and local entrepreneurship ecosystem. "Welcome Vanderbilt," he said, adding the partnership would bring research and academic resources to the region.

He also said Cleveland Clinic will open a new hospital and outpatient clinic downtown, calling it the first new hospital in the downtown area in more than a century and saying the expansion would broaden specialty care in the city.

James highlighted philanthropic-backed projects as further signs of investment: he said the Cox Science Center and Aquarium had broken ground on a $115 million expansion with nearly $100 million raised privately; the planned Boys & Girls Club at Dreher Park will be built on city-designated land with a $13 million price tag, which the mayor said has been entirely raised through donations; and a foundation tied to a former municipal golf course had raised more than $55 million for a redevelopment with community programs called PATH.

The mayor framed these efforts as part of a broader strategy to pair public incentives and private capital to create affordable housing, jobs and educational opportunities.

Ending: James closed by urging continued collaboration among city government, private partners and philanthropies, saying those partnerships will shape the city’s workforce and housing landscape in coming years.