While the Sunshine State has in recent years lured some company relocations, expansions and high-flying executives who typically run those businesses, some real estate executives say Florida needs more swagger.
"I used to run a business in Texas," and even though both states have seen similar population growth, one thing Texans have over Florida is a willingness to brag about their home state, said Eric Silagy, vice chairman of Related Ross.
That Texas attitude is something Florida could use a bit more of, he added. “We need to have that swagger a little bit. We need to tell the story of Florida," said Silagy, who spoke on a panel at an Urban Land Institute forum in West Palm Beach, Florida, at the city's downtown Hilton.
Silagy joined Related Ross last year to lead economic development for the real estate firm with billions of dollars in projects underway in West Palm Beach. Prior to Related Ross, Silagy served as chairman, president and CEO at Florida Power & Light, the state's largest electric utility provider, for more than a decade.
Silagy said public officials need to be more assertive outlining the benefits Florida provides businesses relocating to the state. And that lack of a coordinated state-level campaign has forced the private sector to pick up the slack, Silagy added.
Florida's Council of 100, a private nonprofit association comprising the state's top business leaders, launched a national campaign this year to court CEOs, founders and investors to set up shop in South Florida. Backing the initiative was a $10 million check from two Florida billionaires — Related Ross CEO Stephen Ross and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin.
"Ask yourself" Silagy told the crowd, why did the Council of 100, alongside Steve Ross and Ken Griffin, get together and say "'gosh, I guess we need to actually fund a campaign to tell the Florida story about why Florida should actually be a great place for you to move your business to?’ Why do you think they put $10 million of their money into the campaign? Because the state wasn't doing it," said Silagy.
Enterprise Florida, the state’s public-private economic development partnership, was dissolved in 2023 and its programs folded back into the renamed Department of Commerce, reversing a 30-year initiative to recruit businesses to the region. At the time, proponents of shutting down the partnership argued it would streamline government, end corporate welfare programs, and be a more efficient use of tax dollars.
The Florida Department of Commerce, known as FloridaCommerce, did not respond to CoStar News' email and phone requests seeking a comment.
According to FloridaCommerce's summary of confirmed performance and payments report for 2024-2025, the department paid $12.6 million through incentives and grants to support projects that created 2,222 new jobs with an average wage of $82,201.
Meanwhile, over in the Lone Star State, the Texas Enterprise Fund, a deal-closing incentive program, was established two decades ago to help attract new jobs and investment when Texas is competing with other states for economic development projects. Between 2004 and 2024, the fund has awarded $878.4 million in grants to 213 projects that created a total of 127,615 jobs, according to the governor's office.
Local leaders steer growth
The absence of overarching coordination from Florida officials means that for some businesses, local city leaders have emerged as a key point of contact helping new-to-market entrants navigate the state's administrative and regulatory landscape. At the same time, officials like West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James have had to steer the growth of their communities to ensure long-time residents benefit as well.
When he began his tenure as mayor at the start of 2020, James said on the panel, he revealed an affordable housing initiative that at the time seemed bold with a 300-unit affordable housing push over the next few years. "I had no idea what was about to come down the pike," he said.
Since then, the city has added thousands of new residents, growing 8.9% from 117,321 to 127,744 by 2024, according to Census estimates. At the same time, organizations offering high-paying jobs from the likes of ServiceNow, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo Wealth Management, Cleveland Clinic, Vanderbilt University and others have all announced expansions in West Palm Beach.
But it was important that West Palm Beach remained a “community of opportunity” for all, not just transplants or the wealthy, and that it’s up to public sector leaders to conceive and articulate a vision that the private sector can rally behind, said James.
"The vision I articulated even when I was campaigning was to make West Palm Beach a community of opportunity for all,” he said. “I remember one of my very first conversations with Mr. Ross," James said about the billionaire CEO of Related Ross, "I said, 'listen, I don't need someone to just come and build pretty buildings in my city. I need you to help me build a community,'" said the mayor.
Ross, whose New York-based Related Cos. has had a presence in South Florida for decades, spun off the company’s southeastern division to stand on its own as Related Ross in 2024. The company has more than $10 billion in planned investments across the city and region, with new commercial districts, schools, luxury and affordable housing developments planned over the next few years.
“Growth is really only successful if the people that you bring here, stay there … at the end of the day, it's all about people. My job is not just looking at conditions that would make a project successful, it is what can we do to make this city more attractive for the people who call West Palm Beach home,” James said.
Fizzling sensation
Despite the best efforts of local officials like James, a recruitment program of the kind that Silagy wants may soon become a necessity, as the narrative around Florida’s explosive growth begins to shift.
Recent Census data shows population is starting to decline in a number of Florida’s major markets. Areas like Miami-Dade County, which continues to see a boom in luxury high-rise condominiums, had the nation's third-highest numeric population decline from July 2024 to July 2025, behind Los Angeles and Pinellas County on Florida’s West Coast just north of Tampa.
While the slow growth itself is an issue, certain media narratives irritated C.B. Scherer, a managing director of Boston-based Rockpoint Group told the crowd at the ULI panel. He said he had read a recent article claiming the state's growth ran the risk of fizzling out.
Scherer acknowledged that the state needs to pay more attention to housing affordability and high insurance costs to help maintain its competitive advantage.
And whether housing is too expensive, it doesn't seem to deter today's Palm Beach buyers, according to the latest data from the Miami Association of Realtors. Existing home sales increased in March for the seventh-consecutive month, a 12.9% year-over-year bump led by cash buyers. And a Knight Frank report cited by the association lists Palm Beach as the world's No. 2 market for five-year price growth through the end 2024, behind only Dubai. Miami ranked fourth.
Scherer said his company subscribes to real-time cell phone tracking data that shows the population in Florida is growing.
"Overall, we're still very optimistic that there are a lot of tailwinds to grow" throughout Florida, Scherer said.