Billionaire property developer predicts MORE New Yorkers will flee to Florida over high taxes

A billionaire property developer has predicted that more New Yorkers will flee to Florida due to high taxes and surging crime rates. 

Stephen Ross, 82, whose net worth is around $12billion, has said that people in the Northeast are looking for warmer climates a lot earlier than retirement. 

‘People are looking from the Northeast and relocating for jobs — not retirement — and companies are looking [for office space],’ Ross, a chairman of property developer Related Companies, told Bloomberg. 

‘It’s tax issues, and there’s the security issues. There’s just the ease of living [in the South].’ 

Since the pandemic, cities like New York have been hurting with empty office buildings as remote work popularized, leaving billions of dollars’ worth of vacant space. 

With the rise of remote work and surging crime rates, many of opted to not return to the office. In the Big Apple, crime rates are up 2.6 percent compared to the same time last year, with robbery and felony assault up 6.3 and 12.2 percent, respectively.  

Stephen Ross, 82, whose net worth is around $12billion, has said that people in the Northeast are looking for warmer climates a lot earlier than retirement and corporate spaces in the Sunshine State are thriving because of it 

‘It’s tax issues, and there’s the security issues. There’s just the ease of living [in the South],’ Ross said. Crime rates are up 2.6 percent compared to the same time last year in the Big Apple, with robbery and felony assault up 6.3 and 12.2 percent, respectively

In the past two years, major tech, finance, and law firms have ditched big cities like New York and Chicago for the comfort of the tax-free state. 

Citadel, a hedge-fund company, recently ditched Chicago for Miami. Apollo Global Management and Blackstone Inc., both originally based out of New York, have also ditched for Florida, according to Bloomberg. 

One of Related’s properties, dubbed The Square – a mixed-use development – has attracted the likes of Goldman Sachs and Point72 Asset Management, owned by Steve Cohen. 

Related acquired Rosemary Square in 2019 and announced a five-year $550million investment plan to turn CityPlace from a ‘retail and entertainment center to a vibrant community and destination.’ 

The property contained both office and residential space, as well as retail and culinary options. 

Ross – whose corporate space in New York – has been focusing on development spaces in Florida. Related Companies – where Ross is a chairman – announced in 2019 it would invest $550million into The Square in West Palm Beach (pictured), which is a mix of residential, corporate, and retail space 

The company’s next development project – One Flagler (pictured) – is set to open in 2024. The company acquired the property for $20million in 2021 and the waterfront space will operate as an office building 

It is also investing in Miami with its One Brickell City Centre building (pictured), as vacancy rates are low in the city 

The property development company – which is also the mastermind behind New York’s $25billion Hudson Yards project – also owns another West Palm Beach property – One Flagler – which is set to open in 2024. The company acquired the property for $20million in 2021. 

It also has a Miami property – dubbed One Brickell City Centre – coming in 2027. It is unknown how much Related Companies paid for the development. 

With major developments in Florida, major cities have been hurting to fill their offices. 

As of September, New York City’s corporate space was around 50 percent vacant, according to Investopedia. San Francisco was 26 percent vacant as of December, Colin Yasukochi of Tech Insights Center told CNBC. And Chicago was 15 percent vacant as of February, according to Cawley Chicago. 

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Vacancy rates are higher in big cities outside of Florida than in the state. New York City’s corporate vacancy rate is around 50 percent, compared to Florida’s West Palm Beach at nine percent 

Meanwhile, popular destinations in Florida are thriving, with office vacancy rates remaining under the national average of 12.2 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). 

West Palm Beach has a vacancy rate of nearly nine percent for corporate buildings and Miami has a rate of 10 percent, according to NAR. 

Despite all that, Ross said: ‘New York will continue to grow.

‘But it has its challenges, and a lot of people who don’t have to be there are looking not to be there,’ he continued. ‘It’s changing, it’s getting younger, the older people are moving out, the wealthier people are moving out.’ 

However, he said the younger crowd would still be attracted to the bright lights of New York City and that his development team would continue to have ‘huge investments’ in the Big Apple. 

‘But I think Florida is going to capture an awful lot of people,’ he said.