Wells Fargo is moving its wealth management headquarters to West Palm Beach, a win for Steve Ross’ efforts to attract the financial industry to his office developments in the city.
The move puts Wells Fargo in pole position to reach the dozens of billionaires with homes just over the bridge in Palm Beach. The San Francisco-based bank leased 50,000 square feet at One Flagler, the 25-story office building Related Ross completed at 180 Lakeview Avenue last year, Bloomberg reported.
At least 67 billionaires own homes in Palm Beach, according to published reports. Among them are Ross, Nelson Peltz, Stephen Schwarzman, Julia Koch, and of course, President Donald Trump.
The number of ultra-wealthy residents is up from just 43 billionaires with Palm Beach homes in 2020. The pandemic catalyzed a wealth migration to the island, luring the newly remote-working ultrarich with low taxes and sunny weather.
A West Palm Beach headquarters allows the firm to be closer to its largest clients, Barry Sommers, CEO of wealth and investment management at Wells Fargo, told the outlet.
“Florida’s a good market where clients are relocating, but more importantly, it’s a very easy market to travel,” Sommers said.
The office is slated to open in August. About 100 employees will be relocated to One Flagler by the end of the year, mostly senior wealth executives, the outlet reported.
Sommers and his wife moved their primary residence to Palm Beach County in December.
The wealth chief is also looking to expand the bank’s West Palm Beach-based team with financial advisers, private bankers and independent broker-dealers.
For Ross, Wells Fargo is another trophy for the mantle as he builds out an ensemble of star tenants for his premier office projects.
The octogenarian developer is on a mission to transform West Palm Beach, where his Related Ross has 3.8 million square feet of office space completed or in the pipeline.
Related Ross also inked West Palm Beach deals with ServiceNow and the Cleveland Clinic, which were among the top office leases in the tri-county region last year.
–– Kate Hinsche