"Invest: Palm Beach 2021," which provides an in-depth review of the key issues facing Palm Beach County’s economy, was recently released earlier this year. The report features the exclusive insight of prominent business and political leaders who provide an in-depth look at what makes the region’s economy tick and the challenges that remain.
Our own Founding Partner Spencer Sax is featured as a leading legal voice:
“We are bullish on Palm Beach County and its legal sector. We knew baby boomers were going to retire and we knew that was going to be good for the economy, for the real estate market and for the legal market but COVID has really sped that up. The success of our national economy has afforded people the opportunity to buy second homes and it has also accelerated the move of people from out of state to our state. The more people and businesses move to Palm Beach County, the more need there will be for legal services. We were bullish about that trend even before the pandemic.”
Want to know more about Palm Beach County? Here are some interesting facts our legal services team in Palm Beach County found:
Palm Beach County by the Numbers from Discover the Palm Beaches:
- Two Downtown Convention Districts, each with 1,000 walkable hotel rooms
- 350,000 sq. ft. of Convention Center space
- 78 degrees average year-round temperature
- 17,000 guest rooms county wide
- 200+ hotel rooms county wide
- Two accessible railways, high speed and regional routes
- Three miles from Palm Beach International Airport to the Palm Beach County Convention Center
- 20 miles from Fort Lauderdale International Airport to the Boca Raton CityWide Collection
- 3,200+ restaurants
- 200+ cultural institutions
- Largest hotel meeting space: 146,000 sq. ft.
- 160 golf courses
- 15+ resort-style hotels
- 2 James Beard award-winning chefs
Palm Beach County Interesting Facts and Figures from Palm Beach County’s Official Government Website:
County History
- A U.S. Army fort built in Jupiter in 1838 is believed to be the first permanent non-Native American settlement in the area. The fort was followed by the first civilian residents who cared for the Jupiter Lighthouse beginning in 1860.
- In the late 1800s, the Jupiter and Lake Worth Celestial Railroad and Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC) began service, opening up Palm Beach County to tourism and interstate trade.
- Also in 1889, a heavy turnout at the voting polls forced Dade County, which included Palm Beach County at the time, to move its center of government from Miami to Juno where it remained until 1899. The Oakbrook Square Shopping Center is located where the former Juno Courthouse once stood.
- In 1894, West Palm Beach became incorporated making it the oldest municipality in the county.
- Palm Beach County was carved out of Dade County in 1909 becoming Florida's 47th county. The first county government meetings were held in an old four-room schoolhouse at the corner of Clematis Street and Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. At the time, only about 5,300 people lived in the new county comprised of portions of what are now Broward, Martin, and Okeechobee counties. Broward County was established in 1915, Okeechobee County in 1917 and Martin County in 1925.
- Until 1963, Palm Beach County's borders incorporated all of Lake Okeechobee. The lake now is partitioned among the five counties that surround it.
- In 1905, Joseph Sakai began the Yamato Colony in present-day Boca Raton. Sakai attracted fellow Japanese to the area with the promise of farmland. One Japanese immigrant farmer who prospered at the colony was George Morikami. In the mid-1970s, Morikami donated his home and part of his land to Palm Beach County for a museum and park.
- Palm Beach International Airport, formerly known as Morrison Field, opened in 1936. The award-winning David McCampbell Terminal was constructed in 1988 and has been expanded to include 32 gates.
Economics
- The three major industries in Palm Beach County are tourism, construction, and agriculture. There are also many high-tech industries such as bioscience that contribute to the growing economy.
- Tourism supports more than 66,000 jobs in tourism-related businesses such as hotels, restaurants, stores, attractions, transportation services, and others. More than 7.3 million people visit Palm Beach County annually, and they spend approximately $4.6 billion while they are here. Direct visitor spending for food and beverage is approximately $1.4 billion, with lodging accounting for approximately $1.2 billion and retail at $1 billion. Recreation activity spending is $600 million and transportation within the county $400 million.
- Palm Beach County leads the nation in the production of sugar and sweet corn. Eighteen percent of all sugar in the United States is produced here. Sugar cane covers some 400,000 acres or about one-third of the county's overall landmass. The county is also the leading producer in the state of rice, bell peppers, lettuce, radishes, Chinese vegetables, specialty leaf, and celery.
- The county's Department of Housing Economic Sustainability (HES) administers programs for business development, affordable housing, and community initiatives that increase economic competition.
- The county's Office of Small Business Assistance (SBA) maintains a banking consortium with local lenders to make millions of dollars in low-interest loans available for small businesses.