Good afternoon! Welcome to West Palm Pulse – your weekly newsletter about central Palm Beach County.
Last month we reported that state and city leaders appeared to be lining up money to lure massive AI firm ServiceNow to CityPlace.
Well, now it’s official. This week the company formally announced its plans to open a regional office, bringing some 850 high-paying jobs to the city center.
The Fortune 500 company's CEO proclaimed “this is a renaissance movement” for the city, predicting other tech firms will follow their lead in locating operations here.
That’s a lofty goal, and one that jibes with Related Ross owner Stephen Ross’ vision of West Palm Beach as a “model city.”
As Post business reporter Alexandra Clough wrote this week, “Both Related and ServiceNow are hailing the company's presence in Palm Beach County as a boost to create a Florida ‘Gold Coast Innovation Corridor’ from West Palm Beach to Miami.”
Could this prove to be a key step in a larger regional transformation?
A lot will depend on industry trends and economic and geopolitical factors far beyond the city’s control.
Nevertheless, city leaders surely will have to consider how a sudden influx of tech jobs might alert the fabric of what not so long ago was a sleepy midsize city.
--- Andrew Marra
