Vanderbilt University is officially coming to downtown West Palm Beach.
Tuesday, county commissioners approved a graduate campus after months of discussions.
The school will bring in a business, artificial intelligence, data science and innovation graduate campus between Fern and Datura streets along Tamarind Avenue.
"We won't be known necessarily just for our golf courses and our beautiful beaches and our shopping but now for the caliber of our students who are going to be coming into our business world as top notch," said Palm Beach County Mayor Maria Sachs.
West Palm Beach
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The county commission meeting was filled with community members, some of whom are Vanderbilt alumni, speaking in favor of bringing the campus to the area.
Many credit the university's efforts to give back to the community.
"The university that's in the top 20 in the country has chosen us, Palm Beach County, to be their site for graduate school and artificial intelligence and computer literacy school," Sachs said.
However only one resident opposed the project.
"I don't want to waste taxpayer money. I'm very sad about it," said Alexandria Larson.
She lives in Loxahatchee but said Vanderbilt University is not what the county should be focusing on.
"Taxpayers are broke, we're broke. And they keep subsidizing these items and we have a lot heading our way and we have no way of fixing things in the moment," said Larson. "There's other areas we could expand that won't be detrimental to the traffic, the time, patience and the taxpayers."
She's against the donation of land that has an appraisal of $46 million of county property to build the university.
WPTV took her concerns to Sachs, who supported the project.
"There was one resident that was concerned about the taxpayer money, what's your message to them?" asked WPTV reporter Joel Lopez.
"My message to them is, this isn't a giveaway. This is an investment. It's an investment in our students, our children, our grandchildren of tomorrow. I'm excited," said Sachs.
Vanderbilt projects an economic benefit of $7 billion in the first 25 years from annual operations and student spending, $14 billion in the first 50 years, and $24 billion in the first 75 years.
The university will create 3,500 jobs in the first 25 years, 70 jobs in the first 50 years and 103 jobs by year 75.
"That's one of our many give backs to the community to ensure that our expertise is also being utilized for the public benefit here," said Harvey Oyer, a Vanderbilt representative.
An advisory committee with the university will have one representative from all 39 municipalities.
They have also agreed to dedicating 1,000 hours annually through an urban lab where university experts help improve local infrastructure with their data and research.
"Vanderbilt University campus will have a ripple effect not just through Palm Beach County, but the entire region will benefit from it," said Oyer. "It's a historic day for our county."
There will also be scholarship opportunities for eligible local students.
The university plans to begin teaching graduate-level courses in Palm Beach County in 2026.
