Billionaire Stephen Ross: New Yorkers will continue to move to Florida due to taxes and crime

New Yorkers will continue to migrate to Florida due to the “ease of life” in the Sunshine State compared to the “Big Apple” with high taxes and crime, according to the billionaire real estate developer.

Steven Ross, the 82-year-old founder of Related Cos., the company that built the Hudson Yards project on Manhattan’s West Side, told Bloomberg News Wednesday that he plans to develop even more commercial real estate in Florida outside of traditional markets. West Palm Beach and Miami.

“People are looking up from the northeast and moving for jobs, not retirement, and companies are looking for” offices, Ross said.

“These are tax issues, and there are security issues.”

Ross added, “There’s just the lightness of life.”

Ross, whose portfolio includes the NFL Miami Dolphins and gym chain Equinox, said his move to Florida is aimed at keeping up with growing demand for office space in the state, which has seen an influx of residents from New York over the past 24 years. York. months or so.

Ross, whose fortune was estimated at $8.39 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of Thursday, said Florida is no longer just a retirement destination for older people looking to escape the frigid Northeast.

Instead, the Sunshine State is attracting younger, wealthier, career-oriented people who want to escape the comparatively burdensome reality of New York City.

Despite the moment Florida is under the sun, Ross said he’s not giving up on New York just yet. His company is bidding to build a casino resort in Manhattan as part of the second phase of its $25 billion Hudson Yards plan, some of which remains undeveloped.

“New York City will continue to grow, but it has its own problems, and a lot of people who don’t need to be there wish they weren’t there,” Ross said.

“It’s changing, it’s getting younger, older people are leaving, richer people are leaving.”

Ross said New York City continues to be attractive to young people, which will help keep the business community engaged.

“We have huge investments, we are still doing huge projects in New York,” he said.

“But I think Florida is going to take a lot of people.”

Related Cos. has either built or is building mixed-use residential and commercial projects in West Palm Beach and Miami that have attracted prime tenants, including Goldman Sachs and hedge fund Point72 Asset Management, owned by Mets owner Steve Cohen.

Last year, Ross’s company teamed up with Swire Properties to build one of Miami’s tallest skyscrapers, a massive office tower in trendy Brickell.

Ross is not the only billionaire who has turned his eyes to the Southeast in search of greener pastures.

Ken Griffin, the billionaire hedge fund manager who runs Citadel, announced last year that his company would move its headquarters from Chicago to Miami.

Florida’s pull is reflected in official federal government data. Last year, the state of Florida surpassed nonfarm payrolls in Florida for the first time in four decades, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Last year alone, more than 64,500 former New Yorkers moved to Florida — more than at any time in history, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which tracks driver license statistics.

Last year’s record number comfortably eclipsed the previous figure of 61,728 New Yorkers who moved to Florida in 2021, according to the data.