Stephen Ross Eyes Former IBM Campus for Massive Boca Raton Redevelopment

Published: June 26th, 2026

The campus where IBM engineers built the first personal computer could become a 1.7-million-square-foot "micro city" with more than 1,000 homes. The approvals are already done, so Stephen Ross can skip years of red tape and get straight to building.

Key Takeaways

Related Ross is nearing a deal for the 1.7-million-square-foot former IBM campus, the largest single-office building in Florida.
The site already has city approvals for about 1,250 homes, retail, medical offices, and a hotel on its parking lots.
This would be Stephen Ross's first major project in Boca Raton, extending his multibillion-dollar push in West Palm Beach.

Let's back up for a second. Stephen Ross spent the last several years pouring billions into downtown West Palm Beach. Now, for the first time, he is pointing that playbook south, to Boca Raton.

According to the Palm Beach Post, his firm, Related Ross, is nearing a deal to buy the Boca Raton Innovation Campus, known as the BRiC. It is the 1.7-million-square-foot former IBM complex at 5000 T-Rex Avenue, where engineers built the first IBM personal computer in the early 1980s.

The plan is to turn the office park into a mixed-use "micro city" with more than 1,000 homes, shops, medical offices, and a hotel built on the surrounding parking lots. The smart part, and the reason this fits Ross, is that the hard part is already finished. What he does next says a lot about where Boca Raton real estate is heading.

What is the BRiC, and why does it matter?

The Boca Raton Innovation Campus is at 5000 T-Rex Avenue, between Yamato Road and Spanish River Boulevard, just west of I-95 and less than three miles from Florida Atlantic University and the Boca Raton Airport. At 1.7 million square feet on 123 acres, it is the largest single-office facility in Florida. It was built for IBM and dedicated in 1970, designed by brutalist architect Marcel Breuer. The complex was bought by CP Group in 2018.

This office campus is currently about 90% occupied. It runs on interconnected low-rise buildings, miles of walking and biking paths, a 1,000-seat dining hall, and a ballroom, and has quietly become a magnet for technology companies.

As Larry Mastropieri explained on the Discover South Florida Podcast: "There's a big tech thing going on over there. They're attracting a fair amount of interesting tech businesses, and it's becoming a hub where people can commune". That community is part of the value, and you can see it in stories like the AI startup that left San Francisco for the BRiC, which we covered earlier on.

Why would Ross buy an old office park?

The short answer is that the old building is almost beside the point. What Ross would really be buying is a set of approvals that someone else spent years and millions to win. In 2023, the BRiC's owners, CP Group, won city approval for roughly 1,243 residential units, 125,000 square feet of retail, 85,000 square feet of medical office, 55,000 square feet of entertainment space, and a 140-room hotel on the parking lots.

While the purchase price has not been disclosed, there is enough history to estimate it. CP Group and its partners paid $179.3 million for the campus in 2018, then spent roughly $100 million on upgrades and recapitalized it at a $320.2 million valuation in 2021 when a new equity partner bought in.

That 2021 figure is the last known value for the BRiC. Larry's own read is that the number probably lands north of $400 million, and could push toward half a billion.

As Larry put it: "Ross is stepping into existing entitled projects instead of having to buy something, go through the entitlement that took years that the previous owners did, and now he can just get right to the development piece." Less risk usually means a higher price, which is the trade-off here.

One open question is who actually builds it. In early 2025, Miami-based Terra was brought in as the development partner, but that arrangement is tied to the seller, so it is not yet clear whether Ross will keep Terra on, renegotiate, or take the program in-house, as Related Ross usually handles its own development.

What does this mean for Boca Raton real estate?

This is Ross's first major move into Boca, and it matters because of who he is. In West Palm Beach, his projects helped drive what is often described as a $10 billion-plus reshaping of its downtown. When a developer at that scale plants a flag, the area around it tends to follow.

The logic is straightforward. Boca already has demand for office space, a tech cluster forming at the BRiC, and a clear need for housing. Layer more than 1,000 homes, shops, and a hotel onto a site that is already busy, and you change the western edge of the city. Reporting also suggests Ross may add Fiserv offices to the campus, building on his recent Coral Springs office purchase.

The honest caveat is time. The deal is not closed yet, and projects this size play out over many years, not months. Still, the direction is hard to miss: serious institutional money is treating Boca the way it treated West Palm Beach a few years ago, which you can see across Ross's West Palm Beach bets.

Curious how a Ross-scale project could move values in your part of Boca? Talk to a real estate agent in Boca Raton who tracks where the big developments are heading. Reach out to The Mastropieri Group or call (561) 544-7000.

How does the BRiC fit Ross's South Florida map?

To be clear about the name, Related Ross is the West Palm Beach firm that Stephen Ross founded in 2024 to run his Florida projects.

Ross built CityPlace, now The Square, more than two decades ago, and it still anchors downtown West Palm Beach. His Palm Beach County portfolio includes the Class A office tower One Flagler, the 360 Rosemary office building, The Laurel luxury residences, and the Shorecrest condo tower now under construction. He also owns the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium, which is hosting World Cup matches this summer. The BRiC would be his first large-scale Boca project, and unlike most of those West Palm Beach deals, he would inherit the approvals rather than chase them. That is the whole appeal of this deal.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC)?

The BRiC is the 1.7-million-square-foot former IBM complex at 5000 T-Rex Avenue in Boca Raton, the largest single-office building in Florida. IBM engineers developed the first personal computer there, and the campus is still about 90% occupied today.

Is Related Ross the same as the Related Group?

No. Related Ross is Stephen Ross's West Palm Beach firm, founded in 2024. The Related Group is a separate Miami company led by Jorge Perez. Despite the similar names, they are different developers.

What is planned for the BRiC site?

A mixed-use "micro city." Approvals already in place call for roughly 1,250 homes, retail, medical office space, entertainment space, and a hotel built on the parking lots, while keeping the existing office buildings.

How much is Related Ross paying for the BRiC?

The price has not been disclosed. For context, the campus sold for $179.3 million in 2018 and was valued at $320.2 million in a 2021 recapitalization. The final number is expected to be higher, given the value of the approvals attached to the site.

Why is this significant for Boca Raton?

It would be Stephen Ross's first major project in Boca Raton, extending the multibillion-dollar reshaping he led in West Palm Beach. A developer at that scale moving in often signals more density, investment, and attention for the surrounding area.

Local help for buyers and investors in Boca Raton

If you are buying, selling, or investing in Boca Raton, Highland Beach, or Gulf Stream, it helps to work with a team that follows these major projects and what they mean for nearby values. Reach out to The Mastropieri Group, Realtors®. For practical, hands-on support across Boca Raton, call (561) 544-7000.