By Brian French | WestPalmBeachBusinessNews.com | April 14, 2026
Quick Answer
Palm Beach County’s healthcare and life-sciences sector is in its largest build-out since Scripps and Max Planck arrived two decades ago. The Alan B. Miller Medical Center — the region’s first new hospital since 1979, a $430 million project — will open in Palm Beach Gardens in May 2026. Cleveland Clinic is preparing a West Palm Beach site for a 200-bed hospital opening by the end of 2029, with an outpatient and surgery center in 2027. NYU Langone’s Julia Koch Family Ambulatory Care Center opens downtown this winter, and Jupiter Medical Center broke ground on a second hospital in July 2026. On the research side, the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute and Max Planck Florida anchor a Jupiter cluster of more than 668 life-sciences companies, with newer arrivals including Alphazyme, Cytonics, Expansion Therapeutics, and the Beacon Pharmaceutical accelerator.
The Demand Behind the Buildings
The county’s healthcare expansion is a population story before it is a medical one. Northern Palm Beach County — Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, the 4,000-home Avenir community — grew for years without a matching increase in acute-care beds, and the wealth migration from the Northeast brought patients who already had relationships with New York and Cleveland health systems. The result is that national brands are following their patients south and building at scale.
By the Business Development Board’s count, the county hosts 6,231 healthcare companies and more than 668 life-sciences firms engaged in R&D or manufacturing of biotechnology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and biological sciences.
Hospital and Health System Expansions
| Project | Location | Scale | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alan B. Miller Medical Center (UHS) | Palm Beach Gardens | $430M, 300 beds planned | Opened May 2026 |
| Cleveland Clinic hospital | West Palm Beach | 200 beds | Opens end of 2029 |
| Cleveland Clinic outpatient/ASC | West Palm Beach | — | Opens 2027 |
| NYU Langone Julia Koch Center | Downtown WPB | ~200 jobs, 50 MDs | Opens winter 2026 |
| Jupiter Medical Center 2nd hospital | Jupiter | Hospital + MOBs | Broke ground July 2026 |
Alan B. Miller Medical Center
The largest single addition is already open. Universal Health Services’ Alan B. Miller Medical Center began admitting patients in mid-May 2026 at 13655 Pasteur Blvd. in the Alton community, with emergency, surgical, and cardiology services. The seven-story facility spans roughly 365,000 square feet on a 34-acre campus, a nearly $430 million investment that also includes planned medical office buildings for outpatient services. It opened with about 170 beds and is designed to expand to 300 as the northern county fills in. Local coverage calls it the region’s first new hospital since 1979.
Cleveland Clinic’s West Palm Beach hospital
Cleveland Clinic has laid out its Palm Beach County timeline: site demolition and preparation in 2026, an outpatient center and ambulatory surgery center opening in 2027, and a 200-bed West Palm Beach hospital opening by the end of 2029. The project is backed by a capital campaign that has raised more than $180 million to date, and is intended to increase emergency capacity and specialty access in a county that continues to grow.
NYU Langone’s downtown medical tower
NYU Langone first opened Palm Beach County offices in 2017 by following its New York patients who winter in Florida. A $75 million gift from the Julia Koch Family Foundation funded the Julia Koch Family Ambulatory Care Center on Datura Street, which will house more than a dozen specialties, imaging, and outpatient surgery. The facility will employ about 200 people including 50 physicians, with capacity for some 150,000 patients. New NYU Langone practices opened in Palm Beach Gardens and Boynton Beach in summer 2026 to feed the downtown center, which is set to open this winter.
Jupiter Medical Center and Baptist Health
Jupiter Medical Center broke ground on a second hospital in the city in July 2026, on a campus designed for two additional 25,000-square-foot medical office buildings. Its partnership with New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery, which shares costs and revenues, lets it treat complex orthopedic cases locally that would otherwise go out of state. Baptist Health, which absorbed Bethesda Hospital in 2017, paid $26 million for the ground lease on a medical office building adjacent to Bethesda Hospital West in Boynton Beach as part of continued Palm Beach and Broward expansion.
The Jupiter Life-Sciences Cluster
Scripps and Max Planck: the anchors
Florida paid Scripps $310 million and Palm Beach County added $269 million in 2003–2004 to bring the institute to Jupiter, and Max Planck followed with $94 million from the state and $86.9 million from the county. The Jeb Bush-era promise of 50,000 jobs was never met, but the institutions delivered a different return. Scripps’ presence has produced an estimated $3.2 billion economic impact over 15-plus years and 14 spinoff companies, and in 2026 the county transferred a 70-acre Palm Beach Gardens tract worth as much as $70 million to Scripps under the original agreement, with biotech-use restrictions running to 2031. Scripps Florida is now the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute following its merger with the University of Florida’s research division and a $100 million gift.
Commercial biotech and device companies
The research anchors have pulled in an operating cluster. In the past year the BDB assisted five life-sciences relocations or expansions in Jupiter — Algafeed, Alphazyme, Cytonics, Detraxi, and Expansion Therapeutics — plus the new Beacon Pharmaceutical life-science accelerator, alongside CSL Plasma and Gift of Life expanding in Boca Raton and Capzer Pharmaceuticals in Lake Worth Beach. Alphazyme leased 22,000 square feet at the Institute for Healthy Living in Jupiter, with its CEO crediting access to Scripps’ equipment and scientific services as a primary reason for choosing the location.
The device side includes the Johnson & Johnson Institute (DePuy Synthes), ZimVie, Accelus, and SurGenTec, and biotech names such as ADMA Biologics and Aqualung Therapeutics.
Brian’s Take
Two things are true at once. The 2004 Scripps bet did not create the Boston-style biotech corridor its backers sold to taxpayers, and the county is now handing over $70 million of land to close out that deal. But the second-order effect — a co-located Scripps, Max Planck, and FAU brain institute that no other campus on earth can match — is finally producing the operating companies and the accelerator that were supposed to appear in year five.
The bigger commercial story for West Palm Beach is downtown. NYU Langone, Cleveland Clinic, and HSS-via-Jupiter are not building for residents; they are building for a patient base that used to fly to New York. That is medical tourism in reverse, and it pairs directly with the hedge-fund migration. For medical office landlords and specialty practices, the next three years are the window before the two big hospitals open and reset the competitive map.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the newest hospital in Palm Beach County?
The Alan B. Miller Medical Center in Palm Beach Gardens, which opened in May 2026 — the first new hospital in the area since 1979.
When will Cleveland Clinic open its West Palm Beach hospital?
By the end of 2029. An outpatient center and ambulatory surgery center come first, in 2027.
Is NYU Langone building in West Palm Beach?
Yes. The Julia Koch Family Ambulatory Care Center on Datura Street, funded by a $75 million gift, opens in winter 2026 with about 200 employees.
How many life-sciences companies are in Palm Beach County?
More than 668, according to the Business Development Board, concentrated around the Scripps and Max Planck campus in Jupiter.
What became of Scripps Florida?
It merged with the University of Florida’s research division and now operates as the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology in Jupiter.
Business profiles and coverage inquiries for WestPalmBeachBusinessNews.com and the Florida Authority Network: 813-409-4683.
Sources and Further Reading
- WFLX, “Alan B. Miller Medical Center opens in Palm Beach Gardens as region’s first new hospital since 1979” (May 26, 2026) — https://www.wflx.com/2026/05/26/alan-b-miller-medical-center-opens-palm-beach-gardens-regions-first-new-hospital-since-1979/
- Hoodline, “Alan B. Miller Medical Center Opens in Palm Beach Gardens” (June 2026) — https://hoodline.com/2026/05/palm-beach-gardens-430-million-hospital-finally-opens-its-doors/
- Palm Beach Post via AOL, “A first look at Miller Medical Center, rising off I-95” — https://www.aol.com/palm-beach-gardens-growing-first-090226050.html
- Cleveland Clinic Newsroom, “Cleveland Clinic Highlights Growth and Strategic Momentum in Palm Beach County” (February 22, 2026) — https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2026/02/22/cleveland-clinic-highlights-growth-and-strategic-momentum-in-palm-beach-county
- DOTmed, “Cleveland Clinic outlines timeline for Palm Beach County expansion” (February 26, 2026) — https://www.dotmed.com/news/story/66057
- NYU Langone News, “NYU Langone Health Expands South Florida Footprint With New Practice in Palm Beach Gardens” (July 15, 2026) — https://nyulangone.org/news/nyu-langone-health-expands-south-florida-footprint-new-practice-palm-beach-gardens
- Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, “Julia Koch Gift Boosts NYU Langone’s West Palm” — https://bdb.org/news/nyu-langone-receives-75-million-gift-for-new-west-palm-beach-medical-tower/
- Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, Life Sciences & Healthcare industry page — https://bdb.org/industries/life-sciences-healthcare/
- Florida Medical Office Space, “Jupiter Medical Center Breaks Ground On Second Hospital In City” (July 8, 2026) — https://floridamedspace.com/tag/nyu-langone/
- Florida Medical Office Space, “A Life Sciences And Health Care Hub Is Growing In The Palm Beaches” (April 2025) — https://floridamedspace.com/a-life-sciences-and-health-care-hub-is-growing-in-the-palm-beaches/
- Florida Medical Office Space, “Baptist Health Plans To Expand, Pays $40M For Ground Lease And Dev Site” (July 2025) — https://floridamedspace.com/baptist-health-plans-to-expand-pays-40m-for-ground-lease-and-dev-site/
- Rabideau Klein, “Scripps Research Acquires Prime Palm Beach Gardens Land” (January 2026) — https://rabideauklein.com/blog/scripps-research-acquires-prime-palm-beach-gardens-land/
- Florida Trend, “The World’s Two Best Scientific Institutes Call Palm Beach County Home” — https://www.floridatrend.com/article/26865/the-worlds-two-best-scientific-institutes-call-palm-beach-county-home/
- WPTV, “Scripps Florida, University of Florida in talks to merge biomedical research operations” (July 2021) — https://www.wptv.com/news/region-n-palm-beach-county/jupiter/scripps-florida-university-of-florida-in-talks-to-merge-biomedical-research-operations
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