Wall Street South comes to Main Street with the recent arrival of a national retail brokerage office in the heart of West Palm Beach.
The Edward Jones financial services firm recently opened a new office at the intersection of Clematis Street and Olive Avenue in the heart of the city’s historic business district.
There’s some symmetry in the move. Edward Jones is a 104-year-old firm, and its new office is in a 90-year old building at 111 Olive.
But there’s nothing old-timey either about the firm or its new digs, part of the Banyan & Olive office complex.
A curved glass picture window, visible from the intersection, frames the firm’s conference room. Here, Edward Jones serves clients in its newly branded Generations services, a private client group catering to people who have $10 million or more in investable assets.
The company already manages $300 billion in assets with high-net worth families. But the Generations offices are designed to be an upscale meeting place for clients wishing to visit in person with their advisors instead of doing business remotely.
Edward Jones’ West Palm Beach office is one of only four offices nationwide dedicated to Generations services. The others are Dallas, Scottsdale, Arizona, and St. Louis, where the company is based.
But the choice of West Palm Beach, rather than even Palm Beach, was deliberate, said John Rahal, an Edward Jones principal.
The firm wanted to highlight its links to Wall Street South, the name given to the cluster of financial services firms that have opened in West Palm Beach in recent years, especially since the 2020 COVID pandemic.
Goldman Sachs, for instance, has an office at the 360 Rosemary office tower in West Palm Beach. Wells Fargo is moving the headquarters of its private wealth management office to the One Flagler office tower in West Palm Beach from St. Louis and New York.
Rahal cited both firms as factors in Edward Jones’ optimism that the new downtown office will thrive in the city’s growing financial environment.
“It’s awesome to see what’s happening in West Palm Beach,” Rahal said.
Clients who meet with advisors in the West Palm Beach office don’t have to be from Palm Beach County or even Florida, although the office is a convenient meeting place for state-based clients, principal Craig Fehr said.
Instead, the office is a base from which clients along the Eastern seaboard can visit their advisors if they want an in-person meeting, said Fehr, who leads Edward Jones Generations.
The appeal of a visit to the West Palm Beach office, especially during the winter months, isn’t lost on Edward Jones’ officials, either.
Once here, some clients also learn about the state’s financial advantages, such as the fact that Florida has no income tax, Rahal said.
Edward Jones officials said wealthy individuals often need more than just retirement planning. They may need advice with alternative investments, philanthropy, estate planning and insurance.
“The expectations of the (private client) group are evolving,” Fuhl said.
Firms rush to showcase a presence in West Palm
Edward Jones, with offices in 70% of the country, already had a presence throughout Palm Beach County.
But similar to other bank and financial firms, the retail brokerage decided to boost its presence in West Palm Beach to serve wealthy residents who moved to the county during and after the pandemic.
An example is Bessemer Trust, a venerable private banking firm in Palm Beach. In 2025, Bessemer moved a mile west into the One Flagler office tower in West Palm Beach.
Bessemer’s decision came after more than a century on the island, another affirmation of the mainland city’s rising profile as an important financial hub.
Since the 2020 pandemic, more than 250 financial services firms have established offices in Palm Beach County, said Kelly Smallridge, president of the Business Development Board, the county’s business recruitment arm.
Overall, Palm Beach County counts 2,602 hedge funds and private equity firms. These businesses employ more than 11,018 people with an average salary of $126,340.
In fact, the BDB even trademarked the nickname, “Wall Street South,” to reflect the county’s new dominance in the financial services field.
Alexandra Clough is a business writer at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. X: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Wall Street South draws Edward Jones office to West Palm Beach
Reporting by Alexandra Clough, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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