SHARE:
Miami-Dade Business Briefs - Jan. 2007
CORAL GABLES -- Hispanic streaming media website Batanga.com has acquired Hispanic LatCom Communications, a marketing company focusing on Latino high school and college students. With the acquisition, Coral Gables-based Batanga.com becomes one of the nation's largest media and entertainment companies targeting the fast-growing Latino market segment.
MIAMI -- Despite vocal opposition from some low-income residents, the Miami City Commission approved plans for the $200-million Crosswinds residential development in Miami's impoverished Overtown area. Opponents say the project's 1,050 condo units will further gentrify their fast-changing neighborhood.
MIAMI-DADE -- The cost of Miami International Airport's expansion will grow by more than $1 billion to $6.2 billion, prompting Wall Street to downgrade bond ratings at what is already one of the nation's most expensive airports to operate.
? Voters have approved a plan that allows restaurants, shops, a water theme park and other private development on 69 acres adjacent to the county-owned Miami Metrozoo. County leaders say the development is needed to boost attendance at the park.
? The county commission has given the green light to a $1.2-billion plan to build a tunnel in downtown Miami connecting I-395 to the Port of Miami. A funding source for the county's portion, about half the cost, is unclear.
? Two of the world's leaders in genetics research -- Margaret Pericak-Vance and Jeffery Vance -- have joined the University of Miami, where they will lead the newly formed Institute of Human Genomics. The pair headed a similar research center at Duke University.
