Southeast Florida Business Briefs - June 2005

BOYNTON BEACH -- Saying it has outgrown a 650,000-sq.-ft. distribution center in the Florida Research Park in northwest Palm Beach County, the Walgreen Co. is planning to expand into Boynton Beach.

BROWARD COUNTY -- State investigators and the Broward State Attorney's office are looking into Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne's private consulting business. Jenne's side businesses are reportedly the subject of inquiries into whether the Sheriff's Office improperly divulged details of a Hollywood Police investigation to a private security firm that paid Jenne's company $60,000.

A Broward sheriff's deputy who admitted doctoring police reports by attributing unsolved crimes to people such as jail inmates has pleaded guilty to charges of falsifying documents. Deputy Joe Isabella has told investigators that he was under pressure from superiors to close cases.

CLEWISTON -- U.S. Sugar Corp. Chief Executive Robert Dolson plans to retire when his contract expires Oct. 31. The company, undergoing a downsizing that will include the closing of a Pahokee sugar mill within the next two years, produced 690,000 tons of sugar from this year's harvest.

FLORIDA EVERGLADES -- A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official overseeing the $8-billion Everglades restoration says the project is over budget, behind schedule and in danger of losing its political support. The memo was obtained by the organization Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

The South Florida Water Management District was honored by the American Council of Engineering Companies for the innovative design of a 17,000-acre reconstructed wetland designed to filter phosphorus from agricultural runoff as part of the Everglades project.

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Internet telephone company theglobe.com (OTCBB-TGLO.OB) has warned investors that it may not be able to continue operating without new financing.

Newborn medical care specialist Pediatrix Medical Group and Miami-based drug manufacturer Ivax are working together to sell a newborn screening program developed by Pediatrix to healthcare providers in Latin America.

PALM BEACH COUNTY -- Commissioners have voted to issue $150 million in bonds to help finance construction of the Scripps Research Institute Development. As of mid-April, the project still did not have a date for groundbreaking. The project has been delayed by legal challenges from environmental and growth management groups opposed to the proposed site of the development.

PALM BEACH GARDENS -- The Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council has approved a land-use change designed to facilitate the development of a biotech and research park. City officials still have to overcome objections from the state Department of Transportation and the Palm Beach County planning department, which believe the project will clog roads.

POMPANO BEACH -- Aetna will open a second mail-order pharmacy facility in the Pompano Business Center.

RIVIERA BEACH -- Developer Taylor Woodrow will begin construction this summer on an 18-story condominium tower on Singer Island. The project, known as Mirasol Beach Residences, is scheduled to open next year.

WEST PALM BEACH -- The 80-year-old waterfront Helen Wilkes Hotel will be razed as part of a 30-unit condominium project planned by WCI Communities. City officials had hoped the property could be saved as part of a $25-million redevelopment project.

Around the State: MIAMI-DADE
Code Word: Update
Mayor Manny Diaz focuses on revamping Miami's chaotic zoning code.

by David Villano

What will Miami look like at the end of the century? Residents will have a good idea as Miami embarks on an ambitious two-year effort to plan the city's development for decades to come.

That endeavor, known as Miami 21 (as in 21st century), will include a complete rewrite of the city's zoning code after planners study growth patterns, transportation systems, park usage, historic preservation concerns and economic development needs. Backers say it will be the first document of its kind in the nation for a major city.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, who will seek his second and, by law, last term this fall, calls it his administration's top priority. "My overriding goal, and that for which I hope to be remembered, is to position Miami as one of the great cities of the world," Diaz says. "You can't do that without proper planning."Mayor Manny Diaz says updating the city's antiquated zoning code is his top priority.

Today, Diaz admits, the city's zoning code is a mess. Parts of it date back nearly 100 years, with volumes of complicated amendments, known as overlays, added over time. The result is an urban planner's nightmare: High-rise towers next to single-family homes, city parks with little public access, residential neighborhoods that favor cars over bicycles and pedestrians.

Leading the Miami 21 effort are renowned urban planners Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, co-founders of the New Urbanist design movement that favors mixed-use developments, walkable neighborhoods and other features that reduce automobile traffic. Other consultants will focus on traffic, parks and economic development. City officials say the teams, working together, will map out virtually the entire city, recommending zoning changes that will make each neighborhood more livable and more sustainable but also more interconnected. Diaz says changes will be adopted on a rolling basis, as they arrive at City Hall.

Citizen groups are approaching the $3-million project with guarded optimism. The city is in the midst of a high-rise building frenzy -- some 50 large-scale projects are in the works -- and many residents have complained that city leaders have done little to protect and preserve neighborhoods from rising traffic, crime and out-of-scale development.

Diaz begs their patience. "We hear their concerns, but with the way things are written (in the city's zoning code), there often isn't anything we can do. This will change that. And we want everyone who cares about it to be part of the process."

In the News

HOMESTEAD -- Homestead-Miami Speedway plans to install outdoor lighting that will allow prime-time events at the 1.5-mile oval track. The $8-million project will be completed in time for the 2005 Ford Championship Weekend event series Nov. 17-20.

MIAMI -- Miami is seventh in the nation in the Small Business Administration's annual Regional Entrepreneurship Index, which ranks cities by their ability to foster business startups. According to the SBA data, Miami produces 5.8 new businesses annually for every 1,000 residents.

The MTV Video Music Awards will return to downtown Miami's AmericanAirlines Arena for the second year in a row. Miami beat out New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles for the Aug. 28 event. Tourism development officials are still giddy about last year's awards, which broadcast to a worldwide television audience Miami's skyline and a parade of stars arriving to the waterfront arena by yacht.

Construction has begun on the Miami River Greenway, a long-planned pedestrian walkway that planners hope will one day run the length of the Miami River from downtown Miami to Miami International Airport. The project's first two segments should be completed this month.

Mercy Hospital has agreed to sell 6.6 of its 42.5 waterfront acres in Coconut Grove to Boca Raton-based Ocean Land Investments for $96 million. Miami-based developer Related Group of Florida will build three condominium towers there.

Getting the Green LightMONROE COUNTY -- A federal judge has refused to halt a controversial plan to widen an 18-mile stretch of U.S. 1 linking the mainland to the Florida Keys. A coalition of environmental groups and Monroe County civic groups have long opposed the project, fearing it will damage the ecosystem and lead to increased development. State officials say the widening is necessary to improve hurricane evacuations and to reduce accidents on one of the state's most dangerous roadways.

MIAMI-DADE -- Miami Metrozoo is planning a 20-year, $350-million expansion that will include new wildlife exhibits, a water park and a hotel/restaurant complex. The first phase -- the Tropical America exhibit featuring a re-created Brazilian rainforest and a Costa Rican cloud forest -- will open in 2007. The zoo was hit hard by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 but has slowly recovered. Its Wings of Asia aviary reopened in 2003.

Three Miami-Dade firms -- home builder Lennar Corp. (NYSE-LEN), transportation and logistics company Ryder Systems and fueling services provider World Fuel Services -- have been named to Fortune magazine's list of most admired companies for 2005.

The Miami-Dade School Board has approved a five-year, $3-billion spending plan to build and expand schools. Overcrowding in Miami-Dade's school district -- the nation's fourth-largest -- is reaching crisis proportions. Officials say voters may need to approve a construction bond to augment state and local funding. Meanwhile, school officials are expecting a boost in federal aid after new Census data revealed the number of Miami-Dade school-age children living in poverty has jumped 11% since 2000.

MIAMI BEACH -- Meeting Planners International will hold its World Educational Congress in Miami Beach on July 10-12. Tourism officials say the event will generate $3.5 million in local spending but, more important, is expected to generate an estimated $150 million in meetings and convention bookings in Miami-Dade.

SOUTH FLORIDA-- South Florida leads the nation in healthcare salary growth, reports Business 2.0 magazine. Leading the industry: Physical therapists, whose pay jumped 29% last year, and pharmacists, up 24%. The study is based on data from the Milken Institute, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Global Insight.

Tags: Southeast