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Miami-Dade Business Briefs - Nov. 2009
CORAL GABLES — Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners (Nasdaq-CPRX) signed a deal with Northwestern University that gives it the exclusive license to commercialize new treatments for neurological diseases, which could potentially also be used to treat drug addiction.
» Florida East Coast Realty broke ground on Villa Majorca, a luxury townhome rental community it expects to open in 2010.
HIALEAH — A judge in Leon County ordered the liquidation of Hialeah-based First Commercial Insurance and its subsidiary, First Commercial Transportation. Newly formed Ascendant Commercial Insurance, based in Miami, is offering coverage to most of the two companies’ policyholders and expects to hire some of their employees. Industry veterans Paul and Pablo Cejas and family members provided most of Ascendant’s funding.
KEY BISCAYNE — Argentine developer Consultatio S.A. paid $78 million for the former site of the Sonesta Key Biscayne hotel, which Sonesta had closed to make way for a luxury hotel/condo resort that was never built.
Miami — Cabi Downtown Developers became the first downtown condo developer to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company’s 849-unit Everglades on the Bay also filed for bankruptcy protection.
» John P. Hussman, a Maryland economist and investor, pledged $20 million for genetic research at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine; the school’s genetics center was renamed the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics.
» Carnival Corp. (NYSE-CCL) Chairman and CEO Micky Arison announced plans to sell 5 million shares. The rest of his family will sell around 3.5 million of their shares, reducing the family’s voting rights by about 1%. They will still have about 28% of the company’s voting shares.
» The Falcone Group and Marc Roberts Cos. purchased seven acres in the Park West neighborhood from Africa-Israel Investments for $39 million, nearly $50 million less than the price the parties agreed to when they signed the original purchase contract in 2006. The two hope to develop a 25-acre mixed-used project called Miami Worldcenter.
» A month after it deadlocked and defeated the measure, the City Commission approved Miami 21, a massive and controversial zoning overhaul. The measure still faces a second vote.
» Bay Harbor Islands-based Robert Finvarb Cos. paid around $13 million to purchase the Doubletree Coconut Grove hotel from an affiliate of General Electric Pension Trust. It plans to renovate the 196-room hotel and turn it into a Courtyard by Marriott.
» The Ballet Gamonet dance troupe filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.
» Ocean Bank took over two empty parcels totaling 1.9 acres from condominium developer Key International.
» Miami Dade College will open the state’s second Confucius Institute at its downtown campus. The institute will teach Chinese, certify instructors and host cultural and business seminars.
MIAMI BEACH — An affiliate of New York City-based Melohn Properties took control of the Caribbean Miami Beach hotel after buying the mortgage from Corus Bank. The property’s owners, a partnership between Christa Development and Bluerock Real Estate, voluntarily turned the oceanfront property over to Melohn after it failed to sell enough units in a condominium conversion.
» Fitch Ratings raised its outlook on the long-troubled Mount Sinai Medical Center from negative to stable.
» Mount Sinai Federal Credit Union — deemed by regulators to be failing — merged into Peoples Credit Union of North Miami.
MIAMI-DADE — Miami-Dade Transit received $64.5 million in federal stimulus money, which it will use on mass transit projects, infrastructure work and disbursement to municipalities.
» County commissioners voted to keep the property tax rate steady, leading to a $444-million budget shortfall.
» Jackson Health System’s 20 highest-ranking executives volunteered to take pay cuts of 4% to 5% and drop several perks in hopes of helping balance the public health system’s budget.
» Doral-based U.S. Century Bank foreclosed on a 52-acre site owned by Miami Lakes-based developer 46 Acres LLC. The site had a $17-million mortgage on it.
MIAMI GARDENS — Tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams took a minority interest in the Miami Dolphins, becoming the first African-American women with a stake in an NFL franchise.
