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Miami-Dade Business Briefs - June 2009
Hialeah — Hialeah Park received a permit for quarter horse racing, with a deadline to start races by next March. The park, which has not hosted a race since 2001, reportedly needs between $40 million and $90 million in restorations but could likely begin racing in a temporary facility.
Kendall — Gus Machado, owner of Gus Machado Ford, purchased World Ford of Kendall from Houston-based Group 1 Automotive in a deal Machado valued at around $20 million. The dealership is now called Gus Machado Ford of Kendall.
Miami — The Florida Marlins baseball team secured the go-ahead for a new 37,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium. The city and county approved the $640-million project on the former site of the Orange Bowl. If the Marlins can secure financing for their $155-million portion and the county can sell bonds for its portion, construction could get under way as early as July, with games by 2012. The county’s bonds are to be paid off with tourism tax collections, which have been falling; collections were down 24% in February.
» The Florida Department of Transportation decided not to cancel or indefinitely put on hold the project to build a tunnel connecting the Port of Miami to the MacArthur Causeway. Instead, it gave the county until June 1 to make an existing bid from private partners work by finding a new equity partner for the coalition known as the Miami Access Tunnel group.
» Bertram Yachts has pulled back on plans to spend $9 million to expand its Miami River manufacturing plant and add 150 jobs. In a deal negotiated in 2007, the company would have received $1 million in tax refunds and other incentives after completing the expansion. Instead, the sport-fishing yacht maker has cut its workforce by about 40% to 200. Bertram is owned by Italy-based Ferretti Group.
» Bucking a trend among banks, TotalBank launched a residential mortgage lending division, hiring industry veteran Enrique Villaronga from Ocean Bank to head up the division.
» The city granted Jungle Island, the animal park formerly known as Parrot Jungle Island, an $800,000 interest-free loan and allowed it to defer up to four years of its $400,000 annual lease payments to the city. The park will use the loan — without which it said it could not stay in business — to pay its overdue property tax bill. The park’s owners also planned to borrow money from HSBC bank to pay off the rest of its back property taxes. If the attraction closes, the city and county will lose 400 jobs and as much as $19 million of a federal loan they took out in 2001 to help build the park’s current facility.
» On the eve of the city’s first annual Gateway to Green conference, the AmericanAirlines Arena and Atlanta’s Phillips Arena became the first arenas in the nation to earn U.S. Green Building Council LEED certification. AmericanAirlines Arena’s environmentally friendly features include heat-reflecting roofing materials, water-efficient landscaping with a “drip and soak” underground microirrigation system and carpets that trap dirt and contamination to improve indoor air quality.
» Fuel supplier World Fuel Services Corp. (NYSE-INT) completed its acquisition of United Kingdom-based Henty Oil Group of Companies and select assets of Chicago-based TGS Petroleum.
Miami Beach — Casa Casuarina, the former home of late fashion designer Gianni Versace, has opened as a hotel, restaurant and membership club.
Miami-Dade County — Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Hands on Miami launched a new “V” Volunteer initiative at the website iaminvolved.org, which helps match potential volunteers with opportunities.
» As defective Chinese-made drywall is found in more homes, lawsuits continue to pile up, including class-action suits filed against home builder Lennar Corp. (NYSE-LEN) and South Kendall Construction Corp. Lennar, in turn, is suing several manufacturers and sellers of the Chinese drywall, including Miami-based Banner Supply Co.
Opa-locka — DM Industries, which makes hot tubs and related products under brands including Vita Spa and xStream Pro, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Florida Keys — Hotel taxes will rise to 5% from 4% starting this month. The estimated $4 million in additional revenue the tax is expected to bring in this year will be used for destination marketing.
