Big cannabis remains bullish on Florida
Legal adult-use in Florida failed at the ballot box last November, but about six months out the biggest medical companies in the market remain bullish on the Sunshine State. Florida is the third largest state in terms of population, which would provide a massive potential customer pool if cannabis were available to all adults regardless of medical condition. Without legalization, the Sunshine State still packs a financial punch for the industry. [Source: Forbes]
Could Florida’s next job surge come from online poker?
As tech and hospitality industries continue to merge, there’s one sector still sitting just outside the gate: online poker rooms in Florida. Right now, they don’t technically exist, which is why Florida gamblers turn to safe offshore gambling sites for online poker. People are already playing games online. They’re just not doing it legally in Florida. That means the money flows out, the jobs stay elsewhere, and the state sees none of the upside. [Source: Florida Daily]
Florida Trend Exclusive
Vanderbilt’s West Palm push
Vanderbilt University isn’t an Ivy League school, but it’s awfully close. Located in Nashville, it’s known as a “Southern Ivy” because of its stellar academic reputation and because of how difficult it is to get in. It’s currently ranked 18th in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of all public and private universities in the country. And now it’s coming to West Palm Beach — maybe. Vanderbilt plans to build its first satellite campus in Florida, provided it can raise enough money. [Source: Florida Trend]
Plan to shift Florida tourist tax money toward public projects is dead
A state legislative proposal to free up hundreds of millions of dollars a year in tourist tax revenue for local governments to spend on mass transit, roads and other projects that benefit Florida residents has been scrapped. The proposal was removed from the Republican-led $1.3 billion House tax package in the last hours of budget negotiations after an intense lobbying campaign by the tourism industry. It would have given local governments new flexibility in how they allocate those tax dollars, which currently must be spent to support a specified range of tourism-related functions. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
NOAA cuts spark hurricane season concerns in Florida
Staffing and funding cuts at one of the nation’s premier science agencies could leave Southwest Florida less able to respond to hurricanes and contribute to an accelerating federal brain drain, former and current NOAA staffers and affiliated researchers are warning. For Floridians, the cuts at the National Weather Service, one of the most public-facing agencies inside NOAA, come at an especially difficult time: the start of the yearly hurricane season. [Source: Gulfshore Business]
Alecia defeats decades of heart failure with historic transplant at UF Health
Alecia Cosey came to, slumped over in the driver’s seat, to find her 16-year-old daughter crying and gripping the steering wheel. “Momma, are you OK?” Dayshai Cosey said. “Did your heart stop?” All Alecia remembers from that drive to church on April 5, 2015, are the heart palpitations she felt before blacking out. This was just one brush with death that Alecia dodged since 2002, when she was diagnosed with heart failure at just 25 years old. [Sponsored report]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Hillsborough commissioners want to cut nonprofit funding
Hillsborough County commissioners have been whittling the amount of money they steer toward nonprofits in recent years. Now they are looking to further scale back contributions to organizations that receive financial support for charitable work. Commissioner Chris Boles wants to phase out recurring payments for more than 100 “legacy” organizations, some of which have received annual funds for nearly 30 years, and his colleagues are supportive of the idea.
› California solar firm acquired by Florida energy company for $10 million
Pasadena-based Heliogen Inc. agreed to be acquired by Zeo Energy Corp., a Florida-based provider of residential solar and energy efficiency solutions, for $10 million. The transaction is currently expected to close in the third quarter of 2025 and has been approved by the boards of both companies.
› IAAPA Expo thinking bigger at convention center
The IAAPA Expo plans to expand its footprint at Orange County Convention Center, a move that is said to reflect the health of the tourism industry and the boom of related segments. The annual trade show will move in the convention center’s West Concourse for the first time in 2026. Previously it has been only in the North and South concourses.
› A billionaire island in South Florida is fighting over sewage
On a man-made island north of Miami, the titans of various industries have found their refuge. Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, has collected a trio of properties along the same shoreline as the football legend Tom Brady and President Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. But one amenity of modern life has remained surprisingly elusive. In a place where many of the estates have more than 10 toilets, nobody has quite figured out how to dispose of what comes out of them.
More stories ...
› Meet Miami City Ballet’s new artistic director, the third in the company’s history
When Lourdes Lopez, Miami City Ballet’s artistic director, announced last February that the 2024-25 season would be her last with the company, one of the reasons she cited for stepping down was to help usher in a new chapter for the 40 year old company. “A company needs new energy, a new way of looking at the dancers, a new way of looking at the community.” The venerable organization may have found just that with Gonzalo Garcia.
› Orlando real estate veterans bet on this industrial area as city's next hot neighborhood, despite market challenges
Agrowing cadre of stakeholders are betting the industrial corridor of downtown's SoDo neighborhood can be the city's next billion-dollar redevelopment — on a level meeting or exceeding other master-planned projects like Creative Village and the Packing District. "To me, SoDo is the best untapped market; there's just really great tracts of land there," said Adam Wonus, managing partner for Orlando-based Atrium Development Group.
› Naples mulls options for property purchased for workforce housing
Naples Community Redevelopment Agency purchased a $4.9 million property last year for possible workforce housing for essential-services workers, but its fate is now uncertain — and some believe it should be sold to fund other needs. After seeking proposals to develop it as workforce housing, the CRA decided to put it on the market to lease, prompting a three-year offer this month by a flooring company that wanted a showroom.
› Jacksonville City Council votes 15-0 for another $50M toward downtown UF grad campus
The final piece of funding for launching a new University of Florida graduate campus in downtown Jacksonville is headed toward almost certain approval by City Council. City Council members voted 15-0 on June 12 in support of spending an additional $50 million on the opening phase of building the campus. City Council cast the unanimous vote while meeting as a "committee of the whole" and sent the legislation next to the regular council meeting on June 24.