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Tuesday's Afternoon Update

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High times for high-end condos in Miami-Dade

Is Miami-Dade County already experiencing another condo boom -- this time strictly in the luxury market? During the first half of the year, some 400 condos worth at least $1 million each sold in just the resale market alone. Rochelle Broder-Singer reports. Go to full story.

Related:
» New condo financing model has merit -- and risk
From the Miami Herald comes a story about pre-construction financing for condos using "OPM" -- other people’s money.


Business Trend

TIA playing its own version of 'Moneyball' to bring in new business

Damian Brooke
Tampa International Airport's vice president of business planning and IT is Damian Brooke

Damian Brooke is the numbers guy at Tampa International, just as he was at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Brooke was a runway rat-turned-airport consultant for Sabre Airline Solutions in Texas. Airport analytics was a growing field when he got this idea in 2005: There had to be a better way to drill down into the national data of airline flights, which the federal government released six months late, to identify patterns and trends. The latest iteration of Sabre's Airport Data Intelligence software now sifts through more than 35 databases, provides instant figures and is used by more than 200 airports. More at the Tampa Bay Times.

Florida GOP goes up against Crist

The 2014 governor's race is more than two years away, but the Republican Party of Florida is already spending real money to run negative ads against Charlie Crist. The RPOF released an ad this morning featuring clips of Crist branding himself a "Jeb Bush Republican," calling George W. Bush a "leader of courage and conviction" and saying he [Crist] is "about as conservative as you can get." [Source: Politico]

Related:
» Charlie Crist addresses Democratic National Convention Thursday
Crist will speak the same night Barack Obama accepts the nomination.


Regular gas price sets Labor Day record in Florida

The Labor Day price of gas in Florida jumped to its highest point in the history of the travel-busy holiday Monday morning, completing a roughly 30-cent jump in 30 days of steady increases. The average price for regular unleaded in Daytona Beach ($3.76 per gallon) and the statewide figure ($3.78) left drivers hoping Monday's end of the holiday weekend would usher in some relief at the pump. [Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal]

Related:
» Oil and gas production ramping up after Isaac


Analysts ask: Does Darden have too much on its plate?

Some analysts are starting to wonder whether Darden Restaurants, the world's largest casual-dining company, is getting too big for its own good. "They are trying to be all things to all people, and the reality is that they can't," said Howard Penney, a restaurant analyst and managing director of Hedgeye Risk Management. On Aug. 29, the company completed its $585 million purchase of the eighth chain, California-based Yard House bar and grill. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]


Judge: Fla. cannot charge students as non-resident

A federal judge in Miami has ruled that Florida students cannot be charged higher non-resident tuition simply because their parents may be in the U.S. illegally. Attorneys estimated hundreds or thousands of Florida students could be affected. [Source: AP]


Innovation in Florida

Artificial-finger company wins competition

Naples-based Didrick Medical makes artificial fingers for amputees, was one of 12 small businesses nationwide that each recently received a $250,000 grant from financial giant Chase in partnership with online business Living Social. Didrick was chosen for the award from a field of 70,000 applications. More from the Naples Daily News. Below, video showing the The X-Finger(R):


Today's Afternoon Update was compiled by Joyce Edmondson