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Economic Yearbook 2006 - Southeast Florida
Still Packing Them In
Florida's most populous region continues to lead the state in new residents as well.
Miami
Miami's unprecedented building boom continues, although escalating labor and materials costs mean some projects are being redrawn or marketed to other developers with deeper pockets. ... More than 70,000 condo units are under construction or in permitting. ... Miami 21, the city's ambitious and ballyhooed plan to rewrite its zoning code, has been delayed. Officials say they expect the plan's first phase to be completed later this spring.
 Mike and Amy McGowan -- with Gavin, 2 1/2, and Sophia, 6 months -- settled on Miami because of its cultural diversity and vibrant job market. |
Key Newcomers
? Duke University's Dr. Pascal J. Goldschmidt has been tapped to be dean of University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine.
? Terence Riley, a longtime chief curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art, has signed on as director of the Miami Art Museum in time to oversee a major downtown relocation and expansion.
Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade's population continues to creep up, with continued in-migration from low-wage overseas immigrants. The flow of middle-class job seekers from around the country is tempered by a dwindling supply of buildable land. ... Miami-Dade's elected officials are feeling intense pressure from developers eager to move the Urban Development Boundary westward into the Everglades, opening up new lands for housing -- and, say critics, more sprawl. ... Relations between county Mayor Carlos Alvarez and the county commission have improved to what some political observers describe as détente. Others say it's still downright combative. ... Transportation officials are pushing to extend the region's Tri-Rail transit system 20 miles south into the fast-growing southwest section of the county. There's no price tag yet on the plan. ... Environmental groups have sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claiming the agency improperly issued a permit to fill 500 acres of wetlands at a controversial location near the Everglades where developers have proposed a massive housing project.
Business Beat - Week of May 10th
