Tuesday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 8/14/2018

How America's foreclosure capital came back from the dead

Ten years after the depths of the financial crisis, the Fort Myers area has mostly healed. Median single-family home prices in Lee County have more than tripled from the bottom reached in 2011, unemployment is below the national average at 3.2%, and construction is everywhere. More from Money.

Office Depot tests co-working space in 'Workonomy' expansion

Office Depot is testing the integration of co-working space in its retail locations so small- to medium-sized businesses can take advantage of on-site business services like printing and tech support. See the company news release here and read more from Retail Dive and BizWomen.

Tampa to host 6th annual Florida Autonomous Vehicles Summit

The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority in partnership with the University of South Florida Center for Urban Transportation and the Florida Department of Transportation will again host the Florida Automated Vehicles Summit in downtown Tampa. More from the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

Vivint’s solar lease approved in Florida

Vivint has joined other national residential solar companies in the Florida market as state regulators confirm that their solar lease contract does not violate state law by constituting the sale of electricity. More from PV Magazine.

Punta Gorda Airport surpasses benchmark for passenger service

Through July 2018, Punta Gorda Airport (PGD) surpassed the one million-passenger threshold, bringing to six million the number of passengers who have traveled through the airport since commercial service began in 2007. More from the Business Observer.

Natural Resources
Scientists deploy emergency response to save largest corals off Florida

The effort to save South Florida’s largest coral colonies will soon extend beyond the intensive care unit and into the maternity ward. The colonies are being killed by a disease of unknown origin — sometimes called white plague or white blotch — first identified off Virginia Key in 2014.

» More from the LA Times.

Entertainment Business
Amalie Arena tries to lure millennials to its Firestick Grill

How to attract the cool kids? This is the mantra for so many restaurants these days: That huge generation of millennials eats differently, thinks differently and spends differently than their parents. So how do you reel them in and make them loyal customers? Even venues like Amalie Arena are grappling with this question.