Friday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 3/20/2020

Coronavirus hitting Florida development like 'an economic hurricane’

Q&A with Tampa real estate and development attorney Robert Stern: Supply shortages. Nervous buyers. Delayed deals. But maybe a moment for speculators. The coronavirus pandemic is hitting Florida’s real estate and construction industry with the destructive force of a hurricane, except maybe worse, because hurricanes usually strike only part of the state. More from the Tampa Bay Times.

10 big issues from the 2020 legislative session

Florida lawmakers finished the 2020 legislative session Thursday by passing a $93.2 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The Republican-dominated Legislature dealt with a wide range of issues during the session and grappled with uncertainty because of the outbreak of the coronavirus. More from the Gainesville Sun

Demographer says Florida could be 'like an uber-Italy' during coronavirus

America's biggest retirement hub may be at higher risk for the novel coronavirus than other states. "Florida is like an uber-Italy," Andrew Noymer, a demographer at the University of California, Irvine, told Matt Simon of Wired. "Florida is going to be a tough situation, I would predict." His comments were based on a new paper by University of Oxford researchers in the journal Demographic Science, which looked into why Italy suffered so greatly from the coronavirus. More from Business Insider.

Florida hotline activated to help find children free meals during coronavirus school closures

Parents in Florida who need help feeding their kids while schools are closed due to the coronavirus can now find a free meal with a simple text or phone call. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried along with Consumer Services have partnered with 211 to activate a text line and call center to help parents find a free meal for their children. More from WOGX.

Coronavirus: Income tax filing deadline moved from April 15 to July 15

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the Trump administration has decided to push the income tax filing date to July 15 from April 15. Mnuchin announced the decision in a tweet Friday saying that at President Donald Trump’s direction “we are moving Tax Day from April 15 to July 15. All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties.” More from the Florida Times-Union.

Industry Trends
In keeping up with the market, hospitality developer transforms marina industry

A developer and property owner building a high-tech marina, a project worth up to $20 million, have learned being first isn’t easy. Southwest Florida hospitality developer Todd Carroll didn’t set out, per se, to be one of the first people in the world with a so-called robo-dock, a fully automated dry stack marina. He had nothing against a good forklift or crane.