March 28, 2024
Miami's non-profit women's shelter Lotus House creates the Children's Village as a resource for survivors of domestic violence
Lotus House's $20-million Children's Village is a 75,000-sq.ft. children's center will offer therapeutic and social services.

Miami-Dade Roundup

Miami's non-profit women's shelter Lotus House creates the Children's Village as a resource for survivors of domestic violence

Nancy Dahlberg | 7/20/2022

SPOTLIGHT

Focus on Children

Lotus House, a non-profit women’s shelter in Miami’s Overtown district that is also the nation’s largest, plans to create the Children’s Village featuring after-school care, tutoring, creative arts, computer learning and a large playground as well as therapeutic and social services. The Children’s Village will also serve as home to other community-based non-profits offering resources and programming to both sheltered and neighborhood children.

The $20-million, 75,000-sq.-ft. children’s center will be across the street from Lotus Village, the shelter that opened in 2017 with the mission of ending homelessness for women, many of them victims of domestic violence. More than 80% of Lotus Village’s clients exit the shelter programs with financial self-sufficiency. Services at the children’s center at Lotus Village will be aimed at preventing homelessness for children, says Constance Collins, founder and executive director of Lotus House.

TECHNOLOGY

  • Miami construction startup Togal.AI’s investment pitch won a $420,000 prize at the eMerge Americas Conference. Togal.AI, a spinout from Miami-based Coastal Construction, uses artificial intelligence to automate construction estimates.
  • More than 60 celebrities from the worlds of music, sports, media and entertainment, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Justin Bieber, invested $87 million in MoonPay, the Miami-based startup that has developed a platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies and NFTs that is valued at more than $4.5 billion.
  • Paysend, a British financial-technology company with more than 6.5 million customers and 330 employees, opened its Americas headquarters in the Brickell area of downtown Miami. Paysend’s app enables businesses and individuals to send money to more than 150 countries.
  • Nue Life Health, a Miami-based mental wellness startup, raised $23 million from Obvious Ventures and other investors. The ketamine-assisted therapy service will be available in 25 states by the end of the year, the company says.
  • Led by CEO Anabel Perez, Miami fintech company NovoPayment raised $19 million from Fuel Venture Capital and IDC Ventures. NovoPayment provides digital banking, payment and card solutions for traditional banks and financial institutions.
  • Influur, a Miami startup that connects celebrities and online influencers with brands, secured $5 million in seed funding led by Point72 Ventures with participation from Magma Partners and H20 Capital. The Miami-based startup, led by four Latinas, also counts actress Sofia Vergara and singer Thalía as backers.
  • Miami Beach-based publicly traded company Blink Charging expanded into the United Kingdom and added 1,150 electric vehicle chargers to its count after acquiring United Kingdom-based EB Charging for $23.4 million in cash and stock. Blink already had 30,000 charging points across 18 countries.

REAL ESTATE

  • New York developer SHVO and partners own three acres in Miami Beach that house the historic Raleigh Hotel and two others. The group plans to build a 17-story condo tower behind the hotels and renovate the three hotels into one that will preserve features of the 1940s Raleigh, including the curvy pool. Rosewood Hotels & Resorts will brand both the hotel and condo tower.
  • Gazit Horizons, the Miami subsidiary of Israeli real estate company Gazit Globe, is building a 59-story apartment tower in the Brickell Financial District.
  • Leading the nation, Miami’s median apartment rent skyrocketed 58% to $2,988 per month during the pandemic, according to a Realtor.com report. Nationally, median rents increased 19.3% to $1,807 during the two-year period.
  • Miami-Dade renters are now protected by the county’s first Tenant’s Bill of Rights, which makes it easier to bill landlords for repairs and more difficult for landlords to screen out rental applications based on past evictions.
  • JLL appointed Roderick Barnes Florida region market director. He served as a JLL managing director in New York City and brings 34 years of industry experience.

HEALTH CARE

  • Nicklaus Children's Health System sold the shuttered Miami Medical Center campus (founded in 1963 by Cuban exiles as Pan American Hospital) for $60 million to Steward Health Care, which plans to reopen it as a hospital.
  • Miami-based Genuine Health Group acquired Virginia Gardens-based physician group Accountable Care Medical Group. Genuine says the acquisition will add $225 million in annual revenue and more than 14,000 Medicare patients.
  • Opko Health paid $300 million to acquire Modex Therapeutics of Massachusetts. Modex develops treatments for cancer and infectious diseases.

EDUCATION

  • The University of Miami promoted Joe Echevarria, CEO of UHealth, UM’s medical arm, into a new role as CEO of the university, reporting to President Julio Frenk. He continues to oversee UHealth.
  • Miami Dade College was designated a National Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency for its cybersecurity curriculum. The college also received NSA validation for its associate of science in cybersecurity through 2027.

AIRPORT

  • Miami International Airport had more international passengers last year than any other airport in the U.S. —13 million, the 11th-most in the world, according to rankings by Airports Council International. MIA also ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and ninth in the world for international cargo.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

  • The Miami-Dade Beacon Council named William D. Talbert III interim president and CEO following the death of Michael A. Finney in April and launched a national search for a permanent leader.

SPOTLIGHT

Reinvention of Lincoln Road

Over the past two years, the Lincoln Road District has built a pipeline of $6 billion in real estate projects. Here are some on the famous promenade or just a short walk away.

  • On a prominent corner of Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road, one of Colombia’s most popular restaurant brands, Andres Carne de Res, is building a two-story restaurant with rooftop dining, joining restaurants like Carbone and Hasalon, which moved in during the pandemic, and the expanding Mila, one of Florida’s most successful restaurants by dollar volume.
  • At least nine hotel projects are underway, including the 800-room Grand Hyatt Hotel near the convention center.
  • Asian department store YoYoSo is under construction with its first Florida location.
  • Retailer Lululemon now occupies a larger space on the eight-block promenade.
  • Investment firm Starwood Capital Group recently opened its global headquarters and family offices nearby, along with other financial firms. Two parking lots will likely be redeveloped for LEED-certified class A office buildings to feed business to Lincoln Road.

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