A Sign of Things to Come?

SPOTLIGHT

A Sign of Things to Come?

In a signal of just how much South Florida remains in demand and that investors are betting on a return of business convention travel, a joint venture of Credit Suisse Asset Management and Hawaii-based Trinity Real Estate Investments purchased the 1,000-room Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood for $835 million from New York-based Brookfield Asset Management. It’s one of the largest hotel acquisitions in the nation since the pandemic. The hotel, the only oceanfront property in South Florida with 1,000 rooms and 200,000 square feet of meeting space, will be managed by Hilton as part of its Curio Collection. The new owners inked a deal with Related Group of Miami and BH Group of Aventura to develop a hotel and condo building on part of the Diplomat grounds. Brookfield spent $90 million on renovations. The sale is the biggest since Michael Dell’s MSD Partners bought The Boca Raton hotel in 2019 for nearly $1 billion.

REAL ESTATE

• Miami investment firm Pebb Capital broke ground on its seven-acre Sundy Village project in downtown Delray Beach. At completion, it will have 99,000 square feet of offices, 28,000 square feet of retail and dining, and will preserve National Register of Historic Places buildings, including Sundy House, Delray’s oldest house, the Rectory and Cathcart House.
• Miami-based Estate Cos., as part of its strategic plan to focus on Broward and Palm Beach counties, broke ground on the eightstory, 253-unit Soleste Pompano Beach rental apartment project, scheduled for completion in 2024, on Federal Highway. The firm also has projects in development in Dania Beach, Riviera Beach and West Palm Beach, two projects in North Miami Beach and three in Hollywood.
• Keyes Co. acquired luxury residential real estate firm Mizner Grande Realty in Boca Raton, a 60-agent firm that closed $150 million in sales in 2022.

CONSTRUCTION

• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and South Florida Water Management District, Southeast Florida’s regional water regulatory body, broke ground on the 16-square-mile Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir, a key part of the multi-decade, multibillion- dollar Everglades replumbing project. The 23-feet deep reservoir will capture water and filter it through state-constructed treatment marshes before it moves further south into the Everglades and Florida Bay.

TRANSPORTATION

• The state awarded Port Everglades $32 million to help mitigate flooding and sea-level rise.
• El Al Israel Airlines added six flights for September and October to Tel Aviv from Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood International Airport to coincide with Jewish holidays and will add year-round service in 2024. It also expanded service to Miami International Airport.

RETAIL

• GameStop closed a customer support center in Pembroke Pines, laying off 54.

GOVERNMENT

• The Fort Pierce Utility Authority began construction on a $115-million wastewater treatment plant on the mainland, moving away from the longtime plant it had on Hutchinson Island. Completion is scheduled for late 2024. Once the new plant is fully operational, the old island plant will be demolished and the site restored.

SPOTLIGHT

A Cut Above

Father-and-son team Ken and Austin Russo founded their Boca Raton-based beauty and grooming tool manufacturing company in 2017 on a belief that the professional stylist and barber market, and home shoppers too, would respond to their focus on quality, design and innovation — with products such as a lightweight, low-decibel, high-velocity hair dryers. So far, so good. Their 35-employee company under the worldwide brands StyleCraft and Gamma+, the latter a collaboration with an Italian firm, posted 3,733% growth over a three-year period to come in at No. 122 on Inc.’s 2022 list of the fastest-growing companies.