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Tuesday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Business bankruptcies reached a decade high in Florida last year
Chapter 11 bankruptcies in Florida reached the highest point since 2013 last year alongside the most rapid pace of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in four decades. A 51% year-over-year increase in Chapter 11 filings in the Southern District of Florida largely accounted for the spike in 2023, according to the latest court data. [Source: Orlando Business Journal]
Florida Trend Exclusive
Climate, sustainability and energy: Defending the shore
Their inventors compare them to air bags or speed bumps in the sea. And they just might be the future of fighting coastal flooding in Florida. They’re called Seahives, and they’re a new kind of artificial reef being developed and field-tested by researchers at the University of Miami. They’re 18-foot-long, hexagonal-shaped hollow tubes that get stacked in pyramid-like shapes on the seafloor just offshore. The 2,500-pound concrete structures are perforated to allow seawater to flow through them. [Source: Florida Trend]
Federal ruling stalls some large-scale developments in Florida
Some large-scale developments came to a halt last week after a historic court ruling said the transfer of Clean Water Act permitting from the federal government to the state in 2020 was an illegal move, and government agencies and developers are trying to understand the outfall. Florida took over the program in 2020, and the responsibility of protecting endangered species flipped from a federal level to state review. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Invasive termites become growing threat to Florida. What to know as swarm season approaches.
Around Florida you’ll soon see clouds of termites bobbing around street and porch lights. And you’ll certainly see the ensuing tenting operations, as property owners fumigate. But Thomas Chouvenc warns that those tents only deal with the tamest of the three destructive termite species in Florida, the West Indian drywood termite. In fact, the other two species are invasive, and can spread much faster and are much more destructive. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Homeowners insurance and HOA fees offset falling condo prices in Florida
While condo prices in Florida have been dropping in some parts of Florida, there hasn't been a mass influx of home buyers to those properties as homeowners insurance and increasing HOA fees are still keeping those wanting to buy away, according to new numbers from Redfin. [Source: WFTS]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Rough landing cuts short moon lander mission; Embry-Riddle may not get to deploy EagleCam
After the historic return of the U.S. to the surface of the moon after more than 50 years last week, a private company’s lunar lander will likely have its mission cut short because of how it landed. That’s bad news for NASA, which paid the company $118 million as part of its Commercial Lunar Lander Services program. It’s also bad news for students and faculty at Daytona Beach’s Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which had one of six other non-NASA payloads on board.
› State Attorney: Construction fraud becoming ‘disturbing trend’ in ‘target rich’ St. Johns
State Attorney R.J. Larizza on Feb. 26 said fast-growing St. Johns County, which has new communities popping up all over, has become a target-rich environment for construction fraud. Larizza held a morning news conference to detail the arrest of a St. Johns County builder who was accused of abandoning projects in Nocatee.
› 'Significantly higher' bookings prompt rare guidance update from Royal Caribbean
Royal Caribbean Group announced cruise bookings have surpassed the cruise operator’s expectations, prompting the company to update its 2024 guidance three weeks after its Q4 2023 earnings call. On Feb. 21 announcement, the Miami-based company (NYSE: RCL) said its adjusted earning per share price is expected to be around $9.90 to $10.10 for the remainder of 2024.
› Tampa is Florida's new "it" city, per Travel + Leisure
Tampa has graduated from "overlooked Florida city" to the Sunshine State's new "it" city, per Travel + Leisure. Water Street, Gasparilla and our Michelin-star dining scene got the nod in the report published Sunday that includes a guide of things to do. The Florida Aquarium, TECO's Manatee Viewing Center and the Riverwalk also got shout-outs, along with high-end lodging like Hotel Haya and the Tampa Edition.
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