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SPOTLIGHT

Construction crews are expected to break ground later this year on what will be the largest Holocaust museum in Florida. The 45,000-sq.-ft. Holocaust Museum for Hope & Humanity will be built just north of downtown Orlando near I-4, on the site of the former Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce building.

Slated to open in 2026, the museum will be equipped with technology to bring the history of the Holocaust to life, using eyewitness accounts collected by the USC Shoah Foundation founded by Steven Spielberg. Using more than 20 in-depth video testimonies, artificial intelligence will allow visitors to have conversations with survivors who experienced the Holocaust firsthand.

Construction is budgeted at $57 million, with a total project cost of $106 million. The museum has raised $31 million, including a $10-million grant from Orange County’s bed tax funds and a $10-million donation from Orlando philanthropist Alan Ginsburg.

The building’s exterior is designed to resemble a ram’s horn or a shofar, which historically has been used as a call to action in the Jewish tradition, organizers say. “Acts of hate in Florida and across the country are on the rise. Our new museum will help the next generation find relevance in Holocaust education so that they can take action against antisemitism,” says Talli Dippold, executive director of the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida, which is developing the museum.

AEROSPACE

• Melbourne-based defense contractor L3Harris Technologies won a $919-million contract from the Space Development Agency to design and build satellites for a missile tracking program. It’s part of the military’s effort to build a network of satellites to protect against a new generation of fast hypersonic missiles with unpredictable flight trajectories.

CONSTRUCTION

• Finfrock, a design-builder based in Apopka, has begun construction on a 401-unit apartment complex called CenterPointe Altamonte Springs. The seven-story building with a five-story parking garage will be located on four acres northwest of the Altamonte Mall. It’s slated for completion by August 2025.

EDUCATION

• The Florida Virtual School graduation rate increased to 92.6% during the 2022-23 academic year, surpassing the previous rate by 2.6 percentage points, according to a Florida Department of Education report. FLVS’ graduation rate has risen almost 5 percentage points in the past five years. The Orlandoheadquartered virtual school served 241,920 students across the state last school year.

ENERGY

• Florida Power & Light installed about 200,000 solar panels on former farmland at its second solar energy center in Palm Bay and fifth overall in Brevard County. FPL’s 74.5-megawatt Ibis Solar Energy Center was built on 500 acres near its sister Palm Bay Solar Energy Center and can power about 15,000 homes.

HEALTH CARE

• Orlando Health has purchased 2.6 acres for future expansion at its Osceola County campus, which currently includes an emergency room and medical offices. It paid $2.5 million for the property and owns another six acres next to the site.

HOSPITALITY

• The 295-room Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront — the largest hotel in Brevard County — just got an extensive makeover. The seven-story hotel renovated its guest rooms and bathrooms, closing off one floor at a time during the project.

INSURANCE

• Brown & Brown Insurance in Daytona Beach has purchased another long-standing Volusia County insurance company, Caton Hosey Insurance. Brown & Brown, started in 1939, is the nation’s sixth-largest independent insurance brokerage. Caton Hosey, in Port Orange, was founded in 1948.

MEDIA

• Audacy, a Philadelphia company that owns three Orlando radio stations and has broadcast studios in Maitland, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Its Orlando holdings are alternative rock station 101.9 FM (WQMP), adult contemporary station Mix 105.1 FM (WOMX-FM), and classic hits station 105.9 Sunny FM (WOCL).

NON-PROFITS

• IDignity, an Orlando non-profit that helps people regain proof of their identity, received a $1-million gift from AdventHealth to help it build a 15,000-sq.-ft. headquarters. So far, IDignity has met $9 million of its $10-million fundraising goal. The non-profit says its current location isn’t big enough to serve the volume of clients coming in.
• Goodwill Industries of Central Florida is overhauling its flagship retail store and administrative building in Orlando to expand its sales floor, add classroom space and make other upgrades. The store will remain open during the two-year renovation.

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