SPOTLIGHT
Last month’s opening of the University of Miami’s medical center in Doral marks the first of three major expansions within Miami-Dade County set for completion in the next year. The six-story Doral Medical Center is an ambulatory facility offering day surgeries and more than 60 exam rooms, radiology and endoscopy suites. It offers services including cardiology, radiological and surgical oncology, and orthopedics.
Sometime next summer, UHealth at SoLé Mia will open, serving Aventura and North Miami with Sylvester Cancer Center staff and services ranging from sports medicine to more than a dozen other medical specialties.
The UHealth system historically was based in Miami but has expanded in recent years into Broward and Palm Beach counties. The two new centers aim to spread UHealth’s footprint and create more infrastructure for face-to-face care that engenders trust and leads to better decisions for the patient, says David Kerman, chief medical director at UHealth Doral.
A 12-story, 244,000-sq.-ft. research building also opens next year at the university’s health district. The Kenneth C. Griffin Cancer Research building is made possible in part by a $50-million donation from the billionaire Citadel founder. It will be part of UM’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, South Florida’s only NCI-designated cancer center, and will be home to clinical trials and laboratories for experiments.
HEALTH
- Amid Steward Health Care System’s financial troubles, a U.S. Senate investigation and a criminal investigation in Boston, its North Shore Medical Center in Miami has been ordered to stop performing mammograms after the Food and Drug Administration found that it may have produced inaccurate readings for the previous two years. Steward announced plans to sell its 31 hospitals, including North Shore, Palmetto General, Hialeah and Coral Gables hospitals, as it seeks bankruptcy protection.
- The Frederica Wilson/Juanita Mann Health Center has a new mobile pediatric dental van thanks to $400,000 in congressional funding. The center, named for the longtime Miami congresswoman, is part of the Jessie Trice Community Health System.
CRIME
- Miami builder Sergio Pino, 67, shot and killed himself in July as FBI agents came to his home to arrest him. Pino, who founded Century Homebuilders Group, allegedly made repeated attempts to murder his estranged wife over two years, including hiring two teams of people to kill her.
ELECTION
- Miami residents will decide Watson Island’s future after city commissioners put a redevelopment plan called Watson Harbour on next month’s ballot. If approved, the city would sell 5.4 acres for $135 million, seeing developers BH3 Management and Merrimac Ventures build two hotels, residences, retail and office space on MacArthur Causeway. Backers say it would bring in “several million dollars” in tax revenues and add a privately funded park and affordable housing.
DINING
- Duffy’s Tavern Sports Grill will continue to operate in Miami after its property was sold to Greenway Point, LLC for $4.5 million. Kerdyk Real Estate, which handled the sale, calls Duffy’s iconic and notes it has served the area for more than 40 years.
- Pura Vida, a fast-growing Miami healthy cuisine chain, has opened a branch on Broadway in Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood. Pura Vida, run by Omer and Jennifer Horey, opened in Miami in 2012 with an all-day breakfast menu, bowls and wraps. It has 25 South Florida locations. The Horeys plan to open 10 more New York locations in the next two years.
RESILIENCE
- Monroe County commissioners are seeking more than $20 million in grants from the Resilient Florida program to help fund road elevation and adaptation projects on Big Pine Key and Key Largo. Monroe has received $45 million under the program since its 2021 creation for resilience and road elevation projects throughout the Keys.
FINANCE
- Miami-based OPKO Health is buying back $100 million in common stock, which could add up to 10% of its 697 million shares outstanding. The biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company says the shares are undervalued and sees the buyback as a good investment opportunity.
- An 80-unit apartment complex is a step closer to bringing more workforce housing to North Miami after Ocean Bank issued a $16.5-million construction loan. Developer Daniel Abreu’s Delmas North is eligible for tax credits under Florida’s Live Local Act. All units will be reserved for people making up to 120% of area median income.
ATTRACTIONS
- A visit to Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road might feel a little more Zen with the addition of Harmonics Placemaking, a cluster of oversized instruments including xylophones and chimes available for passersby to play.
IN MEMORIAM
“Looking back, it’s the biggest single success I ever had. Not only did it help over 1.75 million families, but (it) also brought significant opportunity for our educational programs and society. It is one of the rare win-win opportunities of my career.”
— Stanley Tate, 96, developer, founder of Florida’s Prepaid Tuition Program, in a 2018 Miami Herald interview.