SPOTLIGHT
Later this year, the Hasbro licensee that creates city versions of Monopoly will roll out the first Fort Lauderdale edition. It might want to consider swapping out the little plastic houses for high rises.
Downtown Fort Lauderdale has more than 50 proposed projects totaling 20,000 residential units under development, according to a Colliers study for the Downtown Development Authority. Proposed doesn’t mean they’ll all get built, but some 20% are already under construction, the study says. The 2.2-square-mile downtown will add more apartments in coming years than Tampa, West Palm Beach and Austin, Texas, combined and will see its population grow to 33,414 by 2028, up from 26,083 last year, the study projects.
Buyers and renters coming in future years will have a bevy of stylish buildings from which to choose — towers with sky bridges, gardens, marinas.
Fort Lauderdale’s an unusual downtown. The majority of its central business district’s real estate is residential. It leads to unusual patterns. A larger share of its population has children than in Austin, Tampa or Nashville. Half the new residences in Broward County are downtown.
“Compared to many of the fastest growing cities in the country, DowntownFTL is demonstrating an ability to attract growing families despite a recent national trend where families are leaving downtowns in search of more living space and better educational options,” the downtown group says.
FINANCE
- Fort Lauderdale-based financial services industry consultant Fintova merged with consultancy Nexgen360 to form Fintova Partners. The firm will provide strategic advisory, technology, risk management, distribution and operations services to investment management firms, fintechs and other financial institutions.
AFFORDABILITY
- Martin County has joined the growing number of Florida places with a community land trust. Martin’s newly formed nonprofit earlier this year received IRS recognition as a tax-exempt organization, clearing the way for it to accept donations of public and private lands, purchase land and housing, and receive grants. “The housing crisis in Martin County is the key reason we created this local land trust,” says Harold Jenkins, chair of the Martin County Community Land Trust board. Community land trusts are a hybrid model of leaseholds and ownership. Buyers and renters must make 50% to 80% of area median income. By separating ownership of the land from the homes on it, affordability is preserved for renters and homeowners. “Because the Martin County Community Land Trust will continue to own the land, the community can be assured that the housing built on it will remain affordable,” Jenkins says.
LOGISTICS
- Averitt Express notified the state it would lay off 55 workers after its contract to provide truck drivers, switchers and other services for a Costco distribution center in West Palm Beach ended. Averitt said it was working to transfer the employees to other jobs.
REAL ESTATE
- Miami-based Related Group, BH Group and Tezral Partners plan a mixed-income, 20-story, 418-unit apartment building near Riviera Beach’s Marina Village site on the Intracoastal.
RETAIL
- Manna Partners’ Bluegrass Fitness acquired 18 Orlando and Southeast Florida Orangetheory studios from the Boca Raton-based operator. Orangetheory combined with Minnesota-based Self Esteem Brands in February to create a company with 7,000 franchise locations and $3.5 billion in sales. Atlanta-based private equity firm Roark Capital had investments in both entities.
TRANSPORTATION
- Three-year-old Breeze Airways added flights from Vero Beach to Stewart-Newburgh and Long Island-Islip in New York, and also more flights from Orlando and Fort Myers to various destinations. The airline made Fort Myers’ Southwest Florida International Airport its ninth operating base nationally and third in Florida after Orlando and Tampa.