Miami-Dade / Monroe Yearbook 2009

Rochelle Broder-Singer | 4/1/2009

Additionally, while some middle-tier hotels are holding steady, the “AIG affect” has companies canceling meetings and events at high-end properties, says hospitality consultant Scott Brush of Brush & Co.

Who's Hiring

» Baptist Health South Florida and Jackson Health System are both hiring nurses. In addition, Jackson is hiring physicians and other medical and research personnel.

» The University of Miami is hiring researchers at its Miller School of Medicine, scientists at its Institute for Human Genomics, security officers and a few other positions.

» Burger King Corp. is hiring in everything from finance to IT and operations at its corporate headquarters.

» IKON Office Solutions is filling a handful of sales and technician positions.

» Kraft Foods Latin America is hiring several financial and business development analysts.

» Star Casualty Insurance Co. is hiring in positions from clerical to technical.

» Terremark Worldwide is hiring mostly IT people to meet growing demand from its customers.

» UPS is hiring mostly part-time loading and sorting positions. “For the most part, UPS never really stops hiring,” says a company spokesperson.

The high end — which saw the most new rooms over the past few years — also has around 1,000 additional rooms in its inventory this year with the post-renovation reopenings of Miami Beach’s Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels. Those new rooms, on top of an overall 3% to 4% drop in demand, will push down occupancy rates further, Brush says. He predicts revenue per hotel room will drop between 9% and 12% this year.

Recovery may start in 2010, he adds, but will begin with midmarket hotels — something sorely lacking in Miami Beach now.

There are a couple of bright spots in the county’s economy: Healthcare, where some hiring is still occurring, and international trade, which is buoyed by Latin America’s relative stability.

To build on those bright spots and speed a turnaround, Kozloski Hart recommends a novel economic stimulus: A tax holiday for companies that have had mass layoffs but agree to rehire their employees and guarantee them jobs for two years. That would keep people spending money, cut government outlays for unemployment compensation and guarantee that those people could pay their mortgages.

Corporate tax revenue contributed only 12% of government revenue last year, she says, so “it would be such a small price to pay and this is direct. It’s immediate. People feel confident.”

People to Watch

South Florida developer Jorge Perez has teamed up with a private equity firm to buy up bargain condos in bulk. [Photo: Rodrigo Varela]

» Three new office towers will open in Miami in 2010, adding some 20% more office space to the market. Developer Loretta Cockrum, chairwoman and CEO of Foram Group, made sure her Brickell Financial Centre got U.S. Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver precertification.

» City Mayor Manny Diaz, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, has been lobbying in Washington for money to fund urban projects and has the Obama administration’s ear. Term limits will force him out of office in November, and any potential successor with his endorsement becomes an automatic front-runner.

Tags: Miami-Dade