May 2025 | Michael Fechter
Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and Florida International University’s Wertheim College of Medicine are joining forces to create the area’s only pediatric academic hospital.
Nicklaus, the area’s only specialty licensed children's hospital, already works with FIU faculty and helps train medical students. But officials hope the partnership, formed via a new strategic affiliation, will help produce more pediatric and family medicine doctors — sorely needed amid a national physician shortage — by adding more residencies and fellowships and recruiting more researchers who are likely to stay on board afterward. In addition, Nicklaus medical staffers will be eligible to join the faculty at Wertheim’s Department of Pediatrics.
More importantly, the agreement will open the door to additional clinical trials as university and hospital researchers work more closely together, says Nicklaus spokesman Kevin Snyder. While the agreement won’t create instant results, “We have a longstanding and successful relationship with FIU, and we know it will be a smooth process. We are excited about seeing the program flourish even more in the next year.”
IN MEMORIAM
“The satisfaction that you get from public service, from being able to help people through public service, is unmatched.” — Lincoln Diaz-Balart, 70,
Havana-born former nine-term Miami congressman, who died in March from cancer. The Diaz- Balart family fled Cuba just before Fidel Castro came to power and became leading voices opposing the regime.
OFFICE SPACE
- Verizon is leasing 51,484 square feet of space in the Waterford Business District near Miami International Airport in a deal being touted as Miami’s “largest office lease” of 2025 (as of late February). Blanca Commercial Real Estate brokered the deal and touts the 250-acre district’s 3 million square feet of renovated Class A space.
- Stantec is designing the $212-million academic health sciences center that will be home to a Baptist Health/Florida International University collaboration on FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique campus.
TECH
- ►Construction is underway on Iron Mountain’s 150,000-sq.-ft. Miami data center near Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport. It will run on renewable energy when it opens next year. Iron Mountain has 25 data centers in the United States, Europe and Asia.
LEGISLATURE
- ►The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority is asking the state for $15 million to build a reverse osmosis facility on Marathon’s Crawl Key. The project would help reduce water supply disruptions during emergencies and help increase water supply to meet growing demand.
REAL ESTATE
- Global Listings Service, which touts itself as “the world’s first borderless MLS platform,” recently launched in Miami. It offers monthly subscriptions with millions of property listings around the world to buyers and sellers who aren’t necessarily part of a formal real estate association.
- MG Developer is taking sales for Alhambra Parc, an eight-story, 78-unit development starting at $1.1 million. It also will offer 13,000 square feet of office and 18,000 square feet of ground floor retail space.
- A historic eight-story downtown Miami building has been purchased by Houston-based Revitalization Unlimited, which plans to convert it to commercial and office space. The WPM Building, renamed the First and First Building, opened in 1915. Revitalization Unlimited founder Steve Austin said the goal is to protect a piece of the city’s history while capitalizing on the growth.
HOUSING
- South Miami’s Goulds neighborhood has 124 new affordable housing units, with another 208 on the way, now that Phase I of Southpointe Vista is complete. The development, built with help from Miami-Dade County’s Housing and Community Development Department, is for people earning up to 70% of Miami-Dade’s median income. Phase II should be completed in mid-2026.
TOURISM
- The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne says it will lay off 425 employees this month as it closes for renovations that are expected to take at least six months to complete. In a notice to the state, the hotel says employees will be recalled when the work is complete. It encourages workers to apply for unemployment and directs them to a Marriott jobs site.
- Another 100 workers at Royal Palm South Beach Miami hotel will lose their jobs this month for a renovation project. That covers everyone from desk agents and bartenders to pool attendants and cleaning staff. The hotel says it hopes the layoffs are temporary, but they may be permanent. ►Marathon’s Shelter Bay Marine is the latest marina to be bought up by Oldsmar-based MarineMax. Terms of the deal, which should be finalized next month, were not released. Shelter Bay is a full-service marina that can store more than 175 boats. Marine- Max says the purchase “strengthens our presence in the Middle Keys, building on our growing Ocean Reef and Islamorada locations.”