Florida Trend Exclusive
The Trump effect
Any president impacts Florida. Donald Trump isn’t just any president. The nation’s chief executive influences Florida to an uncommon degree — the economy, workforce, trade, education, research, defense, public health, local parks, population growth, industries from restaurants to tomato growing, lodging to construction and real estate. “Obviously, he’s made an impact at every level. It’s not just the business community, it’s every facet,” says Susan MacManus, University of South Florida political science professor emerita. [Source: Florida Trend]
The dream of a Florida retirement is fading for the middle class
Wealthy individuals make up a growing share of people at or near retirement age arriving in Florida from other states, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, while many working-class and middle-class older people who feel priced out are moving elsewhere. The new patterns of migration are helping reshape Florida’s identity, swapping its long-held reputation as a paradise for retirees of all stripes for one that primarily caters to the well-heeled. The decades-old promise of an affordable sun-drenched sanctuary is fading in the face of high home prices, insurance premiums and property taxes, among other costs. More from the Wall Street Journal and MSN.
Florida lawmakers brace for affordability showdown this session
With Floridians facing soaring home insurance premiums, rent hikes and rising property tax bills, state lawmakers heading to Tallahassee for this year’s legislative session agree on one thing: Affordability will dominate the agenda. With the session set to begin Tuesday, the question is not whether lawmakers will talk about affordability — but whether they can agree on solutions that survive inter-chamber negotiations, gubernatorial scrutiny and, potentially, voter approval. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
Florida gas prices plunge by double digits. See fuel costs in your area
Gas prices are down by double digits in Florida this week, and many areas in the state have dipped under $2.70 a gallon, according to an AAA report. Last week, as drivers got back to their routine commutes after the holiday stretch, prices jumped. But this week’s decreases have wiped out those increases, and more. North Florida remains the cheapest to get gas in the state. Naples and Palm Beach County are among the most expensive areas. [Source: Miami Herald]
Florida deregulated nursing schools. Scam colleges and failing students followed
Alarmed by a growing shortage of nurses, Florida lawmakers in 2009 eased regulations on the schools tasked with training them, inviting new institutions to enter the market. The results were swift: Within five years, the number of Florida nursing programs more than doubled. But many were for-profit institutions that churned out students whose pricey degrees left them ill-prepared to enter the field. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Palm Beach Gardens lands HQ of 'clean' nuclear energy company
A clean energy company is opening a headquarters along Northlake Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens. Ampera develops micro-nuclear reactors that generate clean electricity and power AI data centers, defense operations and industrial facilities, according to its spokesperson. Its 25 present employees started moving into the new headquarters on Jan. 5, which are spread across two buildings at the PGA National Commerce Park, near Florida's Turnpike.
› Food manufacturer and bottler explored sites in Jacksonville
No identity has surfaced for the “significant industrial user” exploring a 300-acre site in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center, but previous interest in the property indicates the potential size and type of user. A food manufacturer was exploring the site about three years ago. There also was a bottling company looking around Jacksonville at that time. Those are not the prospects for the new project, but they show what’s possible.
› Developer nabs millions more taxpayer money for Boynton Beach project
Boynton Beach officials have approved additional tax rebates for the developer of a new mixed-use project in the coastal city’s downtown — but not by as much as the builder sought. Members of Boynton Beach’s Community Redevelopment Agency voted Thursday to revise an existing $9 million tax increment financing agreement with Miami-based Hyperion Development Group up to $11.5 million. The CRA also extended the deal’s term from 12 to 14 years.
› Life after Winter the dolphin in Clearwater, an Aquarium tale
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium was riding expansion plans coming into the new decade, buoyed by rising attendance and revenue. And then came the death of its star attraction — a world-famous dolphin named Winter with a prosthetic tail and movie credits. A string of other dolphin deaths, a voyeurism scandal and 2024’s hurricanes further hurt the aquarium’s reputation and ticket sales. Four years after her death, the aquarium is still figuring out how to reinvent itself and survive after the loss of Winter.
More stories ...
› Orlando's sushi restaurant boom fills spaces left behind by legacy chains
A wave of new sushi restaurants is transforming Orlando’s dining landscape, driven by shifting consumer tastes and opportunities in retail real estate. As diners gravitate toward healthier, globally inspired options, operators are stepping in to backfill spaces vacated by legacy chains. This trend is playing out across Central Florida.
› In Weston, where Venezuelans have transformed the community, concerns remain about post-Maduro future
When there’s major news involving Venezuela, TV cameras reflexively rush to Doral, hoping to document the reactions of expatriates living in Florida. Politicians, courting their support, aren’t far behind. A half hour north of Doral, in parts of Broward County — where Weston has one of the largest concentrations of Venezuelans in the United States — Maduro’s ouster produced just as much joy, and in the days after just as much concern, even though it didn’t attract the same volume of news cameras.
› NASA targets Artemis II rollout to pad, details launch options
NASA could be sending a crew on the Orion spacecraft out past the moon in less than a month if everything falls into place. But first the agency has to get its rocket to the launch pad. That could as early as next Saturday when the mobile launcher topped with the Space Launch System rocket and Orion could make the four-mile slow roll atop the crawler-transporter 2 from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39-B at Kennedy Space Center, NASA announced.
› Charlotte County farmland sells for $9M to investors
A group of investors from Florida’s east coast recently paid $9 million for about 600 acres of agricultural land in southern Charlotte County, continuing a trend of growing interest in large land acquisitions in the county. The property at 16901 N. Tamiami Trail has long operated as a working farm. Under the terms of the sale, the buyers are allowing the sellers to continue farming the acreage south of Zemel Road, as the new owners have no immediate plans to develop the land, said Hunter Ward of Fort Myers-based LSI Companies Inc.