April 25, 2024

Mike Vogel

Florida Trend South Florida Editor • mvogel@floridatrend.com

Mike Vogel

Mike Vogel has reported and written about business in Florida for more than 20 years. He works from Broward County. He is a graduate of West Virginia University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and, prior to joining Florida Trend in 1999, worked for newspapers in southeast Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Articles by Vogel:

Critical Mass
Florida gives rise to its share of class actions and mass tort claims. That's expected given its size as the third largest state by population and a history of pro-plaintiff laws and court rulings — a tendency GOP legislators and governors have had success in recent years reversing.
Read more »
Burger Suing King
If you don't know Delray Beach attorney Anthony Russo by name, you perhaps know his firm's work. He sued Wendy's, McDonald's, Arby's and Taco Bell for alleged consumer fraud for ads that portray products in quality and portions superior to what consumers actually get in stores. He sued Amazon for suspending rapid delivery in the early days of the pandemic, which he argued was a breach of contract with its Prime members. He sued candy maker Hershey over alleged fraud in its Reese's packaging. (Wrappers showed the likes of jack o'-lanterns but the actual candy lacked detail.)
Read more »
Building Boom
In 2021, Alabama construction firm Robins & Morton opened an office in Tampa, its third in Florida, to serve the growing demand for hospital construction here. The firm had seen requests for proposals triple from 2019 to 2020. The company's health care revenue from Florida grew 30% in a four-year span.
Read more »
Streamlining Reorganizations
Fort Lauderdale forensic accountant and CPA Soneet Kapila usually makes the news for untangling the financial mess left behind in busted Ponzi schemes and other frauds. This year, as president of the Virginia-based American Bankruptcy Institute, he's been busy asking Congress to make it easier for failing small businesses to salvage their operations.
Read more »
Overcoming Obstacles
There's no mistaking the redevelopment appeal of the 800,000-sq.-ft. Galleria at Fort Lauderdale. The lagging mall sits in a prime spot to capture the dollars of tourists and affluent homeowners nearby with its front on heavily traveled Sunrise Boulevard, between Federal Highway (U.S.1) and beach road A1A, just across the bridge from the famed city beach. It has water views, is just a short ride to downtown and is about a third the size of the city's central business district.
Read more »
Main Street Metamorphosis
Coconut Creek, a city of 57,000 in northwest Broward that calls itself the “Butterfly Capital of the World,” has been known for years as a bedroom community, agriculture spot, and home to a Seminole Tribe casino and car dealerships.
Read more »
Big Fish
Halfway down the Florida Keys, a bit before the city of Marathon, the busy Overseas Highway for a short stretch becomes a road amid the rustic. No gas stations or supermarkets, no souvenir shell stores, no sandal shops. The dense vegetation sometimes gives way to glimpses of the Florida Straits to the south or Florida Bay to the north.
Read more »
Building Blocks
Palm Springs in central Palm Beach County became the debut site for Renco USA's first housing complex — four buildings totaling 96 units — made with molded, interlocking blocks the company calls “Lego-like.” Miami-based Renco says its building method is cheaper, faster and 23 times stronger than concrete.
Read more »
AI, Captain
Years ago, serial entrepreneur Nathan Heber and his wife, dermatologist Jordana Herschthal, took a bareboat charter — where you rent a boat and crew it yourself — in the British Virgin Islands. “We were very underqualified. We were new sailors,” Heber recalls. But, he adds, “We had the time of our lives.”
Read more »
Florida Icon: Lee Brian Schrager
I always worked in restaurants. When I was 10, 11 years old, I used to bag Chinese takeout food, Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights, in a local popular Chinese restaurant. I worked in snack bars and movie theaters. I worked at Swensen's ice cream parlor, (and was a) valet car parker at a fine-dining restaurant. There was always something about the hospitality industry. The people in it are very special. And you know, I've always enjoyed wine and food.
Read more »

Florida Business News

Florida News Releases

Florida Trend Video Pick

Florida shoe cobbler mends more than soles
Florida shoe cobbler mends more than soles

Jim McFarland, a fourth-generation shoe cobbler in Lakeland, Florida, never anticipated his trade mending shoes would lead to millions of views on social media. People are captivated by his careful craftsmanship: removing, then stitching and gluing soles on leather footwear.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

Ballot Box

Do you think recreational marijuana should be legal in Florida?

  • Yes, I'm in favor of legalizing marijuana
  • Absolutely not
  • I'm on the fence
  • Other (share thoughts in the comment section below)

See Results

Florida Trend Media Company
490 1st Ave S
St Petersburg, FL 33701
727.821.5800

© Copyright 2024 Trend Magazines Inc. All rights reserved.