Earlier this year, Delray Beach-based developer Hudson Holdings paid $21 million to acquire the historic Sundy House, the home of Delray’s first mayor that’s now a restaurant, and nearby historic buildings and other properties totaling seven acres. Broker Jim Knight says the acquisition is the largest commercial real estate deal in downtown Delray Beach in a decade, a “game changer.” Hudson plans a mixed-use development, integrating the historic houses with a boutique hotel, offices and shops.

Through a combination of visionary property owners, developers, city planners and merchants, Delray brought about a revival of its downtown earlier than most Florida cities. Now the area south of Atlantic Avenue, which with the exception of the Sundy property was slower to catch on than the land north of Atlantic, is gaining momentum.

The Hudson project is part of nearly 1 million square feet of development in the works. Miami developer Jorge Perez’s Related is building a 117-unit residential project and in a joint venture with the Carlyle Group another 55-unit development under the SOFA, as in South of Atlantic, name. Boca Raton luxury movie chain iPic plans a theater in a mixed-use development while Dallas-based Behringer Harvard, which built the Franklin Delray condo building, now is building the 146-unit Uptown.

On Atlantic itself, clothing retailers Urban Outfitters, BCBG and Fresh Produce and hotel chain Fairfield Inn are opening. “It’s an exciting time to be working in Delray,” Knight says.

Players 

Suffolk Construction appointed Jeffrey A. Gouveia, executive vice president of operations, as president of its Southeast region.

Broward College appointed Avis Proctor president of its north campus in Coconut Creek. Proctor, who joined the college’s mathematics faculty in 2000, had been interim president since 2013 and prior to that was associate dean of the north campus mathematics department and associate vice president for academic affairs. A native of St. Croix, she has a doctorate in higher education from Florida International University, a master’s in teaching mathematics from FAU and a bachelor’s in mathematics education from Florida A&M University.

Business Briefs

BOCA RATON — A Miami real estate investor, managed by Francis J. Laird, paid a CNL Financial Group affliate nearly $75 million for Mizner Court, a 450- unit apartment development on Military Trail. > Fort Lauderdale-based Holy Cross Hospital opened an urgent care and imaging center, the second of a series it plans to open in south Florida. > FAU’s Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center opened a test berth for small-scale ocean turbines following the signing of a fve-year lease with the federal Interior Department. Floating test berths will be installed on the outer continental shelf 13 miles off Broward County. New York-based RCS Capital completed its acquisition of Bocabased independent broker- dealer Summit Financial Services Group, a company with 324 fnancial advisers in the Southeast U.S. The company says it’s now the second-largest network of independent fnancial advisers in America. IPic Theaters signed a lease with south Florida developer Dezer Development to build an eight-screen theater at the Intracoastal Mall in North Miami Beach. It is scheduled to open in 2015.

BOYNTON BEACH — Developer Compson Associates opened a $50-million, 338-unit affordable apartment complex, Compson Place Apartments within Renaissance Commons. It was funded in part by a HUD loan.

DELRAY BEACH — Jeffrey R. Spanier, 49, former owner of Amerifund Capital Finance in Boca Raton, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $20.7 million in restitution for his part in a $100-million stock loan scam that bilked people around the globe. He also had to forfeit “several million dollars” in assets that came from the fraud, including cash, securities and a luxury home in Florida.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Envision Healthcare Holdings spent $170 million to acquire locally based physician outsourcing company Phoenix Physicians, a company with about 500 affliated clinicians who provide services to 21 hospitals in six states. > Movie chain AMC reopened its 10-screen Coral Ridge theater as its second theater in Florida with its new dine-in format, including a full bar, featuring tables at seats and reclining chairs. The frst was at Downtown Disney.

INDIANTOWN — Fresh Shrimp USA’s 40-acre shrimp farm under development will include a store for selling fresh shrimp to the public.

JUPITER — Jupiter Medical Center and Scripps Florida will partner on a clinical trial involving breast and lung cancers.

MIRAMAR — Miamibased Presidente Supermarkets will open a store at Miramar Parkway Plaza. > South Carolina marketing frm Red Ventures is closing its Miramar offce and eliminating 225 jobs. Many workers are relocating to South Carolina.

PORT ST. LUCIE — The state hired outside counsel to fle suit against Digital Domain and related parties stemming from the company’s collapse after receiving $20 million in state job incentives.

TAMARAC — City Furniture opened an Ashley Furniture HomeStore in Cutler Bay in Miami- Dade County as it works toward three more openings and the addition of a City Furniture showroom in south Florida in the next three years. The chain is scouting sites in Tampa and Orlando.

WELLINGTON — Private investment frm Starwood Capital Group, in a deal valued at $1.4 billion, acquired the Mall at Wellington Green and six other malls around the country from Taubman Centers. Taubman has a new property opening in Sarasota and is redeveloping a Miami property. > Publicly traded aircraft cabin interior company BE Aerospace will split into two companies, one a manufacturer focusing on interiors and one a services company focusing on logistics and technical services for the aerospace and energy services industries.