Fort Lauderdale lands the German rental car company’s U.S. headquarters.

Hertz drew a lot of attention in 2013 with its announcement that it would bring its global headquarters to Estero along with 700 jobs. Fort Lauderdale hopes for an even bigger, long-term splash with the opening of the 300-employee U. S. headquarters of German rental car giant Sixt.

Sixt has 18 locations in Florida and “hundreds of people” and plans to grow by several multiples in a few years, says CEO Erich Sixt.

“Up to now, every plan I’ve made, the reality was much bigger than I planned,” Sixt says. The company has plenty of cash that it can deploy to grow. The only limit, he says, is how fast it can staff up with “the right people.”

The company offers a fleet with a high proportion of premium vehicles from Mercedes, Audi, Volvo and BMW at a slight premium to the standard vehicle fleet of existing U.S. players and touts its customer service in a commoditized business.

Miami, with its proximity to Latin America and its large international traveler base, was the company’s U.S. beachhead in 2011, but Fort Lauderdale won out for the new headquarters because of its lower costs. The Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance worked on securing Sixt for the area. The company will receive $1.5 million in incentives for agreeing to locate there.

Business Briefs

BOCA RATON — Simon Property is renovating the Town Center at Boca Raton. U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened a $4.5-million inspections facility at Boca Raton Airport. The move allows airport users to clear Customs in Boca without stopping at Palm Beach International or Fort Lauderdale Executive. Aircraft are charged $50 to $500, depending on their size, to clear Customs.

BROWARD — Broward County commissioners moved to raise the county’s bed tax 1 cent to 6%, bringing the total tab lodging guests pay with the sales tax to 12%, a percentage point below the tax rate in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. The county wants to spend the money on a convention center expansion. Broward officials removed a courthouse statue of Gov. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, the county’s namesake, because of the long-deceased governor’s views on segregation. Nuveen-affiliate TH Real Estate paid Principal Global Investors $54 million to acquire industrial parks Pointe West in Davie and Westpoint in Tamarac.

CORAL SPRINGS — Hoerbiger abandoned plans to consolidate administration and production and employ 420 at a 245,000-sq.-ft. site here. Afterward, Pennsylvaniabased Exeter Property bought the factory site for $14.88 million.

DAVIE — Nova Southeastern University received preliminary accreditation for its new allopathic medical school, which opens to 50 students in the fall. It will be Broward’s only M. D. program. Nova already has an osteopathic medical school.

DELRAY BEACH — Two-term Mayor Cary Glickstein won’t run for re-election.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Lake Nona-based Tavistock Development dropped Hyatt Regency as the fl ag for its newly acquired Pier 66 hotel and renamed it Pier Sixty-Six Hotel & Marina. Tavistock paid $163.27 million for the property. It recently acquired The Sails Hotel Marina & Shops across the street for $24 million. The 290-suite Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach opened on North Beach. The Florida Venture Forum returns its annual Florida Venture Capital Conference to south Florida Jan. 30-31 at the Marriott Harbor Beach.

PORT ST. LUCIE — A U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission receiver and the city hired Avison Young to market 20 acres at the City Center at U.S. 1 and Walton Road after the project’s developer stumbled. The larger 46-acre site is anchored by a city-owned civic center.

WEST PALM BEACH — Miami-based Driftwood Acquisitions & Development began construction downtown of its 14-story, 150-room Canopy by Hilton scheduled to open early in 2019. Drive Shack plans to open its 60,000-sq.-ft. facility featuring golf practice bays across from the airport.

Players

Broward Health appointed Alice Taylor CEO of Broward Health North medical center and Sandra J. Todd- Atkinson CEO of Broward Health Medical Center. Taylor had been CEO of the system’s Imperial Point hospital while Todd-Atkinson was COO at Broward Health Medical Center and Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital.

Spotlight: Roy Anthony
His goal is to be south Florida’s ‘rock guy'

Roy Anthony, 60, is among the entrepreneurs hoping to ride to success in the music festival business. For his second annual RockFest 80’s, a two-day festival at a Broward park in early November, the promoter signed Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Cheap Trick, Sebastian Bach, Little River Band and others.

The ’80s rock that Anthony loves draws people in their 40s to 60s rather than Millennials, who make the most successful festivals go. His show budget was less than $2 million. He drew 6,000 for Saturday, up 20% from 2016’s Saturday, but didn’t reach 5,000 on Sunday.

Nationally, research firm Nielsen counts more than 800 major festivals. In Broward, the festival field includes the Riptide and Tortugas festivals along with Anthony’s. In Florida, only SunFest in West Palm Beach and Ultra in Miami made the latest Festival 250 global ranking. Anthony is already planning a third RockFest as well as events in February and March and a Latin rock show.

“I want to be south Florida’s rock guy,” Anthony says.

 

See other stories from Florida Trend's January issue.

Get Florida Trend's January magazine – print or digital. Select from these options:

* offer valid for new subscribers only