Florida business groups eye rules for next crisis

Lobbying groups for small businesses, restaurants, hotels and retailers expressed a need to senators Monday for statewide rules for the next health crisis, with a focus on mask mandates. Officials with the National Federation of Independent Business-Florida, the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association and the Florida Retail Federation told members of the Senate Select Committee on Pandemic Preparedness and Response that a wide range of city and county regulations has been among the biggest issues they have faced since the pandemic began slightly more than a year ago. [Source: News Service of Florida]

Florida Trend Exclusive
Florida parks have found a new appreciation during the pandemic

The pandemic has created a new appreciation for Florida’s green space. Early on during the coronavirus pandemic, Christopher Counts, a landscape designer, went for an evening walk with his wife around their Coral Gables neighborhood. The city had just gone on lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and the couple was anxious to get out of the house. They walked toward a public golf course — temporarily closed to golfing due to the pandemic — and were surprised by what they saw: Blankets spread out on the fairways; children playing in the sand traps. If there are any bright spots from the pandemic, he says, it might be that people now have a new appreciation for the outdoors as a source of safe, socially distanced recreation. [Source: Florida Trend]

Pandemic gives Florida ‘golden opportunity’ to reimagine senior care, advocate says

Some older Floridians are reconsidering where they should spend their later years after watching residents of long-term care facilities go through a wrenching year of isolation and coronavirus outbreaks. As of March 12, 10,727 residents of nursing homes and assisted-living centers had died from the coronavirus, making up about a third of the state’s 33,120 deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health data. The pandemic has forced a conversation about the state’s aging population and the best way to care for seniors. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Harvesting mail ballots was banned in Florida. Then it wasn’t. Now it may be again.

A House committee on Monday approved an elections overhaul bill that includes some of the recommendations from the grand jury nearly a decade ago. It would require people to re-request a vote-by-mail ballot every election cycle instead of every two cycles and would restrict who can collect and turn in those completed ballots, limiting it to a family member or member of a household. [Source: Miami Herald]

2021 Atlantic hurricane season: Is your name on the list?

Is your name on the list? Not if you're named after the Greek alphabet. The World Meteorological Organization, which is in charge of hurricane names worldwide, announced that the Greek alphabet will no longer be used when a hurricane season runs out of names, like it did in 2020. Instead, once the official list of hurricane names has been exhausted, another list of names will be used. Hurricane season officially starts Tuesday, June 1, though the National Hurricane Center will start issuing regular storm forecasts for the Atlantic basin on May 15 this year due to six consecutive years of early tropical cyclones. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› More women joining the ranks of Florida Realtors [WFLX]
Katie Blineau just became a Realtor. She works with the Meyer-Lucas team at Compass in Jupiter. Her event rental company took a dive with the start of COVID-19 and the pandemic, so she took a chance on real estate with more people moving to South Florida. "I was always interested in real estate but I also happened to own my own company for the past nine-plus years," she said. "I saw that as my opportunity to really get into real estate." It’s a field that is drawing more and more women like Blineau. According to the National Association of Realtors, more than 60% of all realtors are female.

› Largo’s Tech Data merging with Synnex in $7.2 billion deal [Tampa Bay Times]
Less than a year after going private, Tech Data is preparing for a merger. The Largo technology distribution company on Monday announced an agreement to merge with Fremont, Calif.’s Synnex Corp. in a deal estimated to be worth $7.2 billion. The agreement comes months after Tech Data completed its $6 billion sale to New York private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

› For the first time in months, Miami house prices dip. Condo prices are still rising. [Miami Herald]
South Florida house hunters may finally be catching a break. After months of increases, the median price for single-family homes appears to be stabilizing. In Miami-Dade County, the median sales price dipped to $450,000 in February despite shrinking supply, according to the Miami Realtors Association latest sales report. That marks a 4% dip from its record high of $470,000 in January, and the first decrease in single-family home prices since the COVID-19 lockdown a year ago.

› JEA buys LaVilla property [Jacksonville Daily Record]
Municipal utility JEA paid almost $2.45 million March 18 for 2.27 acres in LaVilla targeted for its “hardened” secondary headquarters. JEA bought the vacant property, among 19 parcels, from LaVilla Partners III LLLP. The sale was recorded March 19 with the Duval County Clerk of Courts. In January JEA said it would pause plans to build the facility as it reevaluated its post-pandemic workplace. Despite the uncertainty, JEA leadership said it intended to complete the purchase of the site for the facility.

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› After five-year growth surge, contractor nears $150 million in revenue [Business Observer]
Gary Griffin has seen a lot of changes in his almost 26 years as president of B & I Contractors. For one, the Fort Myers–based mechanical contractor has added four Florida satellite offices to better serve its ever-growing sphere of work in the HVAC, electrical and plumbing sectors. Advancements in technology have also created totally new ways of doing things that increase both productivity and quality.

› Orlando-based Hawkers Asian Street Food tests new vibe at model restaurant [Orlando Sentinel]
If you need any indication on just how hot the South Florida cuisine market is, look no further than Hawkers Asian Street Food in Delray Beach. The restaurant with elevated takes on street vendor fare quietly opened on the somewhat sleepy Intracoastal-adjacent end of Atlantic Avenue in July, but already the Orlando-based boutique chain is touting it as the showcase.

› Florida Spring Council and Santa Fe River file legal challenge against approval to extract around one million gallons of water per day near Ginnie Springs [WUFT]
The Florida Spring Council and Santa Fe River have filed a legal challenge against the approval of the Seven Springs Consumptive Use Permit that allows the extraction of around one million gallons of water per day near Ginnie Springs for Nestle’s bottling operations. The Suwannee River Water Management District communications manager, Lindsey Covington, said the board has until March 31 to finish deliberations regarding the legal challenge.

› Set to Be Florida’s Tallest Tower, the Waldorf Astoria Launches Sales [Mansion Global]
Buyers looking to get a foot in the door at Miami’s uber-luxurious and yet-to-be-built skyscraper, the Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami, can now begin to do so, with Monday marking the launch of sales at the development. Towering more than 1,000 feet above Biscayne Bay, the building—made up of nine offset, glass-covered cubes—will be the tallest in the Sunshine State when completed.