Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Adventist Health will open a Blue Zones center at Legacy Hotel & Residences

SPOTLIGHT

Blue Zones Center

Adventist Health will open a Blue Zones wellness center at Legacy Hotel & Residences, a mixed-use tower under construction in downtown Miami. The 120,000-sq.-ft. center will occupy 10 floors of the 50-story tower and offer diagnostic, surgical, medical and spa services, as well as fitness and wellness programming.

Last year, California-based Adventist acquired Blue Zones, a wellness organization based on the work of National Geographic journalist Dan Buettner, who traveled to places in the world with the highest concentrations of centenarians and identified factors that contributed to longevity, including a positive outlook, healthy diet, active lifestyle and meaningful relationships.

EDUCATION

  • Miami Dade College partnered with the University of West Florida to increase the number of cyber-security professionals in Florida. The institutions will collaborate on cyber-security educational and workforce development programs, as well as grants, faculty training and student scholarship opportunities.
  • The University of Miami entered the non-fungible token (NFT) market by launching Canes Vault, a platform for selling digital Hurricanes football collectibles. An NFT certifies an asset to be unique and not reproduceable.

NON-PROFITS

  • The Miami Foundation joined with Miami-Dade County, the city of Miami, the Health Foundation of South Florida, Catalyst Miami and Florida International University to launch LaborMiami.org, an online platform designed to help Miamiarea residents find jobs.

TECHNOLOGY

  • San Francisco-based Okcoin, a cryptocurrency trading platform, will open an office in Miami to serve customers in Latin America.
  • Miami-based Reef Technology plans to create more than 1,000 jobs in South Florida in the next three years. The hiring will span the company’s operations, including its “ghost” kitchens, which prepare food for delivery. With backing from SoftBank, Reef converts underused parking lots and other urban spaces into logistics hubs and ghost kitchens. The company’s kitchen wages start at $20 an hour.
  • Miami-based startup Kiddie Kredit (NextGen, July, FloridaTrend.com) partnered with Equifax to help teach children about credit scores.

ENVIRONMENT

  • The South Florida Water Management District is building an underground concrete structure to reduce flooding in an 8.5-squaremile area and support Everglades restoration. The project is to be completed next April.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

  • New York-based hedge fund Schonfeld Strategic Advisors plans to open a second headquarters in Miami. Its offices will be in The Dorsey, a new Arquitectonica-designed development in Wynwood.
  • Apollo Global Management will occupy 3,500 square feet of office space at Greenberg Traurig in downtown Miami while it looks for a permanent location in the area.
  • Investment management firm GMF Capital will move its headquarters from New York to Miami Beach.

TRANSPORTATION

  • Miami-based Brightline, which ceased operations in March 2020 because of COVID-19, plans to resume daily rail service between West Palm Beach and downtown Miami this month.
  • Pan Am International Flight Academy plans to open a flight simulation training facility in Hialeah.

REAL ESTATE

  • The Housing Authority of Miami Beach proposed the Heron, a four-story, 20-unit apartment complex for low-income seniors on Normandy Isles.
  • Miami-based Integra plans to renovate Sea Isle Marina near downtown Miami after buying the property from an affiliate of East Coast Realty.
  • The 68-room Variety Hotel in Miami Beach has gone through foreclosure and now is owned by an affiliate of Miami-based lender BridgeInvest.
  • Miami-based i3 Development has partnered with New York-based Posner Group and Miami Beach resident Todd Glaser to build Riverwest, a mixed-use project in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Plans call for 278 apartments and 55,000 square feet of retail, including an Aldi and Ross Dress For Less.
  • Miami-based GC3 Development plans to build an assisted-living facility at the former longtime site of Norman Brothers Produce in Kendall. GC3 paid $10.7 million for the 4.7-acre property.
  • New York-based developer LivWrk acquired three properties totaling 2.5 acres in Wynwood for $38.9 million.

INNOVATION

Gas on Demand

Founded in 2019, Miami-based EzFill is a gasoline delivery company that fills up people’s vehicles on demand. Customers enter their preferred delivery time and location on the EzFill app and then leave their car’s gas cover open and accessible.

EzFill’s founders initially marketed the service as a time-saver, but the pandemic has since highlighted another benefit for customers — not having to touch a gas pump. “One of the unhealthiest things on the planet is a gas station pump handle. It’s 11,000 times more contaminated than a public toilet seat, just to put it in perspective,” says EzFill CEO Mike McConnell, a former Nissan vice president. “That’s one of the many reasons why people don’t want to go to a gas station.”

Customers pay a “competitive” price per gallon of gas, as well as a $4.99 fee per delivery, or $9.99 a month for unlimited delivery, McConnell says. The company operates 13 fuel trucks in South Florida and generated $4 million in sales for the 12 months ended March 31. In September, EzFill raised nearly $29 million in an initial public offering of stock to fuel its expansion.

 

Read more in Florida Trend's November issue.
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