Thursday's Afternoon Update
The hotel business in Florida is booming. Can that keep pace in 2023?
The hotel industry in Florida is starting to see some normalcy after weathering the pandemic, Hurricane Ian and the general tightening of consumers’ budgets, according to a new report. Hotels across the nation saw revenues per room drop at the end of 2022 but Florida led the nation, with Fort Myers, Miami and West Palm Beach being the top three markets in the U.S., according to a fourth quarter report on the industry from Moody’s Analytics published this month. The Tampa Bay area wasn’t far behind. More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Reborn Ringling Bros. circus is coming back to South Florida — minus the animals
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus has been reimagined and reborn without animals as a high-octane family event with highwire tricks, soaring trapeze artists and bicycles leaping on trampolines. Feld Entertainment, which owns the “Greatest Show on Earth,” revealed to The Associated Press what audiences can expect during the show’s upcoming 2023 North American tour kicking off this fall. More from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Experts predicted a real estate slowdown in 2023. How is Tampa Bay holding up?
What goes up must come down. After nearly two years of explosive growth in the housing sector, economists and real estate experts said sales could take a major dip in 2023. But so far, that hasn’t happened. Kristine Smale, an executive vice president for the real estate analytics company Zonda said that markets across the country are faring better now than they were during the fourth quarter of last year. More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Relativity launches world's first 3D-printed rocket from Florida
Relativity Space managed to launch its 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, but an issue with its second-stage engine prevented the ultimate orbital goal. Still, the Long Beach, California-based startup company hit several milestones on the mission dubbed “GLHF,” as in “Good Luck, Have Fun” including liftoff from the pad, hitting supersonic speeds, enduring maximum dynamic pressure, main engine cutoff and a separation of the first and second stages. More from the Orlando Sentinel and Florida Today.
Price to replace Florida Keys water pipes? $10 million a mile, utility director says
The head of the Florida Keys’ water utility said earlier this week that the cost to replace all the pipes in the aging system would be more than $1 billion. The statement he made on a Sunday morning local news show comes the same month the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority had three water main breaks in one week, temporarily reducing supply and pressure to thousands of homes and businesses south of the Upper Keys Village of Islamorada all the way to Key West. More from the Miami Herald.
Business Profile
Ron Chamblin: A few boxes of books become a business
When he went into business for himself nearly 50 years ago, Ron Chamblin dedicated himself to personifying the “independent” part of operating an independent bookstore. Just one semester away from graduating from the University of North Florida with a degree in history, Chamblin put down his textbooks in favor of used books in 1976 to open his first store. The 1,300-square-foot space, named simply “Bookmine,” was the beginning of the business that has grown to 25 employees in two stores with more than 35,000 square feet of books and a Downtown coffee shop and cafe, generating 2022 revenue of $2.5 million.
» More from the Jacksonville Dailiy Record.
Event
Art critic Jerry Saltz coming to Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg
As part of the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg’s Art Now lecture series, art critic Jerry Saltz will discuss art, artists and his new book on April 1. Saltz is the senior art critic for New York magazine and its entertainment site, Vulture. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling book “How to Be an Artist” and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2018.
» Read more from the Tampa Bay Times.