Roger Moore sailed the world before coming ashore in Florida and building $100-million-in-revenue boat dealer Nautical Ventures Group. Trade publication Boating Industry named Nautical its 2024 Dealer of the Year. He’s long talked of taking his Fort Lauderdale-based operation public. In June, he did — in a way. Moore sold it to Montreal-based, publicly traded Vision Marine Technologies, a maker of electric propulsion for boats.
For Moore, the deal brings capital to the Nautical dealership, marina and service group. Like a lot of boat dealers, it got caught with too much inventory and floorplan financing in a time of falling demand and rising rates. It closed two locations, leaving it with 11, and cut staff by 25% to take it to 100 with the hope of moving quickly to profitability. “Everyone in the marine sector is suffering right now. We’re no exception. We’ve had a pretty rough 18 months,” Moore says. For Vision, the upside is having an in-house retail and service operation to speed the rollout of its tech. Moore says he’s looking forward under Vision to having sophisticated guidance and combined leadership. “I do not want to retire,” he says.
LAYOFFS
- Indiana-based insurer Group1001 Resources laid off 32 in Miramar.
- New York-based delivery service Need It Now Delivers laid off 171 in Jupiter and Fort Lauderdale.
- Restaurant chain Bahama Breeze laid off 137 in Sunrise and Oakland Park, part of 342 laid off in Florida as it closed stores.
- Wholesaler S&S Activewear laid off 51 in closing its facility in Pompano Beach.
- Baggage handling systems maintenance company ERMC Aviation Services laid off 95 in Fort Lauderdale after its contract with Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport ended.
RETAIL REAL ESTATE
- Boca Raton-based Pebb Enterprises’ and Boca-based Banyan Development’s joint venture sold its Aldi-anchored Shoppes at the Heart of Tradition in Port St. Lucie for $32 million to 4Y Plaza, completing the venture’s first move into Tradition. The venture is developing a second retail project, Shoppes at Southern Grove.
- Fort Lauderdale-based Stiles and Charlotte-based FCA Partners finished redeveloping Shopper’s Haven, a 200,000-sq.-ft. Publix-anchored center in Pompano Beach.
MULTIFAMILY
- Housing Trust Group opened its $100-million University Station mixed-use project in Hollywood featuring 216 incomerestricted units and a facility for Barry University’s College of Nursing and Health Services.
- Miami-based 13th Floor Investments is developing Link at Boca, an eight-story, 340-unit rental project at the Boca Raton Tri-Rail Station. 13th leased the land from the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority. Completion will take 24 months. It’s 13th’s third “Link” project. The others are at the Douglas Road Metrorail Station and one coming adjacent to the South Miami Metrorail Station.
CONDOS
- New York-based Elad Group paid $16 million for the Ocean Reef condo building and an adjacent parcel in Hillsboro Beach. The condo association previously was terminated. The site is permitted for 32 residential units.
- Kadima Partners is developing Seven Park, a $70-million, eight-story, project in Hallandale Beach with 121 condos and ground-floor retail. Condo units will start at $375,000. Kadima bought the 1.1-acre site for $5.3 million in 2024.
ESTATES
- WeatherTech founder and longtime Fort Lauderdale resident David MacNeil added to his Manalapan holdings by paying $55.5 million, or $2,372 per square foot, for a 13-bedroom, oceanfront estate on the barrier island. The seller was West Palm Beach luxury homebuilder Farrell Cos. MacNeil paid $38.5 million last year for the adjacent property and tore down the home there.
FINANCE
- West Palm Beach-based asset manager Affiliated Managers Group appointed chief operating officer Thomas M. Wojcik as president. The firm manages $700 billion in assets. He continues as COO.
MIXED-USE
- The Village of Wellington gave its initial approval to equestrian entrepreneur Mark Bellissimo’s plans for an 18-acre mixed-use project.
- West Palm Beach investor Frederic Ashton DePeyster III plans condo and hotel towers and retail at his Causeway Cove Marina on Hutchinson Island in Fort Pierce.
RECREATION
- Palm Beach North Athletic Foundation, backed by Larry Robbins, Wayne Gretzky and others, broke ground on its 123,000-sq.-ft. indoor ice sports facility in Palm Beach Gardens. It will house two NHL-size rinks for youth hockey, figure skating, public skating, adult hockey leagues, curling and sled hockey. Opening is scheduled for December 2026.
“It is with a heavy heart…”
— Steven Rossum, CEO of Hollywood-based Silver Airways, a small regional carrier, in announcing in June to the airline’s roughly 350 employees that the company failed to secure financing while in bankruptcy court and ceased flying.