Florida
Business leaders look to boost Florida’s economic development
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A well-connected group of Florida business leaders thinks its members can help fill a void that opened last year when lawmakers broke up the business-recruitment agency Enterprise Florida.
The Florida Council of 100 on Wednesday released a report about types of businesses and industries that different areas of the state should work to attract, while offering its more than 150 members to help link businesses with regional economic-development organizations.
The report — “Beyond Sunshine: Advancing Florida’s World Class Economy for the Next Generation” — breaks Florida into six major regions and three rural areas of opportunity. Different industries are identified for each region based on issues such as existing economic clusters.
Council of 100 President and CEO Mike Simas said council members can help drive private-sector activity as they travel globally.
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“We’re not going to be an economic development organization, ever,” Simas said. “Our role is to convene leaders from around the state, particularly private-sector thought leadership, to help solve public-sector problems.”
The group’s board includes people such as Todd Jones, executive chairman of Publix Super Markets; Joe York, president of Florida and gulf states for AT&T; former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, chairman of the Gunster law firm; and former state House Speaker Will Weatherford, managing partner of Weatherford Capital. The board’s chairman is former Florida Power & Light CEO Eric Silagy.
“Cost issues and job growth are areas where our members are experts,” Simas said. “They’re running the businesses in these regions that are driving a lot of this growth. And really, our goal is to help coordinate with the regional economic development organizations who have been doing this work remarkably well for a long time.”
The report includes some overlap in proposing what different regions of the state should focus on for business recruitment or expansion. The overlap occurs in industries such as distribution and e-commerce, aviation and defense, health services and information technologies.
But the report also calls for an emphasis on specific clusters, such as biopharmaceutical fields in South Florida and semiconductor manufacturing in Central Florida.
Simas said the report was already underway before state lawmakers in 2023 dismantled Enterprise Florida, which as a private-public organization helped guide Florida’s economic development. Lawmakers made the decision after years of debate about state business incentives.
About 20 Enterprise Florida employees and more than 20 business-recruitment responsibilities were shifted to the Department of Commerce. The agency’s overseas operations were revamped under the banner of the new non-profit Select Florida.
In a Council of 100 news release that accompanied the new report, Florida Department of Commerce Secretary Alex Kelly is quoted as saying he looks “forward to partnering with the council.”
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Florida
South Florida’s top deals: Davie school building sells for $16M
🏆 Residential: The top home sale to hit records was in Pinecrest, where a home at 5865 Southwest 96th Street changed hands for $7.8 million. The sellers were Luis and Liz Messianu, who purchased the 7,800-square-foot property in 2024 for $7.3 million. The buyer was Bunny S Sunshine Haven LLC. The home went on the market in February for $8.2 million. Judith and Nathan Zeder with Coldwell Banker Realty had the listing, and Dennis Carvajal with One Sotheby’s International Realty brought the buyer.
🏆 Commercial: The most expensive recorded commercial deal was in Davie, where a school building sold for $16 million at 3367 North University Drive. The seller was 3367 N University Holdings LLC; the buyer was JSI N University LLC. The building measures about 46,000 square feet.
📊 Residential: Matthew and Nadia Weaver purchased a newly built home at 299 Northeast Seventh Street in Boca Raton for $6.8 million. The seller was a company managed by Marco Capoccia. Built this year, the home measures 5,800 square feet and has five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. The sale breaks down to about $1,200 per square foot. Jacqueline Feldman with One Sotheby’s International Realty represented both sides of the transaction.
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Florida
Why the Red Sox are sending Roman Anthony to Florida (and to another doctor) – The Boston Globe
ANAHEIM, Calif. — In sending Roman Anthony to Fort Myers, Fla., to continue his injury rehabilitation, the Red Sox have assigned him one blunt goal: Make it back to Boston.
The geographic reassignment is “a very good opportunity,” interim manager Chad Tracy said, for Anthony to not have to deal with much other than figuring out a way to return from a partially torn ligament in his right ring finger, which continues to impact his hand/wrist — and, thus, his ability to swing a bat.
“His focus, a singular focus now, is if you’re in Florida, it’s to get yourself healthy and not have to deal with all the other stuff that goes with it,” Tracy said before Sunday night’s series finale against the Angels. “So it’s a singular focus, very focused on getting himself healthy and getting back to us.
“We want him. We want him in the lineup. So I’m going to keep in touch with him frequently and see how he’s doing, with the hope that we get him back.”
And “other stuff” refers to what?
“Just the day-to-day of being at Fenway,” Tracy said. “He’s going to get asked questions about it constantly. And for him being there, his focus is on one thing right now: That’s get yourself healthy.”
When Tracy first mentioned Saturday that the Sox decided Anthony would be based out of their Fenway South spring training/minor league facility indefinitely, he presented it as logistical. The home clubhouse at Fenway had grown crowded because of the number of injured players, he said, so moving Anthony was a way to open space — as the Sox had done with a handful of pitchers previously.
On Sunday, Tracy added: “It’s also a very good opportunity for him to go and get away from” the “other stuff.”
Anthony has been out since May 4, when he got hurt on a seemingly random swing.
Nine weeks later, he has not resumed a hitting program as he and the Sox navigate the highly unusual baseball injury.
This week, Anthony will visit a new doctor: Gary Lourie in Atlanta. Lourie is a hand specialist, the Braves’ head team physician, and a partner at The Hand & Upper Extremity Center of Georgia.
“Just for peace of mind,” Tracy said. “I expect we’re going to be in a good spot. But really just about getting him in a spot where he can focus each day on just pounding away at getting that hand healthy.”
Casas set back again
The latest in the plight of Triston Casas: He has suffered from a wrist issue in recent days, Tracy said, so he is shut down from hitting again.
The Red Sox will “check on that” before letting Casas resume anything bat-related, per Tracy.
For Casas, 26, it is another in a string of injuries. He hasn’t played since having knee surgery 14 months ago, and for the past three months he had been trying to return from an abdominal issue.
“He’s gone through a lot,” Tracy said. “Between the knee, he had a little hamstring flareup, obviously the oblique, and then he’s coming back from that, and now there’s a wrist that’s popped up.
“So, just dealing with different things. Having not played in a while, things have popped up. So we’ll keep an eye on him, and once he’s able to, keep progressing as we can.”
Early update
Connelly Early’s second opinion, also this week, will be with Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas, the team said. Meister is a leading orthopedic and sports medicine surgeon who specializes in elbow problems.
Following his early exit Tuesday, Early got an MRI and was diagnosed with posterior elbow inflammation but no structural damage, the Red Sox said Wednesday.
Singling out Seigler
Anthony Seigler batted leadoff for the fourth time in five games. Tracy called him “a logical choice for it” because of his ability to swing at strikes, not swing at balls, and work lengthy at-bats. “He puts the bat on the ball,” Tracy said, “and help hopefully get the game started off right for us” … Masataka Yoshida was the DH, just his second start in a stretch of seven games (amid a run of the Sox facing more lefthanded starters than usual) … The Sox’ next rotation decision is Thursday. They could go with Sonny Gray (on turn), Patrick Sandoval (for his long-awaited team debut), or somebody else against the White Sox.
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.
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