FORT LAUDERDALE / WEST PALM BEACH / BOCA RATON / HOLLYWOOD / PORT ST. LUCIE

Miami-based Related Group and BH Group obtained $360 million in construction financing from Tyko Capital for Icon Beach Waterfront Residences, a 350-unit, 38-story luxury project in Hollywood that includes a private marina and beach club access. Related broke ground in June; completion is scheduled for 2028.

RETAIL

Fort Lauderdale-based retailer West Marine filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection to curtail its debt and reorganize. It relocated to Fort Lauderdale from California in 2022 and employs 2,600 people companywide. It blamed the company’s condition on inflation, operating too many stores, consumer spending and weather.

REAL ESTATE

Time Equities broke ground on its 465-unit Town Square apartment project in Boynton Beach after receiving $160 million in construction financing led by M&T Bank.
Miami Beach-based Arc Asset Management, through an affiliate, filed a $121.4-million foreclosure suit against the Circ mixed-use project on Young Circle Hollywood and against its developers, including Charles Abele Jr. The Circ includes 386 residential units, a 111-room hotel and a Publix. Arc’s affiliate alleges the borrower defaulted on a loan Arc acquired from Deutsche Bank. The suit says 36 units have been sold and aren’t subject to the mortgage.
South Miami-based Estate Cos. wants to build 310 units in its second phase of a downtown West Palm Beach project. The first phase numbers 321 units.
Miami Jewish Health and McDowell Housing Partners opened the $139-million, 410-unit Douglas Gardens Senior Health and Living mixed-use project in Pembroke Pines, which they say is the largest affordable senior housing development in Broward and second largest in Florida.

RELATED ROSS

West Palm Beach-based Related Ross says it will develop Village Landing, a 71-acre mixed-use project in Wellington, its first major project outside West Palm Beach. It will comprise 220,000 square feet of retail, 100,000 square feet of restaurant space, a 180-room hotel, offices and community outdoor space. Earlier plans included 500 housing units. The village of Wellington chose Related Ross to develop the site, which will include a private school.
Related Ross put $1 million into public Trinity Park in downtown West Palm Beach as it continues the $120-million renovation of the nearby 41-year-old Phillips Point office tower.
Related Ross and Wexford Real Estate Investors, Miami-based 13th Floor Investments and New York’s L&L Holding paid $55 million for 2.64 acres in West Palm Beach where they plan a condo project.

LOGISTICS

Fort Pierce city commissioners approved plans for a 1.1-million-sq.-ft., 745-employee Amazon distribution facility.
St. Lucie County commissioners approved plans for an industrial project at which an unidentified company will employ 1,000 people.

LAYOFFS

Sunrise-based UKG laid off 950 companywide, approximately 6% of its workforce at the HR software company. The company blamed a changing marketplace, technology and customer expectations. The company didn’t say how many of the layoffs would occur in South Florida, but no filings were in the state layoff notice database. The company laid off 2,200 in 2024.
Flight school Ari Ben Aviator in Fort Pierce closed in April, laying off 40 to 50. The owners, according to their state-required layoff notice, were unable to sell the operation after a lawsuit was filed by the family of a deceased student.

FINANCE

Palm Beach Gardens-based Anchor Bank expanded outside Florida by taking over Community Bank and Trust — West Georgia, after Community was closed by the FDIC and Georgia banking officials. Three-branch Community at year-end had $268 million in deposits. The FDIC projected Community’s failure would mean a $9-million hit to the bank’s deposit insurance fund. Regulators said Community expanded too fast into government-guaranteed SBA lending and USDA lending.

Power Consolidator

NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum in May engineered the $67-billion acquisition of Virginia-based Dominion Energy to form the largest public utility in the nation, a leader in data center power supply, natural gas, solar and other alternative power production. NextEra is the parent company of Florida Power & Light, the state’s largest utility.

Ketchum’s career began as a tax lawyer in Kansas City, Mo. He later joined Holland & Knight as an associate and then was a corporate counsel at TECO Energy.

He came to NextEra as a lawyer in 2002. In a talk with McKinsey & Co., he said a former NextEra CEO identified his potential and launched him on a series of leadership roles in the company, reaching, as of 2022, chairman and CEO. He told McKinsey, “One of the things I always tell my team is, family first. I spend a lot of time with them. It keeps me optimistic. I’m also a big believer in getting a workout in early in the morning — from 5:30 to 6:30 every day — as the way I start my day.”

Ketchum makes $24.2 million in base and incentive pay and stock awards. NextEra had 17,365 employees at year-end.