March 28, 2024

Seth Browarnick held Nu Wave Swim to help revive Swim Week.

The Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island, will add a restaurant, passenger lounges, seaplane floating docks and other amenities.

Miami-Dade Roundup

Reviving Miami's Swim Week

SPOTLIGHT

Reviving Swim Week

The world’s largest swimwear industry show, SwimShow, takes place every summer at the convention center in Miami Beach. But the week around the show, marketed as Swim Week, had been losing its cache as a tourist attraction, and brands had largely stopped putting on the fashion shows, parties and other events outside the convention center that are designed to connect with consumers.

In July, Seth Browarnick and Michele Addison held a new four-day event, Nu Wave Swim, in hopes of bringing back the consumer and lifestyle aspect of Swim Week. Held at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Nu Wave included presentations by designer swim wear brands such as Gottex, Tori Praver, Revival and Redd Carter, along with a fashion show featuring new designers and wellness-related activities. It also included parties, with food and beverages from Miami celebrity chef Michael Schwartz, known for Michael’s Genuine and other Miami restaurants.

Browarnick, founder of multimedia agency World Red Eye and celebrity social photo agency Red Eye Productions, says he has seen clients’ and friends’ hospitality businesses suffer during the summer as Swim Week became smaller. “We could not lose literally the most important week of the summer for tourism,” he says. He and Addison, who had headed sales for media company Modern Luxury, conceived of Nu Wave as a way to get more brands excited about coming to Miami Beach for the week, with an opportunity to reach consumers directly.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

  • Endeavor Miami hired El Salvador-born Claudia Durán (left) as its new managing director. She succeeds the non-profit business incubator’s founding managing director, Laura Maydón.

FINANCE

  • Intercredit Bank agreed to sell nearly all of its stock to the chairman and majority shareholder of Ecuador’s Banco Pichincha, Fidel Alejandro Egas Grijalva, for about $50 million; the bank’s board will own the remaining shares. CPA and advisory firm Kaufman Rossin launched a financial planning practice, led by Jay Pelham, former president of TotalBank.
  • Private equity fund H.I.G. Capital sold medical device firm VertiFlex to Boston Scientific for $465 million. The company also sold restaurant chain Hooters of America to two private equity firms, although it retained a stake in the company.

EDUCATION/RESEARCH

  • Sister Jeanne O’Laughlin, president of Barry University from 1981-2004, died at age 90. Sister Jeanne grew the Miami Shores university from 2,000 students to more than 9,000.

HEALTH CARE

  • Dr. Narendra Kini resigned as CEO of the Nicklaus Children’s Health System, which he led for 10 years. The system’s senior vice president and CFO, Matthew A. Love, is interim president and CEO.

REAL ESTATE

  • The city of Miami gave final approval to the 18-acre Magic City Innovation District-Little Haiti project, which will include a variety of developments, including retail space and offices focused on technology, entrepreneurship, art and culture. The city will create a Little Haiti Revitalization Trust, funded by the developer, to pay for affordable housing, education programs, workforce participation programs, small-business development, beautification and other needs in the neighborhood.
  • London-based The Collective will develop a $210-million, eight-to- 12-story co-living building with a gallery, dining and retail space on the ground floor, in the Wynwood neighborhood. The company is partnering with Tony Cho, founder of Miami real estate company Metro1 and a partner in the Magic City Innovation District.
  • EcoSystems, which retrofits bathrooms with water-efficient equipment, acquired Denver-based energy efficiency firm EE Building Solutions. The Endeavor Miami startup expects to expand from 40 to about 60 employees as part of the acquisition.
  • EWM Realty International, Miami-Dade County’s largest residential brokerage (by sales), has a new name: Berkshire Hathaway Home Services EWM Realty. -
  • Through a complicated land deal, Adler Group signed a long-term lease with an option to acquire the city of Miami’s current government administration complex and the land it occupies; both are currently owned by the city. Adler plans to develop a nearly $1-billion project called Nexus Riverside with up to four towers.

TECHNOLOGY

  • Miami-based technology school Ironhack raised another $4 million, bringing total funding to $7 million for the nine-campus international school.
  • Investment firm 777 Partners acquired England-based Air Black Box, a technology company that allows airlines to cross-sell partner products and services.

TOURISM

  • Carnival has reached a settlement with federal prosecutors for violating its probation on an earlier environmental offense. The firm will pay a $20-million fine, increase environmental compliance monitoring and funding, submit to more court-appointed oversight, cut its consumption of single-use plastics in half by the end of 2021 and spend at least another $20 million to improve food waste management on its ships. The company pleaded guilty to six charges of violating its probation on a 2016 conviction for dumping oily waste in the ocean and covering it up. The most recent violations included falsifying training records, dumping food waste mixed with plastic into Bahamian waters and rushing to clean up practices ahead of visits by monitors.
  • Royal Caribbean Cruises and Mexico-based ITM Group formed a venture called Holistica, which will be based in Miami and will develop, own and operate resorts and cruise-ship destinations. Its first projects will be in the Bahamas, Mexico, Honduras and Japan. Washington, D.C.-based Brookfield Asset Management paid $46.75 million to purchase the 179-suite Mayfair Hotel & Spa in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood.

 

Read more in Florida Trend's September issue.

Select from the following options:

EXISTING
DIGITAL
SUBSCRIBERS

Access Article Now!

DIGITAL
SINGLE
ISSUE

Get a single DIGITAL copy of this issue

$4.95

PRINT
SINGLE
ISSUE

Get a single PRINT copy of this issue

$4.95
plus $3 postage & handling

PRINT SUBSCRIPTION

One year in PRINT

$14.98*
plus a FREE gift!

DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION

One year DIGITAL

$14.98*
plus a FREE gift!

ALL ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION

One year Combo
PRINT + DIGITAL

$24.95*
plus a FREE gift!


CURRENT  PRINT  SUBSCRIBERS

If you are already a print subscriber,
ADD DIGITAL EDITION ACCESS
to your existing subscription here!
(or call our office at 727-892-2643)

* offer valid for new subscribers only

Tags: Miami-Dade, Feature

Florida Business News

Florida News Releases

Florida Trend Video Pick

Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices
Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices

Central Floirda chocolate shops are left with a bitter taste as cocoa prices hit an all-time high earlier this week.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

Ballot Box

Should Congress ban the popular social media app TikTok in the U.S.?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Need more details
  • What is TikTok?
  • Other (Comment below)

See Results

Florida Trend Media Company
490 1st Ave S
St Petersburg, FL 33701
727.821.5800

© Copyright 2024 Trend Magazines Inc. All rights reserved.