Florida leaders offered $3 billion to property insurers. $2.2 billion wasn’t claimed.
More than two-thirds of the $3 billion set aside by the Florida Legislature to shore up the state’s collapsing property insurance industry has gone untouched since it first became available in 2022. Many insurance companies, which asked the Legislature for help, have mostly steered clear of that money. Industry analysts said it only covered a small part of their hurricane losses or was too expensive compared with the reinsurance they could get in the private market. Insurers had to reduce rates to get the money. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Want to try Florida’s only 2-star Michelin restaurant? Now there’s a cheaper way
L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Miami’s Design District understands that such a meal can be intimidating and/or prohibitively expensive. So the modern French restaurant, famous for its luxurious tasting menus, is launching a lunch menu two days a week as a less terrifying entry point for the curious. This is the first time the brand has offered a lunch option in the United States, said executive chef James Friedberg, who has led the kitchen at the Miami restaurant since 2020. More from the Miami Herald.
Amid cybersecurity boom, Boca startup Securily sees major growth
$2 trillion. That’s the addressable market McKinsey sees for cybersecurity technology and service providers. (For context, that’s more than the GDP of Canada or Brazil.) The story behind these big figures, in short, is that cybersecurity is on the rise. An increasingly digital-first way of working, coupled with rapidly-advancing innovations like AI, has created an environment where cybercrime can thrive. More from Refresh Miami.
Raymond James recruits $900M St. Pete adviser team from Wells Fargo
Raymond James snagged a group of tenured Wells Fargo financial advisers in St. Petersburg in another recruitment win for the firm’s $1.4 trillion wealth management division. The four-member team — Emmanuel Lelekis, Sharon Ellis-Champagne, Brian Kilczewski and Chadd Eaton — managed over $900 million in client assets at Wells Fargo Advisors. More from the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
Kissimmee hopes to reinvent aging Vine Street corridor
Kissimmee is taking a new approach to help solve a problem that’s not — reinventing the city’s aging, motel-laden corridor. The city is collaborating with the Orlando Economic Partnership (OEP) in a pilot program to breathe new life into Vine Street by attracting larger businesses to the area. The partnership is part of the city’s plan to continue growing despite having only 850 acres of undeveloped land left. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Profile
Clay County documentarian: Retro computers are things of beauty and fascination
David Greelish's love for what we now think of as retro computers began when the machines were quite new: In a 1975 trip to the University of North Florida computer lab, when he was in the fifth grade. He remembers the mainframe computer wasn't visible to the students, but there were all those teletype printer terminals — they looked like big typewriters — and he remembers the thrilling sound of all the machines coming to life at the same time.
» More from the Florida Times-Union.
Sports Business
Sailing factory
The City of Pensacola recently signed a 10-year lease with the American Magic international yacht racing team that will provide the group with an indoor boat building site at the Port of Pensacola. American Magic is representing the United States in the America’s Cup sailing competition this fall in Barcelona, Spain.
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