SPOTLIGHT
Jay Foreman, CEO and majority shareholder of Boca Raton-based toy company Basic Fun, had an upbeat message from the 2023 industry show in Los Angeles. The prior three years had been “one wild ride” with the pandemic, supply chain troubles, overstocked inventory and a consumer pullback. But, he said, “I get the distinct feeling that we’ve turned a corner. … I feel like 2024 offers our best chance in years to see some normalcy coming back in the market, which would be a welcome reprieve from years of tumult and turmoil.”
Or not. Basic Fun filed for bankruptcy court protection in June to restructure its debt.
Foreman built the company through acquisitions of rights to such iconic brands as Tonka, Tinker Toy, Uncle Milton STEM Toys, Lite Brite, Care Bears, K’Nex, Littlest Pet Shop and Lincoln Logs, which were developed by the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. A recent hit was Mash-ems.
Basic Fun got mashed itself by the 2018 bankruptcy of Toys R Us, which left Basic Fun holding $6 million in receivables it couldn’t collect. Then came the aforementioned industry string of woe.
EDUCATION
- The Broward School Board settled a suit from local charter schools by agreeing to pay them $108 million by 2025. Voters approved a referendum in 2018 to pay more taxes to fund schools but the district didn’t share the money with the charters as required.
- Home Depot founder Bernard Marcus’ Marcus Foundation donated $2 million to fund the Marcus Research and Innovation Center at the A.D. Henderson University School and FAU High, both on the Boca Raton campus. The center will add 12,000 square feet of STEM and research space at the FAU lab schools. Funds also will provide research instruments not typically found at K-12 schools. Center labs will cover bioimaging, neuroscience, ocean science, conservation and health care. Boca is also the site of the Marcus Neuroscience Institute at Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital and the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at FAU.
ENERGY
- West Palm Beach-based solar power storage company Electriq Power Holdings saw its assets sold off at auction after filing for bankruptcy court liquidation. The California-founded company went public in 2023 with a valuation of $495 million via a special purpose acquisition company based in West Palm Beach.
LOGISTICS
- Fort Lauderdale-based BBX Logistics Properties broke ground on a $121-million, 600,000-sq.-ft. warehouse center called The Park at Delray on a site in the Palm Beach County Agricultural Reserve, a 22,000-acre area west of Delray, Boca and Boynton Beach.
- BBX Logistics and Jacksonville-based FRP Development acquired an 11.3-acre site in Davie holding the Signature Grand hotel, once a popular spot for weddings, homecomings, youth orchestra annual luncheons and other events. They will tear down the hotel and construct 182,000 square feet of logistics space called The Park at Davie. The site on State Road 84 fronts I-595 with its connections to I-95, I-75, Florida’s Turnpike, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades. Completion is scheduled for 2025.
REAL ESTATE
- Key Biscayne-based Latitude Group broke ground on The Terraces, a 10-story, 22-unit condo on Orton Avenue on Fort Lauderdale’s barrier island. Linkvest Capital provided the $24.5-million construction loan. Altamonte Springs-based Wendover Housing Partners and Miami-based Pinnacle opened their 112-unit affordable housing development Berkeley Landing in Riviera Beach. It’s for people earning 30% to 80% of area median income. Daren Metropoulos, owner of what was once the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles and the son of a billionaire, paid $148 million for Addison Mizner-designed Amado, a 13,127-sq.-ft. oceanfront home on a 3.2-acre estate on Billionaire’s Row in Palm Beach. The seller was the Pencer family of Quebec.
TECH
- Boca Raton-based ADT laid off 73 IT workers. Innovation Solutions, a cloud services company, put a corporate headquarters in Boca Raton after signing a $60,000 incentives deal with the city. The company says it could hire as many as 100 employees over time. It also lists headquarters in West Henrietta, N.Y., and Austin, Texas.
TRANSPORTATION
- Broward County hired Massachusetts Port Authority executive Joseph Morris as port director at Port Everglades, Broward’s seaport, succeeding Jonathan Daniels, who left for the Maryland Port Administration and Port of Baltimore.