INNOVATION

Mapping Florida

For 12 years, Hadley Doyle-González and her pilot husband, Jorge, ran a business based in Palm Beach County towing airplane banners. That led them to the idea of using their flight skills and manned and unmanned aircraft — she’s a drone pilot — to gather infrastructure data for utilities.

Their SMG Delivering Data is more than a third of the way through flying over Florida’s 65,000 square miles with cameras, lidar, thermal and multi-spectral sensors to map within 1.5 centimeters everything from store sites to 5G towers to water inundation. Think of it as Google Earth, only done in-atmosphere, to high resolution and updated every six months.

The data creates “by-product data” that is then sold to utilities, government, telecoms and other major enterprises.

SMG — sky, mobile, ground — is profitable, Doyle-González says. Revenue from the platform through which it sells data in bulk or by subscription should grow 440% this year, she says.

After Florida, the couple expects to map Texas and Louisiana. Covering entire states sounds daunting as do the company’s growth plans, but Doyle-González makes it sound doable. “We’re very risk averse. We’re pilots, right?”

HEALTH CARE

• Fort Lauderdale-based Holy Cross health system closed its home health services unit in Oakland Park, laying off 47.
• Fort Lauderdale-based Convey Health Solutions closed its Pompano Beach distribution site, laying off 89.
• CVS’ Coram infusion services unit closed its Miramar care facility, laying off 71.

MANUFACTURING

• Optical lab company VSP Vision shut its Fort Lauderdale plant, laying off 43.

EDUCATION

• The Florida Atlantic University Foundation raised $81.24 million in the 2022 fiscal year, breaking its $57 million record set in 2021. The new record includes $28 million from John and Ann Wood for student scholarships at the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine.
• Indian River State College broke ground on a new charter career and workforce education school, Indiantown High School, in Martin County. The state budget included $5 million for the project.

REAL ESTATE

• Miami-based Estate Cos. won Pompano Beach city approval for Soleste Pompano Beach, an eight-story, 253-unit apartment project with 4,000 square feet of commercial space on Federal Highway.
• New York-based Savanna Fund proposes building residential project Olara in two waterfront towers, one 26 stories and the other 28 stories, on North Flagler Drive north of downtown West Palm Beach.
• Grover Corlew plans to break ground in August on Mayla Cypress Creek, a 312-unit, seven-story apartment project on a site acquired on the Citrix campus just west of I-95 in Fort Lauderdale. New Yorkbased Kushner Cos. and Denverbased Aimco propose building Fort Lauderdale’s tallest tower at 200 W. Broward Blvd. near the Brightline passenger station. At 48 stories with 381 apartments, the tower would top out at 572 feet. They also plan a second, slightly shorter tower, also 48 stories. The city’s tallest tower is 100 Las Olas at 499 feet and 46 stories. Meanwhile, local developer Merrimac Ventures plans a 30-story, 289-unit residential tower, ArtsPark Lofts, in Flagler Village while Hudson Capital and Barron Real Estate propose the 241-unit, 30-story Flagler Residences North on Federal Highway.
• Oko Group and Cain International broke ground on 34-story, 251-unit One River Fort Lauderdale, a luxury apartment tower downtown. Delivery is scheduled for 2024.

HOSPITALITY

• The Colony Palm Beach hotel laid off 135 as it closed for renovation.

FINANCIAL

• Marine Bank CEO Bill Penney became chairman of the Florida Bankers Association. He’s a past-chair of the Indian River Chamber of Commerce, the Indian River Economic Development Council and United Way of Indian River County.
• Hedge fund Citadel, managed by billionaire and Palm Beach property owner Ken Griffin, took office space on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach for employees who live on the island. Citadel relocated from Chicago to the Miami area.

GOVERNMENT

• Florida Drawbridges, which contracts with the state to serve as drawbridge tenders on Florida’s east coast, agreed to pay $8.27 million to the family of retired journalist and former Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s office spokeswoman Carol Wright who fell to her death in February after a bridge tender opened a bridge connecting Palm Beach and West Palm Beach as Wright was crossing. The family used part of the settlement to establish a scholarship at the University of Miami, Wright’s alma mater. The company agreed to make changes to ensure bridge tenders follow rules such as visually checking for pedestrians and vehicles before opening spans. The span operator on duty when Wright died faces a manslaughter charge.