FYI Miami: August 31, 2023

Bellow are some of the FYIs in this week’s edition. The entire content of this week’s FYIs and Insider sections is available by subscription only. To subscribe click here.

NEW TORONTO-MIAMI LINK: Canadian low-cost air carrier Porter Airlines has announced that it will launch its first service to Miami International Airport on Dec. 12 with daily round-trip flights linking to Toronto Pearson International Airport, using 132-seat all-economy Embraer E 195-E2 aircraft that have no middle seats. “At 603,000 passengers in 2022, Canada was already MIAI’s 10th-busiest international market last year and travel between Canada and MIA is up a whopping 44% this year,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a written statement. “I look forward to seeing Porter Airlines’ daily service from Toronto strengthen that thriving connection.”

AUTO SHOW EV’S: The Miami International Auto Show will focus on electric vehicles and offer rides in EVs from Volkswagen, Ford, Cadillac, GMC, Nissan. Polestar and Rivian at the Miami Beach Convention Center Sept. 1-10. “The focus for the show in 2023 will mirror that of the industry with a special emphasis on electric vehicles and sustainability,” said Debra Koebel, the show manager, in a written statement. The Antique Automobile Club of America’s South Florida Region will feature nearly 50 autos in a Memory Lane exhibit. Admission is $15 for adults, $6 for children 6-12 and free for the little drivers 5 and under. The South Florida Automobile Dealers Association is the show’s sponsor.

SELECTIVE LEAVE: To find enough people to fill out the rosters of selection committees for competitive county contracts, which has been a problem, Miami-Dade commissioners in July asked Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to set up a procedure to give county employees who serve on a selection committee a day of paid administrative leave as an award for doing the work, in addition to regular county pay, and to get the unions representing some of those employees to agree to the change. She reported last week that she had done that. The July legislation noted that the committees include executives, professionals and subject matter experts from within the county and from private or non-profit sectors, other governmental and quasi-governmental organizations and retired executives. They score and rank presenters for county work, with decisions ratified by the mayor’s office and then approved by commissioners.

WALGREENS SELLS BUILDINGS: Miami-based Limestone Asset Management has purchased two buildings fully occupied by Walgreens for a combined $15.615 million in an all-cash deal from the Walgreens Co. One is 17,909 square feet at 2700 W Flagler St. and the other is 14,490 square feet at 780 E Ninth St. in Hialeah. Limestone, founded in Miami in 2010, says it invests in real estate of all types throughout North America.