đŚ Checks and balances
âď¸ Good morning, Sunshine! For you today, (most) banks get their footing, Related extends its reach in West Palm Beach, a magical quiz, Owls for the win, and a Florida rambler.
Todayâs newsletter is a 5-minute read.
đľ First up: Bank holiday
Happy Bank-Stock Bounceback Day to all who celebrate.Â
Well. Small celebration.
Bruised but standing, 11 banks with local branches lost an average 22.3 percent in share price between Wednesday the 8th, the day before Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, and Monday the 13th. They are recovering.Â
Except this one. San Francisco-based First Republic Bank expanded by catering to the wealthy, establishing branches in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens and Palm Beach.Â
It financed seven-figure second homes in Palm Beach. And it famously provided a 1.02 percent mortgage to Facebookâs Mark Zuckerberg.
Hours after being labeled junk by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poorâs last week, its once-lofty $174 share price was in freefall, scraping the floor at $12.14 at yesterdayâs closing bell.
Even the pledge of $30 billion in rescue cash from a consortium of major banks hasnât stabilized Republic.Â
One lesson: Wealth can hurt. On a day last week when trading in Republic shares had to be halted because of volatility, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pointed out that depositors with $250,000 or less in their accounts are less likely to panic. Their money is insured by the FDIC.Â
People with much more money have much more incentive to pull out their cash.Â
First Republicâs lucrative niche catered to high-income clients who had no federal safety net. According to CBS News, 68 percent of Republicâs deposits are not FDIC-insured.Â
Whatâs next: Heading into last evening, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon was leading another round of talks with banks trying to keep Republic from going under.
A short list of villains, near-villains and not-villains triggering the SVB bank run, here.
đRelated buying block in Northwest Neighborhood
We love property records because they donât deal in rumor and innuendo.Â
So itâs a fact that Related Cos. out of New York has dropped $15 million to buy most of a large block in the predominantly Black Historic Northwest Neighborhood, just northwest of Relatedâs major holdings in downtown West Palm Beach.
Related, which built CityPlace in the late 1990s, has crossed the Banyan Boulevard line, which separates downtownâs retail core from the historic Black neighborhood. The block runs between Rosemary and Sapodilla avenues from Banyan to Second Street.
Four single-family homes, two of which were part of the cityâs scattered-site Rosemary Village revitalization project, remain on the block but are fenced off and appear vacant.
Related wonât announce plans for the site but itâs right next to The Grand, a 309-unit affordable housing rental complex nearing completion, and two blocks from the nearly finished eight-story Flagler Station, 94 affordable rental units at Banyan and Tamarind Avenue.
The buyer is Banyan & Rosemary Acquisition, which lists its address as the 72nd floor of 30 Hudson Yards, a Manhattan skyscraper built by the Related Cos, which is headquartered on the 72nd floor. Related is headed by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, who most recently figured in the dispute over a downtown West Palm campus for the University of Florida.
Relatedâs buy covers 1.7 acres and was assembled from four owners between May and December 2022.
A key half-acre corner not in Relatedâs hands belongs to Florida Public Utilities, which operated a manufactured gas plant there from 1916 to 1959. Itâs a brownfield that has undergone years of cleanup and, while a spokeswoman said work continues as needed under state and local regs, she added âpurchase offers are being considered.â
Itâs a compelling opportunity since the company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities Corp. (NYSE: CPK), also owns 1.6 vacant acres immediately to the west.Â
The final pieces to assembling the entire block are unlikely to be a hurdle. They are owned by the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency âan abandoned railroad spur and the northeast corner of Banyan and Sapodilla.
đ Quiz: The wonderful world of Gardens
Today, Mouse meets Grumpy. When Walt Disney was mulling over building his Disney World in Palm Beach County, crusty Palm Beach Gardens founder John D. MacArthur took the genial creator of Mickey Mouse on his own version of Mr. Toadâs Wild Ride. What did the two men do?
After first disguising Disney in old clothes, they chowed down with truckers at a beer and barbecue joint.
Driving his Cadillac through fields and scrub, MacArthur hit a tree stump, bouncing his pricey sedan â and Disney â and ripping out the Caddieâs hydraulics.
After a hot day of driving, MacArthur stopped by an old limestone borrow pit and went skinny dipping. Disney hesitated. He was worried about security.
đ FAUâs NCAA tourney win was historic
Duke isnât going. Kentucky isnât going. Heck, Florida didnât even get invited to the dance.Â
But the Florida Atlantic University Owls are in the Sweet 16. Â
FAU advanced Sunday night with a gutsy victory over everyoneâs tournament darling, the upset-minded 16th-seed Fairleigh Dickinson University out of New Jersey. FAU will play Tennessee on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
And guess what? The University of Miami is in the final 16 as well. Theyâll be taking on top-ranked Houston Friday night in Kansas City.
And itâs not just the men. Miami women led by as much as 14 over No. 1 seed Indiana before breaking a tie with 6 seconds left last night to move on to the teamâs first Sweet 16 since 1992. The Hurricanes will play Friday against Villanova, which knocked out Florida Gulf Coast University last night.
Back to the men: Two of the tourneyâs top 16 hail from South Florida. When has that ever happened before?
Well, since FAU has only been to the tourney once before and never advanced this far, and Florida International University has made only one tournament appearance, way back in 1995, and lost, it likely has never happened.Â
Could it be an all South Florida menâs college basketball championship game in Houston April 3? Itâs a long, long shot but, hey, theyâre on opposite ends of the brackets, so, in a word, yes.
đ 561 insider: An ode to the Florida Rambler
Mild temperatures, longer days and blue skies mean itâs spring break in Palm Beach County and the peak time for us to wander the peninsula. Of course, everyone else in America seems to have the same idea.
Florida Rambler to the rescue. This site is filled with frequently updated quality information about the wild and natural part of our home state.Â
Journalist Bonnie Gross founded Florida Rambler in 2010 with colleague Bob Roundtree, shortly after they left notable careers at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Today, the Rambler features a popular and robust festival calendar, tons of getaways and day trips and even regular updates on red tide. Readers can also detect an affection for the parts of old Florida that have endured.
Most Florida rambles can be experienced without great expense.
âThey are kind of the antithesis of commercial,â Gross said. âThey donât get advertised and promoted because they are not activities that are going to generate a lot of revenue.â
Of note: Bonnie, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, describes herself as the one in the office who was always advising people on what they had to see when they went on vacation. That could be why the Rambler has the feel of news from a friend.
Stet favorites include camping in the Dry Tortugas, bicycling the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, and the siteâs detailed information about visiting the Everglades.
đĽď¸ đłď¸ âľď¸Rub shoulders with yacht brokers and 55,000 of their potential customers starting Thursday at the Palm Beach International Boat Show along Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach. More than 800 watercraft are expected. The Robb Report reviews the nine most exciting superyachts expected at the show, which runs through Sunday. Tickets start at $31.
đłď¸âđ Palm Beach Pride will welcome an estimated 35,000 people this weekend to Bryant Park in Lake Worth Beach to celebrate the LGBTQ community, equality and respect. Admission to the park is $10 in advance, $12 at the gate.
This newsletter was updated to correct the first name of Mark Zuckerberg in the first item. Thank you to Stet reader Eric W. for pointing out our error.
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