FYI Miami: April 6, 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.

FPL RATES TO DIP: The state Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved a break to Florida Power & Light customers because of lower-than-expected natural gas prices. It will reduce bills starting in May and partially offset increases that began in April. After natural gas costs soared last year, FPL filed a petition March 1 that said natural gas prices are expected to be lower than projected, so FPL proposed lower bills during the rest of 2023. South Floridians who use 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity will see monthly bills drop from $144.38 to $139.95, according to the Public Service Commission.

HOTEL COLONNADE SOLD: Hotel Colonnade Coral Gables, a 157-room hotel at 180 Aragon Ave., has been sold by Pebblebrook Hotel Trust to an unidentified buyer. JLL brokered the sale. The hotel, with more than 34,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space, underwent an $18 million property-wide renovation in 2016 and was repositioned as a luxury lifestyle hotel. The attached Colonnade building on Miracle Mile was designed by Phineas Paist and was completed in November 1926 as the headquarters for George Merrick’s Coral Gables Corporation as the sales office for the then-new community. The hotel was created in a 1989 development by Intercap Investments as part of a three-building, 600,000-square-foot hotel-office-retail complex.

NAMED TO FIU BOARD: Gov. Ron DeSantis has named to the Florida International University Board of Trustees Alan Gonzalez of Miami Lakes, who is the principal information technology systems administrator for NextEra Florida Power and Light Co. Mr. Gonzalez received a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s in business administration from FIU.

PILOT 12-MONTH SCHOOLS: A proposal began moving forward Tuesday in the Florida Senate that would create a year-round school pilot program at a limited number of elementary schools. The Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee unanimously approved the measure. The pilot program would launch next school year and would be authorized for four years. The state education commissioner would choose five school districts to participate.

LATER SCHOOL STARTS: Many Florida high-school students would have their school start times pushed back under a measure approved Friday by the House that would prevent middle schools from beginning the “instructional day” earlier than 8 a.m., while high schools would be barred from starting the school day before 8:30 a.m. The changes would have to go into effect by July 2026.