FYI Miami: March 21, 2024

Below 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.

WEEKLY WAGE DIPS: The average weekly wage in Miami-Dade County fell 1.2% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the same quarter of 2022 but it still was highest in the state at $1,339, just above the national average of $1,334. No other Florida county had average pay as high as the national average, according to figures released Tuesday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Palm Beach County was second in the state at $1,330, with no change from a year prior. The lowest among Florida’s largest 26 counties was Osceola at $937. San Mateo, CA, topped the nation with average weekly wagers of $3,288. Among Florida’s smaller 41 counties, Monroe had the highest wage average at $1,059. 

AIRPORT-SEAPORT TRANSIT: The Transportation Planning Organization last week approved with no discussion a request by board member Danielle Cohen Higgins for Executive Director Aileen Bouclé to develop a budget to study the feasibility of creating direct transit service between Miami International Airport and PortMiami. Such a link has been sought in Miami-Dade County for at least four decades.

AIR FLIGHT PATTERNS: Miami International Airport is one of 347 organizations attending Routes America 2024, the air service and development forum for the Americas, in Bogotá, Colombia, this week. The forum will discuss an estimated annual air passenger count for the region of more than 850 million by 2040. Miami International Airport is estimating 77 million of that total passing through Miami that year. 

SPRING BREAK FLYING SOARS: In the first 16 days of this month Miami International Airport served 12.3 million passengers, up 9.6% from the same spring break traffic the county had last year, when the airport broke passenger records. The airport is projecting 170,000 passengers per day for the rest of the month as county elementary schools begin spring break March 22 and Easter weekend travels boost traffic at the end of the month.

BRICKELL KEY LAND RUSH: Swire Properties sketched what is planned when they tear down the Mandarin Oriental hotel on Brickell Key to build an 800-foot-plus residential building along with a 400-foot-tall replacement hotel. The residential tower’s 228 units are to start at $4.9 million apiece for the smallest units, which will put the total list price for the tower at well north of $1.2 billion. Full details are to come later in the spring, at which time buyers will be allowed to get in line for “the final opportunity to own a new residence on Brickell Key.”