Business News in Coral Gables

PRE-LEASING HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED for the latest mega mid-rise along U.S. 1 south of the Shops at Merrick Park, a $500 million project by Minnesota-based Life Time health and wellness company. Adjacent to Gables Station – and in a joint venture with that complex’s builders (Nolan Reynolds International) – the new building will add 1.2 million square feet of mixed use facilities, including 495 upscale apartments, a 70,000-square foot athletic resort and a 22,000-square foot shared work space.

THE MIAMI DOLPHINS have pledged $75 million to the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center on the UM campus. This is the second major gift to the cancer center; earlier this fall, an anonymous gift of $126 million was made. Both donations will be used to support over 300 doctors and researchers at UM Sylvester. UM will rename the Sylvester Courtyard in honor of the Dolphins Challenger Cancer (DCC) program.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI has announced they are conducting a pilot study for a new, rapid Covid test that examines air droplets from a person’s breath. Similar to the breath test for drunk drivers, the Israeli-produced Covid-19 Breath Analyzer is “as simple as a kazoo—you just blow into it,” says Roy E. Weiss, chair of the Miller School of Medicine Department of Medicine and chief medical officer for COVID-19. “And if it works, it will be a game changer.”