Region desk
Naples
Collier County. A new Gulf-front house in Naples sold for $69.4M in October on a piece of beach that sold for $870,000 in 1985, county records show. An online charter school that its state audit calls a component unit of the Collier County School Board, and whose income includes $2,085,648 on a budget line marked “Referendum,” which The Floridian describes as a Collier County school referendum, lists $15.7M of its $16.1M as due to Erika Donalds’s company. A Citizens shortfall after Isaias can be billed statewide, Naples policies included. If you underwrite houses in Naples, Florida’s Forbes 400 names are your comps and your counterparties.
Naples stories
- Houses · CollierA Naples beach lot sold for $870,000 in 1985. With a new house, it just sold for $69.4 millionThe seller, a land trust, paid about $30 million for the Gulf-front property in 2022. A new house went up, and the trust just sold the house and land for more than twice that.
- Politics · NaplesByron Donalds's wife's firm gets most of a charter school's tax moneyA Collier County online charter school plans to pay about $15.7 million this school year, nearly all its money, to OptimaEd, the Naples company of Erika Donalds. Her husband, Byron Donalds, is the Republican running for governor, the office that signs the state budget behind part of that money.
Statewide read-across
- Politics · TallahasseeRealtors gave $21.5 million to pass Amendment 3. One Gainesville firm got 98 cents of each dollar spentNearly all of the Realtors' campaign spending has gone to SGS Inc., a Gainesville firm that Orlando Weekly reports is owned by longtime GOP operative Patrick Bainter. Three committees fight the measure, and one was formed by Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, CubaHeadlines reported.
- Teams · TallahasseeFlorida State fires Mike Norvell and takes on a buyout that runs to 2031The team had three wins and five losses this season, after two seasons without a bowl game, the postseason reward for enough wins. Reports put the public university's bill at about $47 million to $50 million, and no record yet says whose money pays it.
- Politics · TallahasseeJolly asks Byron Donalds to pledge to divest his family's school firms. Erika Donalds calls it sexistFlorida picks a governor Tuesday, Nov. 3, and Democrat David Jolly wants Republican Byron Donalds to give up his family's interests in charter school companies if he wins. Erika Donalds, Byron's wife, runs those companies and says they are hers, not his.
- Houses · StatewideUthmeier sues the firm behind home-listing flood scores, calling them deceptiveFlorida's attorney general says First Street's scores call some homes major flood risks where federal flood maps show minimal hazard, and cost sellers sales. First Street has not answered, and no court has ruled.
- Politics · TallahasseeKalshi and the Seminole Tribe paid Byron Donalds's PAC on the same dayDonalds's PAC, a political committee that takes donations, got $500,000 from the tribe and $250,000 from Kalshi on Oct. 13. Five days earlier, the tribe backed New Jersey against Kalshi at the Supreme Court.
- Politics · TallahasseeSenate President Albritton will vote no on Amendment 3, the tax cut his Senate put on the ballotBen Albritton voted for the property tax cut in June. Now he opposes it, while Realtor groups pay for the campaign to pass it.
- Storm money · PanhandlePensacola’s Isaias cleanup: DeSantis asks Trump for a major disaster declaration, and Escambia reverses its administrator to bring back its biggest debris haulerFlorida has asked President Trump for a major disaster declaration covering Public Assistance in 15 Panhandle counties and Individual Assistance in eight, Escambia among them; FEMA’s data still showed no approval on Oct. 18 (Executive Office of the Governor; Florida Division of Emergency Management; OpenFEMA). Escambia commissioners voted Oct. 15 to put AshBritt back on debris pickup, with Commissioner Steven Barry voting no, after Administrator Wes Moreno had cut the county to two haulers; the county’s repair bill is about $64 million, $54.87 million of it debris removal (WEAR-TV). Moody’s RMS now puts U.S. private insured losses at $2.5 billion to $4.5 billion, best estimate $3.5 billion (Moody’s; Artemis). Citizens had 9,052 policies and $3.56 billion of exposure in eight Panhandle coastal counties as of Aug. 31 (Citizens).
- People · StatewideBezos is still Florida’s richest, and Blue Origin wants 50 Cape launches a year and new Space Coast padsForbes still ranks Jeff Bezos Florida’s No. 1, at about $370B on its Oct. 18 real-time mark. Blue Origin has asked the FAA to raise New Glenn launches at Cape Canaveral from 12 to 50 a year (public meeting Oct. 22, comments by Oct. 30), and on Oct. 16 it said it will add Space Coast launch pads and spend $330M on a production expansion (FAA; Reuters; Spaceflight Now). Behind him: Ellison, Peterffy, Griffin, Ross and Jaguars owner Shad Khan; Griffin has given Byron Donalds’ PAC $10M and Peterffy $1.2M (Division of Elections).
- Politics · StatewideByron Donalds’ PAC has now sent Florida’s GOP $35 million, $4 million of it this monthThrough Oct. 9, Donalds’ PAC had spent $99.6M by our sum of state records, including $35M to the Republican Party of Florida in 11 payments ($4M on Oct. 5). With his campaign account he has spent $110.7M, which Florida Politics puts at “more than $110 million.” GEO Group and Fighting for Florida’s Families each gave the PAC $1M in the week ended Oct. 9. Polls reported Oct. 13 run from Donalds up 11 to a tie (Division of Elections; Florida Politics; Newsweek). The Seminole Tribe, which has given Donalds’ PAC $5.5M, is suing DraftKings, whose subsidiary gave the PAC $500,000.
- Teams · Tampa BayRays bond vote ties 3-3, then a sick councilman dials in to pass itTampa City Council deadlocked 3-3 on Thursday, Oct. 15, on asking a judge to approve up to $80 million in bonds for the city’s share of the Rays ballpark. Then Bill Carlson, absent with a stomach bug, joined virtually and it passed 4-3, with Lynn Hurtak, Charlie Miranda and Guido Maniscalco voting no (Tampa Bay Times; Florida Politics). The vote borrows nothing. Issuing bonds takes a separate council vote, the city attorney says Tampa is obligated for the $80 million either way, and the first $20 million payment is due in January (City of Tampa; Florida Politics). A binding vote on the community benefits deal is set for Oct. 29, per FOX 13. Meanwhile the Rays won Games 4 and 5 in Cleveland to lead the ALCS 3-2, with Game 6 at the Trop Monday night (MLB Stats API).
- Houses · Palm Beach CountyLarry Ellison and WeatherTech’s David MacNeil split the Manalapan lot next door, then kept buyingOracle’s Larry Ellison paid an MLS-reported $34.4M for the southern 2.15 acres at 1960 S. Ocean Blvd. It sits beside the estate and island parcel he bought together in 2022 on a recorded $173M entry, then a Florida record. As of Oct. 18 no deed has posted for either half of the split. WeatherTech’s David MacNeil took the northern slice for $32M and has spent $136.32M assembling three properties. Up the coast, Ellison has listed his Seminole Landing estate at a North Palm Beach record $165M.