Things To Do In SW Florida

Orlando Health is planning a new 200,000-square-foot corporate office tower near its main campus in Orlando’s SoDo district, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.

Members of the company’s development team and their planning firm, GAI Consultants, held a pre-application meeting with city staff in December to discuss the project, which would rise at 1227 S. Division Ave.

Orlando Health purchased the site in 2018 for $1.6 million from AT&T, which previously operated a small office and a warehouse, both built in 1959, on the site. The hospital also bought the adjacent warehouse at 1309 S. Division Ave., increasing the size of the property to 3.68 acres.

Spokeswoman Kena Lewis said the meeting was fairly routine.

“Orlando Health continually reviews our real estate portfolio and land use regulations governing same,” she said via email. “The meeting to which you’re referring was a part of the normal review process for the downtown Orlando campus to ensure we are able to meet the community’s future healthcare needs. read more

Up the stream

With the 66th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles Sunday, Feb. 4, here’s a look at the modern world of music.

U.S. music formats from 1979 to 2022 according to RIAA

The music business is doing well, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The most current figures are for 2022 and show the most revenue in its history, $15.9 billion.

In 2023, 78% of adults (up from 68% in 2022) used a music streaming service of some kind. According to Global Web Index, Gen Z leads the way with the highest average streaming times, accessing favorite tracks across multiple platforms.Streaming platforms are web-based services that allow users to listen to high-definition music without having to download and store large files.

In 2022 the paid subscription format accounted for 57.8% of total music revenues, with $9.2 billion of a $15.9 billion total.

Vinyl resurgence?

In the 1970s vinyl sales accounted for 66% of music format revenues. But by the 1990s sales dipped to less than 10 million units and 0.1% of market share.

In 2022, vinyl LP sales were $1.2 billion, 7.7% of total revenue (up from 6.9% in 2021). read more

Delayed at least a day because of weather, a NASA satellite that will look at the tiniest parts of the air and ocean is now set for an early Wednesday morning launch from the Space Coast after a years-long path to the launch pad that staved off repeated attempts by the Trump administration to cancel the mission.

The Plankton, Aerosol Cloud Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite was on the chopping block of Trump’s annual proposed NASA budgets several times as he sought to steer funds away from some climate-focused missions and shift money to deep-space efforts.

Now the nearly $1 billion PACE satellite sits atop a Falcon 9 rocket ready for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, delayed from a planned early Tuesday liftoff because of expected high winds at the booster landing site, and now targeting a 1:33 a.m. liftoff Wednesday.

The early morning launch could also bring a loud surprise in the form of a sonic boom to the Space Coast and surrounding counties as the booster for the flight makes a return to Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1 instead of downrange in the Atlantic. read more

By Anna Helhoski | NerdWallet

In the first Federal Reserve meeting of the year, the central bank paused rates for the fourth time in a row Wednesday. More than half a year since the last rate hike, a hoped-for cut could be on the way — but don’t count on it just yet.

No Central Florida restaurants shut down the week of Jan. 28-Feb. 3, according to data from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Complaints and warnings

Orange County had the top spot for most warnings and other complaints in Central Florida, with 29

Volusia County was next with 27, while Brevard had 10, Seminole had 14, Osceola had nine and Lake County had nine. Warnings given with required follow-up inspections could lead to a business being shut down if problems remain.