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Friday, May 21
NAPLES BEACH HOTEL & GOLF CLUB CLOSES SUNDAY AFTER NEARLY 75 YEARS
After a nearly 75-year run, Sunday, May 23, will be the final day for the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club. The legendary Naples landmark resort, owned and operated by three generations of the Watkins family since 1946, will be redeveloped as a Four Seasons hotel. The Athens Group plans to purchase and redevelop the historic 125-acre beachfront golf, spa and tennis resort. In addition to a 220-room luxury hotel, Athens plans condominiums, restaurants, retail shops, a golf course and other recreational facilities.
Thursday, May 20
Video courtesy of WINK News
SMALL BUSINESSES EVALUATE MASK POLICIES AFTER NEW CDC GUIDELINES
The latest chapter in the mask debate could be turning small businesses against new CDC guidelines released last week stating that vaccinated people don’t have to wear masks indoors. This swift change of course has left some businesses and shoppers not knowing what to do or believe. Should they trust people will follow guidelines and mask up if they aren’t vaccinated or continue telling everyone to wear one? Small business owners especially are all over the place with these guidelines. One store clerk says they took down their “mask up” sign as soon as the CDC guidance came out last week. Other stores will continue to require customers to wear masks, WINK News reports.
Wednesday, May 19
Video courtesy of WINK News
FORT MYERS CITY COUNCIL SAYS FMPD WON’T MERGE WITH LEE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Fort Myers Police Department will continue serving the city of Fort Myers. This comes after a lengthy discussion and more than 100 people showing up to the Fort Myers City Council meeting Monday in support of the police department. A lot of people from different backgrounds spoke in favor of the police. Not a single person who spoke wants the police department to be merged with Lee County Sheriff’s Office. Many speakers wondered why this was a topic on the agenda in the first place. Councilman Fred Burson asked for the discussion after Police Chief Derrick Diggs applied for the police chief position in Columbus, Ohio, WINK News reports.
Tuesday, May 18
AAA: COLONIAL PIPELINE FULLY OPERATIONAL; FLORIDA GAS STATIONS RECOVERING FROM DELUGE OF FUEL DEMAND
Florida gas prices have held relatively steady even after last week’s Colonial Pipeline outage led to a deluge of gasoline demand, AAA reports. The state average price for gasoline is $2.89 per gallon. That’s one cent more than a week ago and two cents less than this year’s highest price of $2.91 per gallon, set back in March, according to AAA. Florida filling stations are still recovering from surging demand last week. Gasoline sales were reportedly two to three times stronger than normal, as drivers lined up at pumps to top off their tanks. Although Tallahassee is the only major market directly serviced by the Colonial Pipeline, outages were reported at various filling stations throughout the state due to “panic buying.” The Bainbridge terminals are once again receiving gasoline from the Colonial Pipeline, which should help restore normal supply patterns for the Tallahassee market. Statewide, Florida ports continue receiving gasoline deliveries. Ninety percent of the state’s gasoline is delivered via cargo ships.
Monday, May 17
HERTZ SELECTS $6 BILLION BID TO FUND CHAPTER 11 EXIT
Following the completion of the auction previously approved by the bankruptcy court in its Chapter 11 case, Estero-based Hertz Global Holdings Inc. has selected and approved a revised proposal from certain funds and accounts managed by affiliates of each of Knighthead Capital Management LLC, Certares Opportunities LLC and Apollo Capital Management LP to provide the equity capital required to fund Hertz’s revised plan of reorganization and exit from Chapter 11. The proposed agreements with the KHCA Group were approved at a hearing Friday. Under the revised proposal, Hertz’s Chapter 11 plan will be funded through direct common stock investments from the KHCA Group and certain co-investors aggregating $2.781 billion, the issuance of $1.5 billion of new preferred stock to Apollo, and a fully backstopped rights offering to the company’s existing shareholders to purchase $1.635 billion of additional common stock. The revised plan would provide for the payment in cash in full of all administrative, priority, secured and unsecured claims in the Chapter 11 cases and would deliver significant value to the company’s shareholders, including $239 million of cash, common stock representing 3% of the shares of the reorganized company, and 30-year warrants for 18% of the common stock of the reorganized company.
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