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  • Miami Spice Turns 25 With 300 Restaurants and a New $95 Reserve Tier

    Miami Spice Turns 25 With 300 Restaurants and a New $95 Reserve Tier

    MIAMI — Miami Spice, the region’s signature summer dining program, is marking its 25th anniversary with its largest footprint yet: more than 300 restaurants across Greater Miami are serving discounted three-course prix-fixe menus from Aug. 1 through Sept. 30, according to program details from the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, which organizes the annual event.

    This year’s pricing lineup includes $40 brunch and lunch menus and dinners at $50 and $65 — all representing a minimum of 30% off regular prices, per the bureau.

    The headline change for the milestone year is the debut of Miami Spice Reserve, a new $95-and-up tier built for the city’s most elevated dining rooms, offering prix-fixe and tasting-menu experiences at restaurants that have historically sat out the program’s standard price points.

    Michelin Names and First-Timers on the List

    The 2026 roster leans on the city’s growing Michelin credentials. Participating restaurants recognized by the guide include L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Stubborn Seed, Ariete, Cote Korean Steakhouse, Le Jardinier, Azabu, Double Luck and Tâm Tâm. First-time participants this year include Maple & Ash, Grand Public Kitchen & Bar, Da Angelino and The Mexican.

    Diners can browse the full list of participating restaurants by neighborhood — from Brickell and Wynwood to Coral Gables and Miami Beach — via Miami New Times’ neighborhood-by-neighborhood guide.

    The anniversary edition also comes with a slate of partnerships. Wine pairings this year feature Louis Pommery California sparkling wine and Château La Gordonne rosé, and the program has lined up limited-edition collaborations with The Tank Brewing Co., hot sauce maker Tabañero and Voodoo Doughnut. Uber Eats is offering in-app Miami Spice deals at select restaurants for diners who would rather stay home. The program also carries a charitable component benefiting Camillus House, which provides services to people experiencing homelessness across South Florida.

    Launched in the early 2000s to pull diners into restaurants during the slow, sweltering late summer, Miami Spice has grown into a two-month institution that doubles as an annual census of the city’s dining scene — and a rare window when tables at some of Miami’s most sought-after restaurants are both available and affordable.

    Reservations at the marquee names tend to disappear fastest in September, once the returning seasonal crowd catches on. The program runs through Sept. 30, with menus and participating restaurants listed on the visitors bureau’s Miami Spice site.

  • Inter Miami Crashes Out of Leagues Cup Group Stage Despite Messi’s Return

    Inter Miami Crashes Out of Leagues Cup Group Stage Despite Messi’s Return

    MIAMI — Inter Miami’s 2026 Leagues Cup is over before the knockout rounds. The Herons were eliminated from the tournament’s first phase after a 3-2 home loss to Liga MX side Club León on Aug. 12, World Soccer Talk reported — the club’s worst showing in the competition since Lionel Messi’s arrival in July 2023.

    Inter Miami finished Phase One with just three points from three matches, short of the top-four finish among MLS clubs required to advance to the knockout stage of the cross-league tournament between MLS and Liga MX.

    The campaign had opened with promise. On Aug. 5, Inter Miami came from behind to beat Atlético de San Luis 4-2, with Messi scoring twice, according to the club’s match recap. The brace made Messi the all-time leading scorer in Leagues Cup history with 14 goals, moving him past LAFC forward Denis Bouanga.

    A Late Collapse Against León

    A 2-1 loss to Monterrey followed, with Messi absent while in Argentina following the death of his father. He returned for the León match as a halftime substitute and was active — registering five shot attempts, three on target, and four key passes — but could not find a goal or assist.

    Inter Miami twice led the match. Daniel Pinter opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, and after Daniel Arcila equalized for León in the 50th, Yannick Bright restored the lead three minutes later. But Juan Domínguez leveled in the 61st minute and Arcila struck again in the 83rd to complete the comeback and send the visitors through at the hosts’ expense.

    The early exit is a sharp reversal in a competition Inter Miami has historically treated as its own. The club won the inaugural Leagues Cup in 2023 — Messi’s first trophy in pink — reached the Round of 16 in 2024, and made the final in 2025 before falling 3-0 to Seattle.

    The loss also spoils a tournament the club hoped to showcase at its new home. Both home matches were played at Nu Stadium, where Inter Miami opened its 2026 campaign after years at Fort Lauderdale’s Chase Stadium.

    With continental cup play off the calendar, Inter Miami’s focus now shifts fully to the MLS regular season and the race for playoff positioning — and to managing the workload of a 39-year-old Messi through the stretch run. For South Florida fans, the consolation is straightforward: no midweek cup dates means more of Messi in league play at home.

  • Compliance Startup Comp AI Opens Aventura Headquarters, Plans 20 Hires

    Compliance Startup Comp AI Opens Aventura Headquarters, Plans 20 Hires

    AVENTURA — Comp AI, an artificial intelligence-powered compliance and security startup, has opened its new headquarters in Aventura and plans to hire about 20 employees over the next 100 days, Refresh Miami reported — the latest AI company to plant its flag in South Florida.

    Founded in 2025, Comp AI helps startups and growth-stage software companies automate security and compliance requirements through continuous monitoring and AI-assisted workflows. The company says it has grown from zero to 900 customers and from zero to more than $7 million in annual recurring revenue in the past 14 months.

    The company relocated to South Florida in February 2026 and announced the Aventura headquarters at the end of July. Co-founder and CEO Lewis Carhart plans to move to the Miami area within months, joining CTO Mariano Fuentes and COO Claudio Fuentes, who have already relocated.

    “Miami has quickly become the center of gravity for Comp AI,” Carhart told Refresh Miami. “Our largest cluster of employees is here, our hiring focus is here.”

    From 7 Local Employees to 50 by Year’s End

    Comp AI currently has seven employees in South Florida and 23 worldwide, and it expects to grow to roughly 50 people by the end of 2026. The near-term hiring push targets product, engineering, marketing and growth, finance and operations roles.

    The company’s 6,000-square-foot office in the Aventura View building is getting about $200,000 in renovations, with plans that include flexible workspaces, a lounge with a racing simulator and — in a flourish befitting an AI company — a humanoid robot receptionist.

    The move adds to a steady drumbeat of AI firms choosing South Florida for their headquarters. London-based AI company Acclaim recently selected Miami as its global headquarters as part of a U.S. expansion, according to Refresh Miami, and AI infrastructure firms including Hut 8 and Hydra Host have been expanding their Miami operations this year.

    The headquarters decisions come amid a strong funding backdrop for the region. Startups across the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro raised nearly $2 billion in venture capital during the first half of 2026, with fintech and AI among the leading sectors in the second quarter, according to PitchBook data.

    For Aventura, better known for its mall than its startups, landing a fast-growing AI company’s headquarters is a small but telling signal: South Florida’s tech geography is spreading beyond Brickell and Wynwood, following talent — and founders — up the coast into northeast Miami-Dade.

  • Hut 8 Grows Miami Headquarters With Larger Brickell Office and AI Hiring Push

    Hut 8 Grows Miami Headquarters With Larger Brickell Office and AI Hiring Push

    MIAMI — Hut 8, the AI infrastructure company headquartered in Miami, is preparing to move into a new Brickell office roughly five times larger than its current space as it ramps up local hiring, Refresh Miami reported — a bet that the city can supply the talent behind the AI computing build-out.

    Founded in 2017 and led by CEO Asher Genoot, Hut 8 builds and operates energy and computing infrastructure serving hyperscale AI customers. The company employs about 280 people globally and expects to pass 300 soon, with roughly 120 of those employees already based in Miami.

    The company is recruiting across engineering, development, finance, operations, real estate and people functions, with multiple roles currently open.

    A Former Meta and Zoom Executive Leads the Push

    The hiring strategy is being driven by Chief People Officer Matthew Saxon, who previously served as chief people officer at Zoom and vice president of people operations at Meta.

    “We are very much bullish on Miami,” Saxon told Refresh Miami, adding that “hiring is so centric to us” as the company scales alongside surging demand for AI computing capacity.

    Saxon said the company looks for candidates who pair technical skill with what he calls first-principles thinking, and it actively recruits interns and recent graduates. Hut 8 has also committed to an in-person, co-located work culture — a contrarian stance in tech that the company argues suits Miami’s density of ambitious transplants.

    Saxon described Miami as a maturing hub for both finance and technology talent, with a cultural pull that helps the company attract professionals from across the country.

    The expansion adds to a run of AI-driven momentum in South Florida’s tech scene. Miami-based Hydra Host, which connects GPU owners with customers seeking computing power, raised $100 million this year at a valuation approaching $800 million with backing from Nvidia and ARK Invest, and startups across the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro attracted nearly $2 billion in venture capital in the first half of 2026, with fintech and AI gaining prominence in the second quarter.

    For Miami’s tech boosters, Hut 8’s decision to concentrate headcount in Brickell rather than a legacy tech hub is the kind of proof point the ecosystem has courted since the pandemic-era migration wave: a growing infrastructure company choosing to build its bench — engineers, dealmakers and operators alike — in South Florida.

    The company has not publicly detailed a move-in date for the new office, but the message to the local talent market is unambiguous: the AI build-out is hiring, and a meaningful share of it is happening in Miami.

  • South Florida Startups Near $2 Billion in Venture Capital for First Half of 2026

    South Florida Startups Near $2 Billion in Venture Capital for First Half of 2026

    MIAMI — Startups across the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area raised at least $832 million across 100 deals in the second quarter of 2026, according to PitchBook data reported by Refresh Miami — bringing South Florida’s first-half venture total to nearly $2 billion.

    The second-quarter figure follows a $1.1 billion first quarter spread across 111 deals. At the halfway mark, the region is pacing to meet or exceed the $4.13 billion local startups attracted in all of 2025.

    South Florida also held its ground nationally. The metro tied Austin for fifth place in the country by venture deal count in the second quarter and ranked ninth by dollars invested, with an average deal size of $8.3 million.

    Medtech, Fintech and AI Lead the Board

    The quarter’s biggest checks were spread across sectors. Fort Lauderdale immunotherapy company Syncromune led the way with a $145 million round, followed by Miami-based Karta at $140 million and Hydra Host at $100 million. Miami’s EB5 United raised $60.3 million, Aventura-based Flex pulled in $50.1 million, and Miami startups Canals ($35 million), FundKite ($31.4 million) and Haro Ross ($30 million) rounded out the top of the list alongside Fort Lauderdale’s Upside ($20 million).

    Hydra Host’s raise underscored the region’s growing AI-infrastructure footprint. The Miami company, which runs a marketplace connecting owners of GPU computing power with customers who need it and helps independent data centers monetize unused AI server capacity, raised its $100 million at a valuation approaching $800 million, with backers including Nvidia, ARK Invest, Founders Fund, Kindred Ventures, Magnetar and Flume Ventures. Founded in 2021 to serve crypto miners, the company is now deployed across roughly 50 data centers worldwide and has been named an official Nvidia Cloud Partner.

    Sector momentum has shifted through the year. Medtech accounted for some of the region’s largest rounds early in 2026, per Refresh Miami’s reporting, while fintech and artificial intelligence gained prominence in the second quarter — mirroring a national environment in which AI companies and megadeals have absorbed the bulk of venture dollars.

    The numbers land as Miami’s tech ecosystem matures beyond its pandemic-era migration story. The first-half total keeps South Florida among the country’s most active startup regions, spanning crypto and fintech to healthtech, climate tech and consumer software — and gives local founders a credible answer to the perennial question of whether the Miami tech boom would outlast the hype cycle that started it.

  • Cash Buyers Power a Two-Speed Condo Rebound Across Miami-Dade

    Cash Buyers Power a Two-Speed Condo Rebound Across Miami-Dade

    MIAMI — Miami-Dade’s long-suffering condominium market is staging a rebound. Condo sales rose 11.4% year over year to 1,026 closings in July, according to the MIAMI Association of Realtors, extending a recovery that has been building since the start of the year.

    The turnaround follows several years of depressed demand in the wake of the 2021 Surfside collapse, which triggered stricter inspection and reserve requirements that weighed on older buildings. Miami Today reported that condo resales were already up 2.9% year over year early in 2026, with prices beginning to stabilize after the post-Surfside slide.

    “The market is stabilizing and beginning a nice rebound,” Wesley Ulloa, a residential board governor with the Miami Association of Realtors, told Miami Today, calling current valuations “a great investment opportunity” relative to recent years.

    Entry-Level Demand, High-End Cash

    Much of the momentum is coming from the middle of the market. Condo sales between $400,000 and $500,000 surged 12.6% year over year in July, a segment fed partly by first-time buyers priced out of single-family homes, where the county’s median hit $685,000. Per Miami Today, entry-level condo product in the $300,000-to-$600,000 range has been performing especially well as buyers pivot toward condos and townhouses.

    Cash remains the market’s backbone. All-cash deals made up 47.5% of Miami-Dade condo closings in July, and Miami Today reported that 82% of sales at $1 million and above are cash transactions — a dynamic that blunts the impact of elevated mortgage rates and adds resilience to the recovery. Luxury demand has been reinforced by relocations from markets including California and Chicago.

    Supply is also tightening from elevated levels. Active condo listings fell 11.8% year over year to 11,324 in July, the sixth consecutive monthly decline, according to the association’s data.

    Still, the recovery remains a two-speed affair. The county’s median condo price slipped 1.48% year over year to $400,000 in July, and at roughly 12 months of supply, the condo segment remains firmly a buyer’s market — a sharp contrast with the 4.8 months of supply on the single-family side. Older buildings facing special assessments and structural-reserve requirements continue to trade at a discount to newer product.

    For buyers, that gap is the opportunity; for sellers in aging towers, it is the challenge. But after years in which condos lagged the broader South Florida market, the direction of travel has changed: sales are rising, inventory is falling, and prices — at least in the segments buyers want most — are ticking back up.

  • Compact-Condo Tower 14 ROC Rises in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District

    Compact-Condo Tower 14 ROC Rises in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District

    MIAMI — A 31-story tower of intentionally small condominiums is rising in Downtown Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District, the latest bet that compact, amenity-rich units can answer the city’s attainability squeeze. Construction has begun on 14 ROC Miami at 125 NE 14th St., with completion targeted for 2028, Miami Today reported.

    The project is being developed by 14th Street Miami Investments LLC, managed by veteran Miami developer Russell Galbut, with RSP Architects as design architect. Seawood Builders is serving as general contractor, MAWD is handling interiors, Urban Robot is designing the landscape and Cervera Real Estate is leading sales and marketing.

    The tower will hold 283 residences — studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms ranging from roughly 410 to 964 square feet. Every unit comes with a balcony, smart-home technology and contemporary finishes, a formula aimed at buyers squeezed by a county where the median single-family home now sells for $685,000.

    Small Units, Big Amenity Deck

    What the residences give up in square footage, the building aims to return in shared space. Plans call for more than 25,000 square feet of amenities across three levels, including a rooftop pool with bay views, coworking areas, a fitness center, a chef’s kitchen, a karaoke lounge, a private theater, a game room, meeting facilities and a podcast studio.

    “Our vision for 14 ROC was to create an iconic residential tower that embraces the pedestrian” and encourages interaction with the neighborhood, Jorge Cuartas Martinez, an associate at RSP Architects, said of the design.

    The location leans into that street-level pitch. The site sits within walking distance of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, the Pérez Art Museum Miami and the planned Underdeck park taking shape beneath the rebuilt I-395 — an area that has drawn a wave of residential investment as Downtown Miami’s cultural corridor fills in.

    The project also lands at a moment when compact units make market sense. Condo sales in Miami-Dade rose 11.4% year over year in July, with the $400,000-to-$500,000 segment up 12.6%, as buyers priced out of single-family homes pivot to condos, according to the MIAMI Association of Realtors.

    14 ROC joins a broader pre-construction pipeline pushing north along Biscayne Bay. In neighboring Edgewater, HQ Residences — the first residential tower from sbe founder Sam Nazarian’s HQ Hotels & Residences brand, developed in partnership with singer Marc Anthony — is expected to break ground in the third quarter of 2026, with delivery projected for 2029.

    If the towers deliver on schedule, the Arts & Entertainment District and Edgewater will add thousands of new residences by decade’s end — most of them smaller, and by Miami standards, closer to attainable.

  • Miami-Dade Home Sales Climb for 11th Straight Month as Inventory Tightens

    Miami-Dade Home Sales Climb for 11th Straight Month as Inventory Tightens

    MIAMI — Miami-Dade County’s housing market posted its 11th consecutive month of year-over-year sales growth in July, with 1,935 total home sales, an 8.6% increase from a year earlier, according to figures released by the MIAMI Association of Realtors.

    Condominiums drove much of the gain. Condo transactions rose 11.4% year over year to 1,026, while single-family home sales increased 5.6% to 909. The sustained streak puts the county on pace for its best annual transaction volume since 2024, the association said.

    The month’s sales generated $1.9 billion in dollar volume, up 6.2% from July 2025, and the association estimated the transactions produced about $249 million in local economic impact.

    Prices moved in different directions by property type. The median single-family price climbed 3.79% to $685,000, while the median condo price slipped 1.48% to $400,000. Mid-market condos were a bright spot, with sales in the $400,000-to-$500,000 range surging 12.6% year over year.

    The high end continued to outperform. Luxury sales of $1 million and up rose 15.5% to 394 transactions in July. At the very top of the market, Miami-Dade recorded 24 home and condo sales of $30 million or more in the first half of 2026, putting the county on pace to surpass the record 33 such trophy sales closed in all of 2025, according to a MIAMI Realtors market roundup published Aug. 12.

    Shrinking Supply Splits the Market

    Inventory tightened sharply. Total active listings fell 15.1% year over year to 15,599. Single-family listings dropped 22.8% to 4,275, while condo listings declined 11.8% to 11,324 — the sixth consecutive monthly decrease on the condo side.

    The supply picture leaves Miami-Dade running two markets at once. Single-family homes stood at 4.8 months of supply in early August, squarely seller’s-market territory, while condos carried roughly 12 months of supply, conditions that favor buyers.

    Cash remained a defining feature of the market. All-cash deals accounted for 35.1% of July closings overall, including 47.5% of condo sales and 21.2% of single-family sales — a cushion that helps insulate South Florida transactions from elevated mortgage rates.

    “Miami and South Florida continue to be incredibly attractive places to live, work, and invest,” MIAMI Realtors Chairman Alfredo Pujol said in the release.

    The July numbers track with the association’s 2026-2027 outlook for South Florida, which projected continued resilience despite higher borrowing costs, supported by steady demand from Latin American buyers, tax-motivated arrivals from the Northeast and California, and corporate relocations across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

  • Miami Banks Tighten Stress Testing as Tariff Uncertainty Clouds Lending

    Miami Banks Tighten Stress Testing as Tariff Uncertainty Clouds Lending

    Miami banks are sharpening their scrutiny of business borrowers as shifting U.S. tariff policy injects uncertainty into a regional economy built on international trade, according to a report by Miami Today.

    For South Florida’s financial institutions, the concern is less the tariffs themselves than the unpredictability they create for companies trying to plan ahead. As duties change in scope and in the countries they target, banks say the ripple effects show up in delayed expansion plans and more cautious credit decisions.

    “Businesses delay expansion, lenders become more selective, and markets react to changing trade policies,” Sharymar Calderon, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of Coral Gables-based Amerant Bank, told Miami Today.

    Stress Tests Replace Wait-and-See

    Calderon said Amerant has incorporated tariffs into its outlook by examining its existing lending portfolio and putting greater emphasis on stress testing borrowers under different economic scenarios. So far, she said, the anticipated damage has not materialized in the bank’s book: although businesses are bracing for potential impacts, the bank has not seen them directly in the portfolio it manages, according to the report.

    The stakes for Miami’s banking sector are unusually high because of the region’s role as a gateway for hemispheric commerce. PortMiami handles more than $27 billion in trade and draws 48% of its cargo mix from Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the Florida Ports Council, and thousands of import-export firms, freight forwarders and logistics companies in the tri-county area bank locally. When trade policy shifts, those clients’ working capital needs, inventory strategies and creditworthiness can shift with it.

    National importers have responded to tariff deadlines by front-loading shipments, with U.S. container imports forecast to hit a record 2.47 million twenty-foot equivalent units in July ahead of potential August tariffs, according to projections cited by industry reports.

    The caution comes against an otherwise solid backdrop for Florida’s financial sector. Finance and insurance employers added 1,600 jobs statewide in the most recent monthly report, according to state data reported by WUWF.

    For now, South Florida lenders describe a posture of preparation rather than retrenchment: portfolios are holding up, but underwriting assumptions are being rebuilt around a world where trade rules can change faster than a loan can season.

  • Miami-Dade Budget Freezes Tax Rate a Fourth Year as State Reform Looms

    Miami-Dade Budget Freezes Tax Rate a Fourth Year as State Reform Looms

    Miami-Dade County is heading into September budget hearings with a proposed spending plan that holds the countywide operating property tax rate flat for a fourth consecutive year — its lowest level since 1982 — while bracing for a potential state-imposed revenue shock, according to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s office.

    The mayor presented the balanced fiscal year 2026-27 proposal on July 15 and spent August holding town halls across the county ahead of final hearings in September, when the Board of County Commissioners will vote.

    “This budget protects essential services and prepares responsibly for the future,” Levine Cava said in the county’s announcement.

    Efficiency Cuts and a Looming State Threat

    The proposal leans on belt-tightening to stay balanced. The county’s WISE305 initiative identified $42 million in efficiencies and $79 million in cost reductions, and the budget eliminates more than 400 vacant positions, according to the county. Transit funding rises by $66 million, though the plan includes targeted service reductions on low-ridership and late-night routes while protecting Special Transportation Services and MetroConnect — and avoids fare or fuel tax increases.

    The bigger threat looms in Tallahassee. The budget prepares for potential statewide property tax reform that could cost the county an estimated $385.8 million in general fund revenue in the first year alone — more than 10% of the general fund — and nearly $697 million in year two, according to the county’s release.

    The proposal follows a bruising budget cycle. Last year, the county confronted a $402 million deficit that forced cuts across departments, including reductions in parks programming and the Office of New Americans, as residents packed budget town halls to plead for programs, according to CBS News Miami.

    The new budget is organized around five priorities: healthy and safe communities, an economy that works for all, fiscal responsibility and efficiency, infrastructure investment, and risk reduction and resilience. Funding for the county’s constitutional offices — including the sheriff, elections supervisor and other offices spun off under Florida’s constitutional changes — increases by $66 million over the prior year.

    For taxpayers, the practical takeaway is that the county’s tax rate will not rise, though individual bills can still increase with property values. For bondholders and ratings agencies, the question is whether Miami-Dade can keep absorbing structural pressures — from state tax reform to rising service costs — without touching the millage rate it has now frozen through four budget cycles. The commission’s September votes will settle the plan for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.