Stet NewsFor you today, Ecclestone vs. his daughter, UF Health leaders change their mind about Avenir, what is County Question 1 and when the prime minister came to visit.
Ecclestone civil sex abuse trial nears
Prominent developer E. Llwyd Ecclestone Jr. has battled sexual abuse allegations since his daughter filed suit against him in 2017.
On Aug. 9, the suit based on Wendy Mendelsohn’s claims that her politically powerful father abused her as a child is scheduled for trial in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.
“I want the world to know that I’m not lying, that I’m telling the truth, and that my father did these things to me,” Mendelsohn said in a 2019 deposition. She is the youngest of the 88-year-old Ecclestone’s four children.
Ecclestone’s high-octane defense team led by Miami attorney Roy Black says it’s all about money.
“(Mendelsohn’s) fake claims, are nothing more than a shake down attempting to coerce (Ecclestone) to pay exorbitant sums of monies … or else suffer damage to his impeccable reputation,” his attorneys wrote in court papers.
Ecclestone, who lives in Palm Beach, turned large swaths of the county into luxury communities, including PGA National, Old Port Cove and Lost Tree Village. He engineered the location of the Kravis Center, transformed Palm Beach International Airport and fought to make single-member County Commission districts reality.
Reporter Jane Musgrave has gone through the voluminous court file to be the first to bring you the story. You can read it here.
🏥 Exclusive: UF pulls out of Avenir hospital
The University of Florida has pulled out of the proposed Avenir neighborhood hospital with Jupiter Medical Center slated for the massive development in Palm Beach Gardens.
“After a period of additional assessment with the arrival of new leadership at UF Health, we’ve pressed pause,” said UF spokeswoman Melanie Fridl Ross. “We remain collaborative with Jupiter Medical Center and on good terms, with no immediate plans to embark on new ventures at this time.”
Stet News is the first to report on the split on the Avenir project four months after the Gainesville university replaced UF Health CEO David Nelson with Dr. Stephen Motew.
Jupiter Medical, though, says it’s still all in on the proposed two-story, 53,000-square-foot hospital for the 3,900-home community sprouting up on the former 4,763-acre Vavrus Ranch on Northlake Boulevard west of the Beeline Highway.
“Jupiter Medical Center is expanding access to world-class health care in our region and we are excited about the progress of our Neighborhood Hospital and medical campus at Avenir,” said Dr. Amit Rastogi, president and CEO.
“We are on schedule to open in early 2026 and eagerly anticipate serving our neighbors in western Palm Beach County.”
The key phrase there is “neighborhood hospital” as Jupiter plans to create something special for Avenir that is not a medical center but certainly not a minute clinic either — what is called a micro hospital. It will employ about 50.
The hospital was proposed in 2022 to offer 24-hour emergency services, 20 beds, operating rooms, a diagnostic laboratory and imaging services.
Losing UF appears to have delayed the project, which was scheduled to open this year.
Avenir Development referred questions about the hospital to the Sina Cos., the Palm Beach Gardens-based real estate firm that was developing the hospital. Sina, though, referred questions to Jupiter Medical.
So what happened to UF? The university, which took over the Jupiter campus of Scripps Florida in 2021 and has control of 70 acres of vacant land in the Palm Beach Gardens Alton community, also backtracked on a planned graduate campus in downtown West Palm Beach. Stet News reported in April that Vanderbilt University may develop some of the property instead.
UF appears to be focusing on investment closer to its Gainesville home. It recently broke ground on the UF Health Durbin Park in St. Johns County, a 42.5-acre health and wellness campus that will include a hospital.
The university is focusing on St. Johns and Duval counties because of their growth, Mori Hosseini, chair of the UF board of trustees, told the Jacksonville Daily Record.
And, of course, the big Gators’ news is that Ben Sasse, the former U.S. senator who left to be president of UF, resigned this month after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy.
— John Pacenti
🗳️ On your ballot: County Question 1
Palm Beach County has a longstanding program that offers a tax break to certain companies that expand or relocate here.
Why it matters: A question on the August ballot that has received little attention asks voters to decide whether the program should continue.
Flashback: Florida’s constitution (Article 7, Section 3) allows the tax breaks, but they must be approved by voters every 10 years.
- In 2004, voters gave county commissioners the power to offer property tax exemptions for improvements to real estate or things like business equipment to companies that qualify.
- In 2012, voters renewed the program until Aug. 31, 2024.
How it works: Interested companies typically approach the public-private Business Development Board, said Jonathan Brown, the county’s Housing and Economic Development director. The BDB maintains strict secrecy over the company’s identity.
In a report to commissioners, county staff said 20 businesses received some kind of tax and/or cash incentive from the county between 2013 and 2023. The county tax incentive was used six times.
- Those tax breaks went to companies including Pratt & Whitney; United Technologies and its Carrier air-conditioning and Otis elevator subsidiaries; and Orlando-based Finfrock construction company, which built a manufacturing center in Belle Glade.
- Combined incentive amounts for all the companies from sources including cities, the county and state totaled nearly $36 million.
- Those programs helped retain 2,246 jobs and create 2,800 more, the report said.
- The county puts the five-year economic impact at $5.7 billion.
The question: Shall the Board of County Commissioners of Palm Beach County be authorized to grant, pursuant to s. 3, Art. VII of the State Constitution, property tax exemptions to new businesses and expansions of existing businesses that are expected to create new, full-time jobs in Palm Beach County?
What’s next: Early voting is from Aug. 10 to 18 for the Aug. 20 election.
— Carolyn DiPaolo
🪧 Show of force
When Donald Trump invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu to Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw pledged law and order would be paramount. Anyone blocking Netanyahu’s motorcade, he said, would be arrested.
With a show of force holding dozens of deputies in reserve while placing dozens more, many with bicycles, every 5 feet along the rally zone, peace prevailed Friday.
Protesters, numbering about 70, were allowed to march, chant and wave signs along the sidewalk on the west side of the Southern Boulevard bridge to Palm Beach. But they never entered the road as Netanyahu’s car sped past in a heavily fortified group of more than 20 vehicles, including two Broward County Fire-Rescue vehicles.
Of note: Netanyahu landed in Fort Lauderdale, not Palm Beach International Airport as planned.
A small group of counter protesters waved Israeli and Trump flags and shouted insults from the south side of Southern Boulevard.
The pro-Palestinian group called for U.S. tax dollars to stop paying for Israel’s “war machine” and demanded a cease-fire in the Gaza war.
Many wore traditional Arab garb such as the hijab and keffiyeh, a black and white headdress that has become a symbol for Palestinian independence.
What they said: An organizer led chants through a bullhorn of “Netanyahu, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!” “There is only one solution, intifada revolution!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
One counterprotester responded, “Jump in the river then!”
The men, women and children in the crowd waved signs saying “Glory to the Martyrs,” “Go Home War Criminal” and one presenting an image of Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old U.S. airman who lit himself on fire in February in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C.
A protester who said his name is Ali came from Port St. Lucie but, like many protesters, refused to fully identify himself to avoid retaliation.
“We live a good life in this country and I’m grateful for that. But I’m also a human and I need to speak up for what’s wrong. We don’t stand for that, America does not stand for that. And I don’t know why they’re not standing up to it now, it doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrator Rose Boutros remarked on the police show of force: “Do you like the ratio of one cop for every two people?”
— Mary Rasura and Joel Engelhardt
🍊 The juice
🍎 After sinking to a B grade in 2023, the Palm Beach County School District earned an A last week from the state Department of Education. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
🚰 Riviera Beach’s failure to notify residents about contaminated water in June 2023 has the council grappling with how to move forward. (WLRN)
🌎 How Elon Musk’s visit this year to the Palm Beach oceanfront home of Nelson Peltz marked the culmination of a political transformation for the world’s richest person, who has said he favored Biden in 2020. (Washington Post gift link if you share your email)
👮🏼♀️ As the campaign trail heats up in advance of the Aug. 20 primary, Palm Beach County sheriff candidate Mike Gauger, incumbent Ric Bradshaw’s former chief deputy, let loose a pejorative about his Republican primary opponent, Lauro Diaz, on an open mic last week during a Zoom forum. (Florida Politics)
🐎 ⛵️ 🎾 Study up on the Palm Beach County residents competing in the Paris Olympics. (Boca Magazine)
🌌 Carolyn visited “The Infinite” international space station simulation at the Kravis Center and could not take her eyes off the stars above and the Earth below. Read Joe Capozzi’s tour in The Palm Beach Post. Pro tip: Search for a promo code before you buy tickets.
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