The South Florida 500

South Florida CEO, August, 2002 by Rochelle Broder-Singer

What moves South Florida's economy forward?

A lot of the drive comes from our 100 largest public companies (each with $31 million or more in 2001 revenues), our 200 largest private companies, (each with $73 million or more in 2001 revenues) and our 200 largest private-sector employers (each with 500 or more local employees). Together, they employ more than 466,000 workers -- from South Florida-based behemoths such as automotive retailer and financier JM FamilyEnterprises (the No. 1 private company) to smaller South Florida-based businesses, such as biotechnology firm Noven Pharmaceuticals (No. 91 on our public list), to companies headquartered elsewhere, such as Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets (our No. 1 employer) with the equivalent of 24,500 full-time tri-county employees.

This is the definitive list of the top players.

Public Company Profile

Keeping the Focus While other hospitality companies look for economies of scale, Boca Resorts is concentrating on improving the properties already in its portfolio

Scott Singer

David Feder is a man who believes in quality, not quantity. Having worked in top management positions at the Breakers in Palm Beach, the Boca Raton Resort & Club and the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, his attitude comes with the territory. Now, as the president and chief operating officer of Boca Resorts, Inc., he is translating his convictions into corporate strategy. In a world of acquisition-hungry public companies which often buckle under their own weight (think Tyco and Worldcom), Feder is focusing Boca Resorts on organic growth by improving what it already owns.

In fiscal year 2003, already underway, Feder says the company will spend between $32 million and $36 million on upgrades to all its properties. These include the flagship 1,041-room Boca Raton Resort & Club; the Radisson Bahia Mar and the Hyatt Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale; and the Registry Resort and Edgewater Beach Hotel in Naples. The company also owns the Boca Country Club, Naples Grande Golf Club and Grande Oak Golf Club.

What the company no longer owns are the Florida Panthers hockey team and National Car Rental Center, assets which the NYSE-traded firm (whose primary shareholder is chairman H. Wayne Huizenga) shed last year.

Even with Feder's attention now fully devoted to Boca Resorts' portfolio of hotel properties, however, it will still be a challenge to bring revenues back to pre-Sept. 11 levels. Fortunately, the signs are promising. Feder says that while Boca Resorts lost ground in the year after Sept. 11, Spring 2002 business (February through April) was within a few percentage points of last year. "We feel we'll be back," he says. "If you discount September 11, [then] 2001 was a great year. We should be able to equal, or do better than, our 2001 successes."

For the fiscal year that ended June 2001, the company saw revenues of $329 million, with net income of $3.7 million. Boca Resorts' chief financial officer Bill Pierce, Sr. says the Wall Street consensus for fiscal year 2002 sees continuing operations revenues dropping to approximately $272 million, but net income rising to around $5.6 million (which excludes a one-time gain on the sale of the Panthers and losses on bond repurchases). The company expects revenue approaching $295 million in 2003.

In order to meet or beat those expectations, Feder is paying special attention to the Boca Raton Resort & Club, where he first worked in sales in the late 1980s, and which he ran as president prior to taking over operations for the entire firm. Recent additions include new high-tech convention halls and a 50,000-square foot spa. They're all impeccably detailed to match the original Mizner Mediterranean style of the resort, and its trademark pink exterior.

Following the trend towards family vacations -- including bringing children along on business trips -- Feder plans to supplement the club's day camp (which already features offerings such as karate and Spanish classes) with $250,000 in playground improvements. Small niceties at the hotel include complimentary "Key Lime Coolers" in the lobby and garden tours by an on-staff horticulturist.

Of course, it takes more than lobby drinks and physical improvements to meet guests' lofty expectations, particularly when rates at Boca Resorts' hotels can reach $500 per night. That's why the real focus of Feder's improvements is customer service -- ensuring that the company's 3,500 employees provide what customers want and are willing to pay for within a given hotels' price category. He has guests surveyed at check out, garnering over 2,500 responses per month. "We evaluate ourselves every day," he says.

Feder also keeps an eye on that indefinable element of chic -- including the ability to attract and pamper celebrities (the Presidential Suite at the Resort costs $8,000 a night, after all). Guests at the Boca Raton Resort & Club have included such names as Elton John, Richard Gere, Neil Diamond and Billy Joel.

"The Boca Raton Resort is one of the great icons of South Florida," says Gregory Rumple, who follows the hotel industry as a senior vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle investment management. "A lot of people will go to see the updates." Charles Lehmann, Executive Director of the Palm Beach County Tourism Development Council, puts it more simply: "If you don't have quality, you're selling a commodity."