Mike Bennett: Contractor by day, shielder of contractors by day.

​We wrote earlier today about SB 1196, a bill working its way through the state Legislature that would shield developers from having to fix faulty roads, drainage, and utility systems after they're built.More >>

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bochicchiomemorial.com

The Palm Beach Mall could see live human beings in the next few years

​The United States is famous for its ghost towns, like Tombstone, Arizona; Bodie, California; and the Palm Beach Mall.

The latter -- which had most of its property foreclosed on in 2009 -- is doing something to change that.

West Palm Beach is hoping for some ritzy retailers to help rebuild its status in shopping, this time in the form of outlet stores.

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Icon Brickell was Jorge Perez's flagship project -- until he lost it to the bank.

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It has been 13 years since Jorge Perez's Related Group bought the popular Hyde Park Market on Las Olas. Perez then took a wrecking ball to it with plans to put up the city's tallest building -- a 42-story behemoth condo tower. But those ambitious plans hit a major snag: Lots of people hated Perez's plans.

Critics didn't want the project -- named the immodest Icon Las Olas -- towering over Broward County's most historic building. The Stranahan house sits next door, a two-story Cracker-style building built by one of South Florida's early development pioneers.

Last week, however, an appeals court dismissed the last legal challenge to the project, and Perez can now begin bringing in the construction cranes.

But now the question has to be asked: Are they crazy?

Adding 42 stories of condos to the Fort Lauderdale market may have seemed
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