BBX Capital To Cut Staff, Pause Developments As Leaders 'Assume The Worst'

BBX Capital, which develops industrial and multifamily properties and owns a nationwide candy retailer, is hunkering down with a flurry of plans to cut costs and preserve cash.

The Fort Lauderdale-based firm plans to reduce its staff, halt new real estate development and cut executive salaries, it announced Tuesday. It reduced the size of its board of directors and is considering selling some of its subsidiaries and investments to safeguard its $88M in cash.

Inflationary pressures, waning consumer confidence, elevated interest rates, the incoming effects of tariffs and supply chain disruptions were listed as key pressures factoring into the shift in strategy, according to a release.

“We’re not smart enough to forecast where the market is going, but we are smart enough to know when we get an uneasy feeling in the economy,” BBX Chairman Alan Levan told Bisnow.

The company's Class A stock, which trades on the OTCQX market, dropped nearly 30% in value Tuesday following the announcement. It plans to deregister its Class A and B common stock and suspend its Securities and Exchange Commission reporting.

BBX has already been feeling the headwinds. It reported a net loss in 2024 of about $64M after losing $21M in 2023, according to its annual report filed with the SEC.

Led by CEO and President Jarett Levan, BBX manages more than $10B in assets across development, real estate financing, acquisitions and loan servicing.

Its multifamily development subsidiary Altman, formerly The Altman Cos., has active developments across Florida under the Altis brand, including a 342-unit apartment building in Kendall that it is wrapping up construction on.

BBX also develops industrial properties through its Altman subsidiary, and its BBX Sweet Holdings subsidiary owns It’sugar, which has more than 100 stores nationwide. The candy chain has seen a “significant decline in sales volumes” because of lower consumer demand and a weakened consumer, the company said in its annual report.

While there are no solidified plans for which subsidiaries or investments are up for grabs, the company is planning to hire a banking team to weigh their options, Levan said.

Also part of the efforts to cut costs was shrinking BBX's board of directors from 12 to seven members. The company also cut executive salaries.

“The executives have been with the company for a long time, and they can see the market just like we can, and they were all supportive of cutting their salaries,” Levan said.

The company's structure is designed for growth, but it expects current economic conditions to significantly impact its subsidiaries, making this strategy unsustainable, it said in the release. The mitigation efforts are expected to take between two and five years. 

The tariffs on international imports — some exceeding 40% — that President Donald Trump implemented last week, which have fueled worries about inflation and stalled real estate projects, hit BBX particularly hard.

BBX and its subsidiaries rely on international imports for a multitude of products ranging from construction materials to candy, Levan said.

“We’ve decided we are going to assume the worst, assume there is going to be a recession and act as if we need to protect ourselves and our shareholders,” Levan said.