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Coffee Talk (Sara/Mana)
Isle of Athena developer may need Athena's help
When you research Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill, you'll find some goofy mythological stuff - like when she was born. As legend has it, Zeus swallowed the goddess Metis 1 when she was pregnant because a prophecy predicted that Metis would give birth to a son who would become the lord of the heaven, thus deposing Zeus. But when the time came for the birth - bear with us here, there's a point - Prometheus chopped off Zeus' head with an axe. And then, guess what happened: Athena came out of the top of Zeus' head fully armed.
We share that Greek mythology with you in the context of Palm Beach developer Brian Tuttle's recent acquisition of 5,800 acres near North Port for $61.5 million. Tuttle announced after closing on the purchase his plans to develop the "Isles of Athena" on the site of what is now largely a sod farm.
Tuttle may be hoping for Athena's wisdom, skill and industry. Tuttle and his fellow investors of North Port Land Investment LLLP paid roughly $10,603 an acre. That's a 32% increase over the price that Manatee-Sarasota developers Neal Communities and Benderson Development paid for undeveloped property in the same vicinity, known as Woodlands at North Port. In this frenzied environment paying 32% more in two years is not outrageous. But here's the difference:
When Neal and Benderson purchased their 1,700 acres for $8,000 an acre, their property already had in place its residential zoning, designation from the state as a development of regional impact and sewer and water hookups. Nor did it require the construction of a road for access, as does Tuttle's property.
Tuttle's property has none of these. To make matters more complex, North Port is struggling with the South Florida Water Management District over its future water supply.
Looks like a job for a Greek god.
Rising real estate deflates economic development
John Saputo, president and owner of Gold Coast Eagle Distributing, has been looking nearly three years in Manatee and Sarasota counties for a 25-acre site for his growing company - almost to no avail.
As Saputo tells it, his firm has simply outgrown its 100,000-square-foot warehouse and 10 acres on 47th Street in Sarasota. He needs a 200,000-square-foot warehouse.
But finding that much light industrial property in Sarasota County is almost like trying to find affordable housing. Indeed, residential real estate inflation has spilled into the commercial sector. The property is available, but the prices are, well, astronomical. "People who have it won't sell it because they're hoping to get their properties rezoned for residential," Saputo says.
Saputo is having a hard time digesting the prices, particularly when he thinks back eight years ago. Then, when he owned a distributorship in North Carolina, he paid $189,000 for 13 acres that fronted a four-lane highway. Today, he's hearing prices of $200,000 to $250,000 an acre for light industrial property.
Rising property values may be great for the homeowners building up the equity. But as Saputo points out, rising real estate prices have a negative effect on economic development. Companies won't move here.
In spite of it all, Saputo says he's close to finalizing a new location - in Sarasota County. At one point, he says, he thought he may have to move his company to DeSoto County.
Long way to go
The president of the National Venture Capital Association reiterated the obvious to local entrepreneurs and investment bankers recently.
"The fact that there are so few venture capitalists in the state is a huge problem," says Mark G. Heesen.
Heesen brought along some new statistics for members of the Florida Venture Forum and the CEO Council of Tampa Bay to ponder.
Just 6% of the measly $1.1 billion of venture capital that was invested in Florida over the past three years came from within the state, according to figures from the PricewaterhouseCoopers/Venture Economics/NVCA's quarterly surveys.
That means startup companies are doing much better elsewhere.
In 2003, VC-backed companies in California generated $438 billion in annual revenue. That was best in the nation, according to industry analysts at Global Insight.
The usual suspects follow: Texas, with $188 billion in VC-backed company revenue for 2003; Massachusetts with $107 billion; and Washington state with $102 billion.
Florida, with more than twice the population of either Massachusetts or Washington, produced just $61 billion in 2003 revenue from its VC-backed companies - which also placed it behind Pennsylvania, Georgia, New York and Virginia.
Heesen doesn't see Florida's standing improving in the near future, in spite of the potential of a Scripps Research Institute campus in Palm Beach County.
The Scripps facility won't be able to attract top scientists for biomedical research, predicts Heesen. At least not as long as the governor is the brother of a U.S. president who opposes expanding scientific study of embryonic stem cells.
Don't call it a branch
The Bank of Commerce is adding a second location in Sarasota. But don't let Charles O. Murphy catch you calling it a branch of his bank.
"We have found customers do not view 'branches' positively, with a perception that a branch is merely an offshoot of a 'main' office," observes Bank of Commerce President and Chief Executive Murphy in a May 25 news release.
The customers are always right.
Murphy favors the term "banking center" for his new office at Cattleman Road and Cattleridge Drive. "We want our customers to know they are working with empowered, decision-making managers and executives at every location of The Bank of Commerce," adds Murphy.
Bank of Commerce, 5 years old this summer with $234 million in assets as of March 31, bills itself as the leading independent bank serving Sarasota County.
The bank, owned by Bank of Commerce Holdings Inc., had a 1.53% share of county deposits on June 30 of last year. Century Bank was the only locally based competitor with a bigger share, 2.41%, but technically it is a federally chartered thrift.
Richard S. Moore, a senior vice president at Bank of Commerce, will head up - OK, if it will make Mr. Murphy feel better - the Cattleman Banking Center.
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