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Coffee Talk (Sara/Mana)
Still not coasting
There isn't a community bank in the Tampa Bay area that is moving faster than Coast Bank of Florida.
The Bradenton-based banking unit of publicly traded Coast Financial Holdings Inc. announced Sept. 15 that it had signed 15-year leases for eight new branches.
Five of the eight new branches will mark the entry of Coast into Hillsborough and Polk counties. Coast will have two locations each in Brandon and Lakeland, as well as one in Lutz. The annual base rent for the eight branches is projected to top $1 million, according to a regulatory filing.
The latest announcement follows Coast's expansion into Pinellas County earlier this year. In the past 18 months, Coast's total assets have grown from $264 million to $468 million, a 77% increase.
But the cost of that growth is straining the holding company's capital position and bottom line. Coast's ratio of total equity to assets stood at 7.3% on June 30, which was lower than the 8.7% that Coast reported at the end of 2000, its first year in business.
Hence, the Coast Financial board's decision to sell 2.5 million more shares of common stock. The offering is expected to net the bank at least $40 million and possibly as much as $46 million. The proposed share price of $17.25 is in the range of where Coast stock traded over the summer. Investors should be advised to be patient. Coast lost 23 cents a diluted share for the first half of 2005, compared to a six-cent gain for the same period last year.
CEO: Chico's will grow faster
The president and chief executive officer of Fort Myers-based Chico FAS Inc. says his company will double sales in the next three years.
In a bold prediction made at a breakfast meeting of the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce recently, Scott Edmonds said the national women's apparel retailer should have $2 billion in sales by 2008.
"It took us 21 years to get to $1 billion," Edmonds noted.
So far, Edmonds' track record is good. Chico's reported $500 million in sales in 2002 and reached the $1 billion mark in 2004.
In the most recent quarter ended July 30, Chico's reported sales of $343 million, a 35% increase over the same quarter in 2004. The company recently announced plans to add as many as 120 new Chico's and White House | Black Market stores next year, a 20% increase. It also will add 20 new intimate-apparel Soma by Chico's stores.
Edmonds also promises more charitable giving by Chico's in the Fort Myers area, including assuming title sponsorship of the annual Edison Festival of Lights parade, starting in 2006.
Bust or boom
Will Sarasota County's upward trek in real estate prices continue or is the bubble about to pop?
As always, it depends on whom you ask.
Sarah Warren, editor of the local bar association newspaper called Docket, asked seven Sarasota real estate lawyers for their views. And, of course, opinions vary. Some worry about rising interest rates and speculative buyers. Others say Florida has one of the best economies in the nation and the influx of retirees means demand will continue to outstrip supply, especially when it comes to beachfront property.
William Seider, for one, says he's worried about the high number of investors.
"Everyone is starting to speculate, which is scary," he told the Docket editor.
"While I think it will slow from its current pace," Sherry Edwards says, "the force of demographics will simply not let it bottom out."
Edwards contends the area will see "at least five more years of exceptional growth during which many of the baby-boomers will be coming to purchase their retirement home, no matter what it costs."
Sam Norton expects this year to match or exceed 2004.
Lauren Kohl-Helbig and Julie Horstkamp, however, both expect a market correction.
All the legal work tied to the real estate industry has been good news for firm employees, says Kohl-Helbig. "Head hunters call to recruit my staff," she says. "I have had to give them all raises and monthly bonuses to compensate them for long hours."
Tuscano: large golf course community
Coffee Talk reported last week that Jacksonville developer Stokes & Co. LLC, used the corporate identity of Tuscano LLC, to purchase 2,398.5 acres in North Port's Thomas Ranch, but officials weren't talking.
Turns out, there's a previously approved Sarasota County Development of Critical Concern plan, which covers property from Woodmere Park Boulevard and Rockley Boulevard and north of Manasota Beach Road east of State Road 776. It appears that 2,376 acres will be developed with about 1,600 residential units along with a lake, golf course and club house.
The plan, submitted by former owner Stanley Thomas' Fourth Quarter Properties, was approved last year. Since then an amendment request has been filed to increase the property covered under the DCC by 42 acres and adding an additional 33 dwelling units.
Lee County's top 10 zoning zones
Tony Palermo agrees he's no David Letterman, but that doesn't mean the senior planner with Lee County's department of community development can't come up with his own top-10 list. Palermo compiled a list of the top areas in Lee County for zoning cases so far this year through Aug. 31, which include but are not limited to rezoning and variance requests.
At the top of the list is Bonita Springs, which has 30 planned developments underway with large residential and commercial projects. By contrast, Pine Island's second place stemmed from many individual requests for variances on small lots. This is where the action is:
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