Loading
Coffee Talk (Sara/Mana edition)
Housing authority: Tail between its legs?
For more than a year, ubiquitous Sarasota entrepreneur Harvey Vengroff has virtually begged the Housing Authority of Sarasota to let him in. From offering to provide low-cost mortgages to qualified homebuyers, to offering to build and/or rehab residences, Vengroff has tried repeatedly to get the authorityis attention. And repeatedly, Vengroff tells Coffee Talk, the Housing Authority has ignored him o failed to return his phone calls, failed to iget back to himi as promised. Vengroff has found the situation both frustrating and amusing.
Ah, but now, Vengroff is sitting in the catbird seat. Itis certainly no secret that the authority is broke and in a pickle these days. It needs to finish those Rosemary Park Condominiums ASAP, but it hasnit the money to do so. So who did it call? Thatis right, Harvey Vengroff. The authority has asked Vengroff if he would iloani it nearly $800,000 to finish off those condos.
Cool as a cucumber, Vengroff didnit jump to iyes.i His response? iHow will I get paid back?i The city builds the condos for tens of thousands more dollars than their selling price, which means zero profit and a project that by definition festers in the red. Vengroff has floated some alternative financing and selling methods to the authority that may enable the deal, but no word on whether the authority is open to the ideas. In the meantime, Vengroff has offered to rehab the rest of the Rosemary condo project o he says the authority is paying more than $80,000 per unit for the rehab and he can do it for less than $20,000. But on that point, so far, the authority will get back to him. O
Criminally dumb
Tom Swain, president and owner of the Sarasota and Manatee franchise for Sonitrol, has one more pitch to sell his customers on the companyis new Web-integrated security system o a personal testimonial.
Swain set up a lone surveillance camera, linked to a broadband Internet connection, in front of his building at Sarasota International Trade Center. iI chose not to put an alarm on it because it was not in a controlled area,i Swain says.
About a year later, Swain was showing a friend the new system from home when he saw a burglar breaking into his work truck.
iAt first I thought, eWhates wrong with the system?i i Swain says. iIt looked like prerecorded video.i It wasnit. So Swain called the police, who caught the thief, a serial burglar, and Swain watched it all from home.
Swain was already a fan of the Web-integrated system because it reduces false alarms, a hassle for property owners and police. The system, he says, has caught eight other criminals in the last six months.
Change of plans
To the disappointment of many in the Advertising Federation of the Suncoast, ad guru Jimmy Siegel was a no-show for the groupis Dec. 2 event.
Siegel, vice chairman and senior creative director of BBDO in New York, is behind some of the most effective celebrity commercials for brands such as Visa, Pepsi Twist, AOL and Office Depot, which include work by Bob Dole, Donald Trump and the Osbournes. It seems that prior to Thanksgiving, Siegel completed a Super Bowl ad for Visa check cards that caught the attention of the companyis CEO.
The ad featured a donkey afraid to get off a bus in Washington, D.C., because it had lost its Visa check card. The tag line: iLose anything lately?i
Unfortunately, Siegelis ad didnit take into account the fact that the CEO of Visa was a major contributor to the Democratic Party. For obvious reasons, the ad will never make it onto television so Siegel and colleagues are busy filming another ad by that all-important January deadline.
In his place, Jerry Hunnicutt, a semi-retired BBDO employee from Cape Coral, presented Siegelis rules for using celebrities.
Industry ownership
You may not have heard of iIndustryi Magazine yet. Hereis the concept: itis a six times per year national magazine with national advertisements and general market content, with a heavy focus on celebrity profiles. But the magazine has local franchises, such as the Sarasota edition, which includes among the national, general content and ads, Sarasota-specific content, photos and advertisements.
The current issue (December/January), for example, has Julia Roberts on the cover, and photos from the Ringling Museumis Ungala Gala inside.
Sharon Petrik, daughter of Sarasota-based businessman and philanthropist Gerd Petrik, plans to have six Florida versions of Industry, including Tampa, Miami and others. She launched the Sarasota edition first on Dec. 3, one day after she stroked a check to purchase 51% of the entire overall franchisor company for an undisclosed amount.
Will a celebrity-centric magazine play in Sarasota? The bets are flying. Cynics say Industry seems more iMiamii than Sarasota, that its content is blah at best, and thereis nothing particularly unique or special about it. Optimists say the backing and support of Petrik cash canit hurt.
Guardian Solutions in the spotlight
Guardian Solutions will be one of 20 presenters at the 2005 Venture Capital Conference in Orlando, Jan. 27-28. This is a very big deal. The conference, which has been held annually since 1992, provides a platform every year for 20 entities selected as iFloridais best prospects for equity financing.i
Those 20 companies present to an audience of venture capital firms, investment bankers, entrepreneurs and financial intermediaries. Last year, more than 800 attended the conference; previous conference presenters in the last 13 years have raised more than $680.8 million in financing. Guardian Solutions, based in the Sarasota area, developed a software program that transforms passive security cameras and motion detectors into real-time threat intervention and intruder tracking devices.
Etc...
i At the Dec. 1 retirement dinner party for Bill Couch, both the Sarasota city and county commissions recognized the day by ordinance as iBill Couch Day.i
i New York City-based U.S. Trust Corp. has announced plans to open a wealth management office in Sarasota early next year.
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning business news.
Join thousands of executives who rely on us for insights spanning Tampa Bay to Naples.
