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Coffee Talk (Tampa)
'A simple man'
Associates of Al Pina have contacted the Gulf Coast Business Review at his request to vouch for the minority activist.
Pina is gaining a name for himself in Florida, as he tries to pressure large banks to make more loans in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
But the Review reported in the Aug. 5-11 Tampa Bay edition ("Who is Al Pina?") that Pina went to jail earlier this year rather than pay alimony to his ailing ex-wife. The callousness reflected in court records was a surprise contrast to Pina's image in the local news media as a caring champion of the powerless.
Porfiria "Millie" Ramirez says the media image is a more accurate reflection of the Pina she knows.
"I have never seen anyone as focused and resolved as Al to right the wrongs promulgated by these banks on the minority communities of this state," Ramirez writes in an email to the Review.
Ramirez, 62, of Tampa, says she works on Hispanic business initiatives and says she has known Pina for about four years.
"Al is very transparent. What you see is what you get," says Ramirez. "A simple man yet a dangerous man because he tells the truth, he's not afraid and cannot be bought, bullied or intimidated and fears only God."
All things must pass
Tampa commercial real estate broker Kyle Burd recently told his boss the news he didn't want hear. He has accepted a job as Tampa managing director for Orlando's Capital Partners Inc., a private investment firm with plans to become the largest owner of office space in the Southeastern United States.
This is a big deal for the Tampa office of CB Richard Ellis, where Burd worked the past 20 years as one its top brokers. Over the past four years, Burd led a team of brokers that closed 77 deals worth about $750 million for an exclusive group of high net-worth clients.
While certain to miss Burd's experience, the firm's private client group still has two capable brokers, Mark Shellabarger and Ginger Gelsheimer.
This just was an opportunity Burd says he couldn't afford to reject. "It was a difficult decision," he says. "At the end of the day, it took an extraordinary opportunity to pull me away from what already was a great business."
Over the years, Burd through the course of normal business became well acquainted with the Capital Partners' principals - Jim Heistand, Bill Evans, Troy Cox and Henry Platt III. He likes the way they react to the market.
"These are people I've known for a long time," he says. "They're cool people, smart real estate investors, nimble and opportunistic."
Pity underpaid bank CEOs
Really, Coffee Talk writes that headline with all sincerity.
In case you're not sure for whom you should be shedding tears, SNL Financial of Charlottesville, Va., has compiled a handy list.
SNL looked at banks and thrifts with at least $5 billion in assets to determine the most overpaid and underpaid CEOs.
Four on the overpaid list lead banks - Northern Trust Corp., Whitney Holding Corp., AmSouth Bancorp and South Financial Group Inc. - with sizable retail operations along the Gulf Coast.
Shannon Fitzgerald just about gagged as the SNL staffer reported that Northern Trust's William A. Osborn made $6.8 million in fiscal 2004 while the Chicago bank returned a -5.34% over the past three years.
AmSouth's C. Dowd Ritter was taking down $4.9 million while his bank was paying regulators a $54 million fine for violating the Bank Secrecy Act.
The underpaid group included Golden West Financial Corp.'s Herbert M. and Marion O. Sandler, Fifth Third Bancorp's George A. Schaefer Jr. and BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc.'s Alan B. Levan.
SNL says BankAtlantic paid Levan a pittance, $1.1 million, when investors consider the Fort Lauderdale banking company has returned 44.3% since 2001.
The little firm that can
Lawyers Jon Tileston and Brent Simon took on the Florida Department of Transportation and won $7 million - more than twice what state officials had offered to pay for the taking of nearly 2 acres on the Courtney Campbell Causeway that had housed Scarletts, a topless cabaret, and B.J.'s restaurant.
It was a big win for the three-lawyer Tampa firm.
"I thought we had very credible witnesses and a good case," Tileston says. "But I wasn't sure how the jury would react to Joe Redner. He believes in being very, very honest. There are no shades of gray."
The lawyer's worries were apparently unfounded. The jurors, 11 women and one man, heard testimony for two weeks before awarding $6.8 million, plus interest, to Redner's companies.
Part of the judgment was based on testimony that Scarletts, a 13,000-square-foot club, had the potential to make about $3 million annually in gross revenue. That's what Mons Venus, another Redner club, brings in each year, and it's far smaller at 2,500 square feet.
It was the first adult-use case for Tileston, a former DOT attorney, with 25 years experience in eminent domain.
"I've done ostrich farms, Florida resorts, even Wild Bill's Alligator Tours on State Road 44 between Wildwood and Inverness," Tileston says. "But this was the first adult use."
JQC rebuffs Holder
The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission says Hillsborough Circuit Judge Greg Holder is not entitled to legal fees of about $1.8 million because its failed prosecution against him wasn't related to his job as judge.
Huh?
Coffee Talk bets the JQC would be talking a different game if it had found Holder guilty of plagiarizing an Air Force research paper as he was charged. Then the charge would be related to his job. Instead, the JQC hearing panel dismissed the charge against Holder in June, citing conflicting testimony.
Though the JQC says it shouldn't have to pay the three law firms that represented Holder, it has agreed to pay his costs, which are about $141,000.
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