Loading
Home sales rise in February
Sales of existing homes in the Tampa Bay area rose 23%, the largest increase since September, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.
Buyers bought 1,856 homes in February. The median sales price fell 27% to $131,400, yet increased from January's median price of $122,400.
Nationally, home sales grew 5.1% in February. The median U.S. sales price fell to $165,400, down 15.5%.
Travel agencies acquired
Adventure Travel, Carefree Travel and Millennium Travel, all Tampa Bay area travel agencies, will remain in business and keep their employees, but will have a new corporate owner.
The Travel Team, owned by Rich Products Corp. of Buffalo, N.Y., bought the agencies.
Adventure Travel and Carefree Travel will be renamed The Travel Team/American Express. Millennium Travel will be renamed Millennium Travel/American Express. The three agencies have a total of 30 employees.
BNY Mellon opens
Veteran Florida banker Ray Ifert recently opened the new Tampa office of BNY Mellon at 4488 Boy Scout Blvd., near International Plaza in the Westshore business district.
Ifert, the bank's regional director, and his seven-person staff recently hosted a private reception for 200 people at the new bank offices, which cater to wealthy clients.
Airport receives money
Federal funds from various stimulus packages are trickling into the Gulf Coast and officials from the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport are eager to grab their share.
Airport chief executive Rick Piccolo says the airport was recently told it would receive $4.75 million, most of which will go toward resurfacing the airport's crosswind runway. The project is already being advertised for bids.
Piccolo has also said he would like to get $6 million more from the government stimulus packages, for projects including a terminal upgrade and an enhanced air traffic control tower.
The Charlotte County Airport in Port Charlotte is also among the recipients of the federal money. Airport officials there were recently told the facility would be getting $2.5 million for a project to upgrade the main ramp leading to the terminal.
Nadel spawns lawsuit
Holland & Knight, one of Florida's biggest law firms, is on the defendant side of a class action lawsuit stemming from the case of Arthur Nadel, the Sarasota financier accused of bilking hundreds of clients out of more than $300 million.
The suit, filed in Tampa federal court, alleges that the law firm left out pertinent information in paperwork it filed for individuals seeking to invest in hedge funds run by Nadel's firm.
The suit adds that the law firm should have told potential Nadel clients that he was once disbarred from practicing law in New York due to allegations of financial misconduct.
The class action suit was filed on behalf of an Illinois investor who says he lost $1.8 million in Nadel's scheme. Nadel is being held in a federal prison in New York, awaiting a trial on securities and wire fraud charges. He is also facing civil charges in the case.
Holland & Knight attorneys have denied the allegations in the lawsuit.
Air Berlin boosts flights
Air Berlin will double the number of flights from Fort Myers to Düsseldorf this summer, the airline announced recently.
Starting June 28, Air Berlin, Germany’s second largest airline, will offer four weekly flights from Fort Myers to Düsseldorf. The announcement is welcome news for tourism officials who are worried about a substantial decline in domestic travel to Florida this summer.
Foreign travelers are especially prized because they tend to stay longer and spend more money. Although the U.S. dollar has gained some strength since last year, the exchange rate is still favorable for Europeans.
Collier hotel revenues fall
Revenues per available room at hotels in Collier County fell 14.6% in February compared to the same month a year ago, according to Research Data Services.
Revenue per available room is an important measure of a hotel's financial health as it combines occupancies with average daily rate. Revenue per available room was $195 in February compared to $212.80 in the same month in 2008.
February occupancies in February fell 7.7 percentage points to 78.3% and the average daily rate dropped 6.2% to $249.60 compared to February 2008.
Fort Myers air traffic drops
Passenger traffic at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers fell 4.2% in February compared to the same month a year ago.
In February, 809,990 passengers traveled through the Fort Myers airport. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is down 4% compared to the same period in 2008. Last year, more than 7.6 million passengers traveled through the airport, making it one of the 50 busiest in the nation.
Aircraft takeoffs and landings fell 3% in February compared to the same month a year ago. The top five carriers in February were AirTran, JetBlue, Delta, USAirways and Southwest.
TIA to create jobs
Tampa International Airport is getting $8 million in federal stimulus funds and will use it to create more than 265 jobs to work on airport projects this summer.
The airport is planning an elevated taxiway and site development and infrastructure for a north terminal. Work could begin in July. Both projects should take a year to complete.
The taxiway would allow aircraft to travel east and west on the airport property while other vehicles could travel below.
Congress approved $1.1 billion in airport improvement funds as part of the $787 billion stimulus package.
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.
