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As 2019 wound down, the team at FineMark National Bank & Trust in Naples, like many financial institutions, went through mandatory annual pandemic and disaster training. Adria Starkey, president of FineMark’s Collier County office, recalls wondering at the time, probably like most other bankers, “What is the probability this is really going to happen?”
Four months later, Starkey has her answer. “The first quarter was definitely one of the most interesting ones of my career,” Starkey says, again likely echoing the thoughts of others.
Starkey’s comments were part of a virtual roundtable discussion, NextGen Perspectives on Reopening America: The Next Normal, held May 1. The popular NextGen speaker series in Naples, normally held in person, has more virtual chats planned, including Disruption Creates Opportunity and Leadership for the Long Term. Benson Blackburn, a Naples boutique financial services firm, founded NextGen.
Starkey was one of four Naples business leaders to participate on the debut program. John R. Wood Properties CEO Phil Wood and Olga Placeres and Kristina Gear, the mother-daughter team behind Preferred Travel of Naples, joined Starkey.
In talking about what’s next, the general consensus from the panel is that although short-term, their respective industries, particularly travel, will face several more challenging weeks and months, good times are coming soon. “We’ve been crazy booking for 2021,” Placeres says. “People really want to get going.”
Wood predicts the Southwest Florida real estate market, solid pre-COVID-19, will rebound rather quickly because of some of the same factors as before: weather, no state income tax and an easier way of life. His firm had seen a high number of clients seeking to move out of Northeastern states before, and he believes that will only continue now. “I think people just want to bail out of where the virus hotspots are,” Wood says, “and they’ve learned that: 'Gee, I don’t really have to drive to New York City to work every day. I can work from home, so why not move to Florida and do it from there?’”
Another consensus: Masks, hand sanitizer and other self-protection gear are here to stay. Wood says his firm, for example, is buying “hundreds and hundreds of face masks,” not only for property showings but also for working in the office. One of the firm’s biggest challenges in looking how to open things up, Wood says, is “we really don’t think things are going to be much different in June, July or August.”
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