Election-year stimulus

Fred Pezeshkan is already looking ahead to 2011 because the construction industry will face another tough year before a recovery is in sight.

Pezeshkan, the chief executive officer of Kraft Construction in Naples, the second-largest construction firm on the Gulf Coast, is one of the shrewdest and well-connected executives on the Gulf Coast. Kraft has recently landed coveted projects such as the Red Sox spring-training facility in Fort Myers and the Veterans Affairs hospital in Cape Coral.

The government will remain the lifeline of the Gulf Coast's construction industry this year as Pezeshkan hopes government spending increases. “With the election coming in November, we're hoping to see more activity in the second half of 2010,” Pezeshkan says.