Patient executive makes his move

+ Patient executive finally makes his move
Steve Marino was stunned in 2004 when a commercial real estate broker told him the bad news: If he wanted to build a new office and showroom for his growing Fort Myers-based company in east Manatee County, he'd have to pay more than $1.2 million just for the land.

Last summer, Marino, founder and president of an appliance insurance firm called Home-Tech, was stunned yet again. The price for the two parcels, in the Creekwood East Corporate Park just east of Interstate 75, had dropped to under $400,000.

Sold.