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News

  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • March 16, 2007
Coffee Talk

Late last month though, Roper Industries, an international engineering and manufacturing firm specializing in industrial imaging and software products, officially moved its headquarters from Duluth, Ga. to Sarasota. Whitney Holding Corp. of New Orleans completed its acquisition of St. Petersburg-based Signature Financial Holdings Inc., the parent of Signature Bank, in a cash and stock deal worth $61.7 million.Coffee Talk can boast with the best of them, and the latest bragging rights comes courtesy of Andrew Greenwell, the 23-year-old Sarasota based commercial real estate wunderkind. The Review introduced Greenwell to the business and real estate universe first in a Sept. 28 profile on his accomplishments, which include co-founding Sarasota-based Corporate Realty Group, a six-employee, $20 million firm. Top 10 lists, ubiquitous on late night TV and in all sorts of promotion and marketing materials are, at their core, supposed to have some shred of humor. Too bad laughter wasn't what Coffee Talk heard after reading Enterprise Florida's top 10 recommendations to the Florida Legislature for its upcoming 2007 session.Instead, the sound was more like a ca-ching of cash registers: Three of the first five recommendations include some form of the words "continue funding," for a total of $272.5 million in programs. And More...

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • March 16, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Opus South planning Market Place at the Preserve retail centerProia Motors buys former Auto World buildingFire service owner eyes new developmentCrowder Bros. Hardware develops Lakewood Ranch centerMississippi's York Developments plans Palmetto self-storage spaceKaplan, investors buy in Jackson Hewitt PlazaHonolulu businessman buys Seven OaksNew owner buys Temple Terrace Sleep InnAllPro Printing, Direct Mail buys third building

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • March 9, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Pinnacle, MGM Construction plan rackaminiums for Compass RoseLaw firm buys in Park CentralR&D Cos. starts first phase of Via VenetoWater's Edge developer starts apartmentsCharlotte Development Co. looks to sell North Port centerInvestors acquire Golden Coral buildingCitrus Square work to begin in late 2007Investor buys Northeast PlazaBarfield Bay Properties buys Palma CeiaSembler wins business awardAmerican Financial acquires Wachovia's Hyde Park branch

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • March 9, 2007
Coffee Talk

There are more than $1 billion in health care construction projects in the pipeline in the Tampa Bay area, according to Nashville-based HealthLeaders-InterStudy. While all those high-end services and equipment might mean better care for patients, it's also expected to spur hospitals to push aggressively for higher reimbursements from insurance companies to cover costs, says Margaret Dick, who authored the HealthLeaders-InterStudy report. And guess what? Health insurance companies are going to push back. Naples-based Health Management Associates was the only Gulf Coast firm to be named to Fortune magazine's annual list of America's most admired companies. The Speaking of Fortune magazine's most admired companies (see related item) Dallas, Texas-based national homebuilder Centex is number one in its industry, scoring top marks in seven categories, including quality of management, quality of product/services and use of corporate assets.On the Gulf Coast, though, specifically in the Sarasota-Manatee market, the company has recently been admired for something even more important to both shareholders and employees: Sales. When Hovnanian Enterprises bought Cape Coral-based First Home Builders of Florida in August 2005, the new-home market in Lee County was sizzling. First Home builds moderately priced homes for first-time homeowners and in 2005 was the county's largest locally owned homebuilder.

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • March 2, 2007
Coffee Talk

The Related Group, which has built two Trump towers in South Florida, signed a letter of intent to become managing partner on the downtown Trump Tower Tampa, waterfront project with Gulf Coast developer SimDag LLC and private-equity firm, Mirabilis Ventures, Orlando.The Lee County Chamber of Commerce, the for-profit chamber in Fort Myers, is fighting to keep its name.State legislators have filed a bill that would prevent any for-profit group from using the name "chamber of commerce" and violations would be punished as a first-degree misdemeanor. Traditionally, chambers of commerce have been not-for-profit organizations, but entrepreneurs have started using the "chamber of commerce" name.Coffee Talk has nothing against young guns taking prominent positions in business, law and politics - witness the Review's annual 40 under 40 issue - but there was some mild surprise when AARP, the national lobbying group for the mature population, recently named its new Florida director: She's 33 years old, a baby in AARP years. Development executives were buzzing at the Urban Land Institute conference in Naples Feb. 22 about a DiVosta Homes ad appearing in the local daily newspaper.The two-page, four-color ad touted a 48-hour sale during which homebuyers could get discounts of as much as $60,000 on a new home at one of three communities in Naples, Bonita Springs and Ave Maria.The stock of Chico's FAS, the Fort Myers-based women's retailer, was ranked as th

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • March 2, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Carolina financier buys Tampa, Cape Coral, Plantation apartmentInvestors buy Paddle Creek CenterCape Coral buyer plans Littleton Road developmentSouthwest Capital Bank buys CreeksideHanover, Metlife buy land for apartmentsDeBartolo buys new headquarters, moving to Kennedy BoulevardGold Coast/Coke distribution facility soldOntario investor buys North Port landFifth Third plans new University bank center

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • February 23, 2007
Coffee Talk

Six weeks into an ambitious - and expensive - advertising campaign designed to get fence-sitters to plunk over down payments and actually buy homes, the Sarasota Association of Realtors is seeing some positive results. Or are last three months of statistical increases in sales and offers, not to mention the reduction in inventory, just a cyclical fact in a market that eventually would bounce back anyway?What a year for Network Liquidators. Revenue grew 80%. The company opened a London office. The chief financial officer left. Another executive was promoted. The company acquired another and it obtained $12.86 million in capital.And to top it all, the company, founded in 2001, is moving for the fifth time in five years.In a deal that exudes good timing, Michigan-based Burton-Katzman Development Co. bought Sarasota Commercial Management Inc., a property management and real estate firm with about 25 properties under leases totaling 500,000 square feet. Neither side disclosed the sale price for the deal, announced Feb. 15. At 24, Ryan Sampson, who works with land broker Bill Eshenbaugh, known as Tampa's Dirt Dog, might just be the youngest person ever to become an Accredited Land Consultant.Then again, he might not be.Politicians, lobbyists and parents of Florida State University college students can cheer new nonstop air service to Tallahassee from Naples.

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • February 23, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Baycorp plans office, retail development on U.S. 60Publix Super Market under development for RuskinRam, Myrtlewood buy Madeira CenterStreetside developers buy Dean Dairy, Eiland propertyDunkin Donut franchiser buys propertyForum at Fort Myers gives city land for parkLock Up Self Storage buys Sarasota's Waterworks buildingSunVest Communities, Cay Clubs buy Colonial GrandeOrion Bank assumes former G&T land in eastern SarasotaBurton-Katzman buy Sarasota Commercial Management

  • Tampa Bay-Lakeland
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • February 16, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Naples' Hovland Real Estate planning Seville SquareBenderson Development sells 133 acresTwo Investment groups buy Southwest Florida parcelsChicago real estate firm buys Centro YborFirst Industrial Realty Trust plans Bright House centerLake Worth investor buys Carrollwood OaksSarasota developer buys Sarasota Grand landCity buys land for police stationFP&L buys Palmetto land for electrical substation

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • February 16, 2007
Coffee Talk

A recent statewide survey from the National Federation of Independent Business reads as if it's coming out of Taxachusetts, not the Sunshine State. Almost nine out of every 10 business owners that responded to the survey said their commercial property taxes have increased over the last year. Bradenton is losing a company headquarters, as breakfast and lunch franchise operation Peach's is moving to a Columbus, Ohio suburb. As promised, Shutts & Bowen continues to add top-ranked litigators to its first Gulf Coast office, which opened in Tampa last March. The Review is seeking the best and brightest Gulf Coast entrepreneurs for the newspaper's 10th annual Entrepreneur Award. Charlie Kleman's surprise resignation as chief financial officer of Fort Myers-based women's retailer Chico's FAS has some investors scratching their heads as to who could possibly replace him.Florida is projected to become the third most populous state between 2015 and 2020, as the state hits the 21.8-million mark and passes New York to come in behind California and Texas, even though the state's annual growth rate has slowed to about 2%, according to economists.Bonita Springs-based homebuilder WCI Communities has hired Goldman Sachs to evaluate the possible sale of the company.

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • February 9, 2007
Coffee Talk

Private Capital Management, the Naples-based money management firm that pushed newspaper chain Knight Ridder to sell itself last year, has reduced its stake in newspaper stocks.As a group, the super rich are optimistic about 2007, for both their own financial well-being and that of the national economy.The Chicago-based investment firm's study is relevant for all investors, says John Skjervem, Northern Trust's chief investment officer for its Personal Financial Services division, adding that the wealthy's spending and investment habits usually trickle down. As corporate raiders such as Carl Icahn push for changes at WCI Communities, the board of directors of the Bonita Springs-based homebuilder adopted a poison pill provision to ward off unwanted takeovers.Any investor who acquires 15% or more of the company without the approval of WCI's board will automatically have their shares diluted. Icahn controls 14.57% of WCI's stock, according to the most recent securities filing.The Review is seeking the best and brightest Gulf Coast entrepreneurs for the newspaper's 10th annual Entrepreneur Award. By most major accounts, Florida continues to be a national leader in population increase. It was second to Texas in the number of new residents in 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and it's the fourth largest state in the country, with 18.1 million residents. And there's the oft-cited number of 1,000 people moving to Florida a day.

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • February 9, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Morgan Stanley buys Murdock CarrouselGeorge F. Young Inc. buys officeBal Bay Mortgage buys Nokomis SunTrustCoral Gables investors buy Palm Vista ApartmentsHoteliers buy Bridge Water InnDoug Fox Plumbing moves to Zip Drive Boston firm buys President's Plaza IIPremier One bucks trend, converts Whispering PalmsCay Clubs Resorts buys St. Joe Harbourside

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • February 2, 2007
Coffee Talk

Fort Myers Ramada may be torn down soonWant only the best for your beloved sportster? Well, if it's good enough for Britain's royal family, maybe it's good enough for the rich and famous on Florida's Gulf Coast.Andy Smythe, who became certified as an Auto Glym professional in England, thinks so.That's how he markets his two-year-old auto detailing business, Splash and Dashing. Now Smythe's mobile services aren't for the financialy faint-hearted.Coffee Talk is regularly amused by what counts as a value these days when it comes to higher education. Proof is in Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine's 2007 Best Values in Public College's list: The top 10 schools - two of which are in Florida - will all run more than $100,000 for four years.December existing-home sales continue declineBJ's Restaurant & Brewery CFO Gregory S. Levin says the California-based casual dining chain chose the Tampa Bay area for its first Florida location because it's such a great market for restaurants.University of Tampa business professor Joe McCann says family businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, contributing 65% of the nation's GDP annually.That's why it's only fitting for the college to recognize outstanding Florida family businesses each year.

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • February 2, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Joyland night club finds new homeSarasota attorney moves S.R. 64 parcelLion's Gate Development plans hotel project next yearInland Retail kicks off mixed-use projectPrudential Real Estate Investors buys Grand ReserveScherer Development builds strip centerPBO Development buys Cape Coral officeAmerican Financial Realty buys Wachovia Bank buildingInvestment group planning Six Mile Cypress offices

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • January 26, 2007
Coffee Talk

Health Management Associates sent a clear message to the private-equity vultures circling the Naples-based hospital chain: Back off. Steven Kossoff, principal of Clearwater's Meridian Development Group paid $7.3 million for Lakeland Interstate Business Park in September 2005. It was his firm's first investment in Florida after relocating to the state from Buffalo, N.Y.t's no surprise that companies in Florida lack easy access to venture capital. Still, it's disconcerting to realize last year's VC funding in the Sunshine State dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade.The strategy of knowing your customers, making sound asset and loan decisions and going after condo association deposits might not be exciting, but in the case of Sarasota-based People's Community Bancshares, it sure has been profitable: The bank is regularly one of the top performing community banks in the Sarasota market.It wasn't a good week to be either an executive or a shareholder - or both - with Bradenton-based Coast Bank.

  • News
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