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News

  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 27, 2006
Coffee Talk

Are you looking to own an historic Sarasota conglomerate made up of high-end restaurants, grocery stores and gift shops? Here's your chance: Epicurean Life, the parent company of Morton's Gourmet Market. rivate-equity groups have targeted HMA in an effort to take the Naples-based hospital company private.Frank D'Alessandro warns that overleveraged real estate speculators could flood the Southwest Florida residential market, further depressing real estate values.Eric Livingston says he takes a proactive approach to running his company that provides IT help for small- and mid-sized businesses. He bluntly puts it this way: "We go out and be proactive and monitor systems so that they don't crap out in the first place." Ross strategy is to follow the BeallThe 2004-2005 hurricane season has claimed another victim: Albritton Fruit Co.Nearly 90% of high-net commercial real estate investors are confident their investment choice is still the best way of making money.How do nonprofits get by in a competitive business climate?

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 20, 2006
Coffee Talk

Coffee Talk:Shareholder: Sell WCI Communities: Basswood Capital Management, a New York-based investment firm that owns 5% of the shares of Bonita Springs-based WCI Communities, says the homebuilding company should sell itself.Hail to the chief: Snagging the most powerful man in the world for your business comes with headaches. Plenty of headaches. But hopefully worthwhile headaches.Michigan real estate developer Brent Virkus, already swimming in the deep end of the downtown Sarasota condo pool, is adding to his ambitious portfolio by starting a real estate investment fund. Technology is the ultimate mixed blessing: Use it right, and it can be the catalyst for explosive revenue growth or an exhilarating new discovery.National foreclosure rates rose in September, but foreclosures in six of Florida's eight Gulf Coast counties served by the Review dropped, according to RealtyTrac Inc.Meridian Development Group is taking advantage of the growth occurring between Tampa-St. Petersburg and Fort Myers.Hedge fund Amaranth Advisors' recent energy-trade blowup was all the talk at a meeting of investment professionals in Naples recently.Some business people are wondering if Pasco County, a bedroom community to the north of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, is bent on stopping growth.Gevity is going through a management shift of its own.

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 13, 2006
Coffee Talk

Coffee Talk: Business tax climate: We're one of the best: Florida might be one of the best states in the nation when it comes to business tax climates, but there's always room for improvement.Help us find the top tech companiesBigger fish to Swallow: A pair of infant technology companies based in Sarasota were recently sold to bigger players in their respective fields - but their fathers will still have a say in each firm's continued growth.Fort Myers airport seeks hotel developer: More than 7.5 million people passed through Southwest Florida International Airport last year and chances are many of them stayed at nearby hotels.Global Signal deal is a nice pay day: Wall Street gurus, investment bankers and investors weren't the only ones happy to see Sarasota-based Global Signal bought by rival cell phone tower company Crown Castle International in a $4 billion cash and stock deal Oct. 6. Bad-news press spins it negative again: A gloomy report, titled "Housing at the Tipping Point" by Moody's Economy.com, recently got a lot of press when it forecast double-digit percentage price declines for residential real estate in Southwest Florida.A chain of coffee stores that got its initial idea in Seattle is getting ready to take on the Sunshine state. Obviously, it isn't omnipresent Starbucks.

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 6, 2006
Commercial RE Briefs

Osprey SA buys Tampa OaksPorter Development preparing the Royale projectNew ownership group expanding Turtle Cove MarinaLiberty Property Trust buys 100 Legacy ParkBest Western Island Gateway sold, converted to La QuintaLee County government acquires Wachovia Bank buildingVengroff buys Airport Inn for housing, business incubatorSenior Living Management buys Grand on Beneva

  • Tampa Bay-Lakeland
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 6, 2006
Coffee Talk

Coffee Talk: ll time high: Good news for Tampa landlords: Office rental rates for Class A space increased 3.6% in the first half of this year, and the trend is expected to continue upward, according to a mid-year report by GVA Advantis. Holiday Inn may boost Parsons:Oscar Parsons' $10 million investment in creating a viable convention center for the Sarasota-Bradenton area could be getting a jolt: Jiten Patel, who already owns and operates a Holiday Inn Express in Bradenton, is seeking to build a $15 million, 135-room Holiday Inn next to Parsons' Sarasota Bradenton International Convention Center.And the (small business) winners are ...: Fast Lane Clothing Co. (profiled in the Aug. 4 edition of the Review) was one of the recent winners of the Tampa Chamber of Commerce's small business awards.Oswald Trippe continues expansion: Despite the challenges of writing insurance policies in Florida, Fort Myers-based Oswald Trippe continues its expansion both within and outside the state.Analyst forecasts earnings fall at WCI Communities: Housing-stock analysts continue to downgrade the stock of WCI Communities, the Bonita Springs-based developer once headed by Al Hoffman, now U.S. ambassador to Portugal.Sweetbay building on own, for now: Sweetbay Supermarket CEO Shelley Broader's announcement that the Tampa-based grocery store chain plans to self-develop its stores seems to have caused a stir in the development community.

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 28, 2006
Coffee Talk

Health care costs grow: Employers are expected to feel even more pressure in 2007 as health care costs rise an estimated 6% per employee to $8,748, an increase that's about two-thirds higher than the Consumer Price Index, according to a Towers Perrin survey of 167 firms released Sept. 26. A CALL FOR TECH NOMINATIONS: Technology is the ultimate mixed blessing: Use it right and it can be the catalyst for explosive revenue growth and exhilarating new discovery. But harnessing the right technology can be maddening.USF climbs to No. 2, and going up: It appears to Coffee Talk that the University of South Florida is getting more and more respect.Sarasota EDC awards companies' excellence: A cabinetmaker, a digital printing company and an insurance firm were recognized by the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County for excellence in manufacturing, technology and service, respectively, at a Sept. 25 awards ceremony.Florikan, Madahcom win state awards: A pair of former Review Technology Innovation Award winners was given statewide awards by Gov. Jeb Bush recently as part of Business Appreciation Week.Technology hiring climbs: Hiring in the technology industry for the first half of 2006 had its strongest growth in five years, but overall, the industry can do better when it comes to filling technology jobs, a leading industry advocate group says. Appliance Depot not stepping back: It always raises an eyebrow when a small retailer an

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 28, 2006
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

Brookline Development buys strip centerLane Co. buys Watermark 1Atria Senior Living Group assumes Amber Wood facilityBurton-Katzman Development planning Honore office projectNew York investor buys Cortez Village SquareBiggins buys industrial building for $2 millionCedar Bay Marina becomes yacht clubWayside Industrial acquires large Alico Road tractSenior Housing Properties Trust buys Buena Vida

  • Tampa Bay-Lakeland
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 22, 2006
Commercial RE Briefs

Giles starts work on Manatee Bay in Waterside Cape Coral Parkway, Red Rock buy land for office condoNassif Development plans Prima LuceNaples investment group plans office developmenSeminole attorneys buy Brooker Creek centerDeveloper Grady Pridgen buys Buccaneer CenterSierra Stone and Aggregate buys Largo warehouseU.S. Assets completes Wicker Inn purchaseNew Jersey entrepreneurs plan car wash chain

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 22, 2006
Coffee Talk

Coffee Talk:SKY Sotheby's confirms move :Looks like Coffee Talk was on to something when it reported last month that the word in local real estate circles was Brandyn Herbold, co-founder of Sarasota luxury real estate firm SKY Sotheby's International Realty, was planning a big move, possibly to Minnesota. Review gets an intelligence boost: The Review is welcoming another member to the family: The S2 Report, a free daily business newsletter sent by e-mailChico's continues transparency: Fort Myers-based Chico's FAS is known on Wall Street for its straight talk with investors and a recent filing demonstrates that once again.Tired of golf? Treat customers to the circus: Here's a break from the norm: Instead of taking your important clients for another round of golf or treating your star-performing employees to a four-star dinner, how about a night under the big top?Tampa Bay still has work to do: There really weren't any surprises in the newest economic development scorecard of the Tampa Bay region. How Tampa Bay ComparesA friend of Florida business?: Even though the position of lieutenant governor in Florida is far from a decision-making powerhouse, Coffee Talk did a double take when Republican gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist picked Cape Coral State Rep. Jeff Kottkamp as his running mate. Another cool confernce in Sarasota: Last month, the initial Sarasota/Manatee Technology Conference: Integration at the Crossroads wo

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 15, 2006
Commercial Real Estate

Commercial Real Estate:Venice hotel owners acquire local Holiday Inn Ocean Properties buys Lido resort, plans major renovationsMcKibbon buys land in Gulf Coast Town CenterBarfield Bay Properties buys Terrace PointeHillsborough Community College buys former Alterman building

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 15, 2006
Coffee Talk

Coffee Talk: Southwest may add Fort Myers flightsThe real estate market may be in the dumps, but at least one segment of the advertising industry that caters to it - billboards - is booming. Sarasota employers are not an optimistic bunch, according to Manpower Inc.'s most recent employment outlook survey.Coral Gables-based Cornerstone Group is touting its new all-concrete town home community as the cure to homeowners' insurance woes.If the residential real estate market is in a slump, you wouldn't know it based on investors' appetites.Morgan Stanley executives say they've raised $1.75 billion for Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund V U.S., the institutional fund that recently bought Babcock Ranch in partnership with West Palm Beach developer Syd Kitson. Tampa-based Suncoast Roofers Supply (profiled in the May 12 Review) has opened its 15th location, this one in Gainesville, home of the University of Florida Gators.When the public sector borrows from the business world, it tends to raise eyebrows and lower costs. In Sarasota County, that lesson is coming home in the Office of Financial Planning.Pulte Homes and its DiVosta subsidiary are two of the best homebuilders on the Gulf Coast for customer satisfaction, according to J.D. Power and Associates. Yet another Palm Avenue development RFPThere's an anti-development fight in St. Pete Beach, a south Pinellas County coastal community of 10,000, and Wa

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 7, 2006
Cape Coral firefighters union buys building

The purchase entity Cape Coral Firefighters Building Corp. mortgaged the building to Wachovia Bank NA for $344,000.

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 7, 2006
Coffee Talk

Comp costs going down: The Boca Raton-based National Council on Compensation Insurance, a clearinghouse of workers comp research and data, has recommended an 11% reduction in Florida's rates for 2007. Generating home buyers: And now, the Tampa division of US Home has extended its offer of a free home generator through the end of September.Delta cuts back traffic to Gulf Coast citiesDagwood is hot: Dagwood's Sandwich Shoppes, a restaurant franchise company based in Clearwater and New Orleans, has contracted for 356 new locations since it launched in May.Homebuilders go bald for sales: The top executives at First Home Builders in Fort Myers pledged to shave their heads if they reached a goal of selling 2,900 homes so far this year. Meeting corporate demand: Shutts & Bowen's new Tampa managing partner, R. Allan Higbee, says the law firm's fast growth is in response to the burgeoning demand for corporate lawyers in the Tampa Bay area.Lee Memorial tops list: AARP, the nonprofit organization for people more than 50, ranked Lee Memorial Health System second in the country in its annual list of 50 Best Employers for Workers Over 50.More on double standard:For those who haven't heard enough about the former Tampa teacher placed on house arrest earlier this year for her sexual relationship with a teenage student, more is on its way.

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 7, 2006
Real Estate Briefs

Commercial Real Estate: AutoNation planning Mercedes dealershipPort Charlotte buyers take over North Port buildingTwo automotive insiders plan Infiniti dealershipCalifornia investors buy Fort Myers CVSKBS REIT purchases Sabal PavilionInland Real Estate buys Walter's CrossingFlorida Spine Institute acquires headquarters

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • For Subscribers Only
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 7, 2006
Jet Sports Management plans new sports bar

Abbott has hired Tampa-based Veranda Homes to completely renovate the building. 

  • Tampa Bay-Lakeland
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