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More News

    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 23, 2008
Coffee Talk

+ Economic incentives:Be careful what you getAs is the case with just about every daily newspaper in the country, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, owned by the New York Times Co., is struggling to survive the economic downturn.+ Ellert leavesFifth Third BankAfter just nine months as president and chief executive officer of Fifth Third Bank South Florida, Kent Ellert has left the bank.+ ForeclosuresDaily falters,but will continueIt is somewhat counterintuitive that a company focused on foreclosures should be in desperate financial straights.+ Gulf Coast entrepreneurto run for local officeAlan Zirkelbach, one of the more accomplished entrepreneurs on the Gulf Coast, is making a run in the political arena.+ Early Halloween scare:Economist's predictionsIt's not even Halloween yet and Robert Allsbrook, the chief economist for Regions Bank, is already scaring the wits out of business owners on the Gulf Coast. + Africa is calling.Is the Gulf Coast answering?What area is rich in natural resources, has a good workforce and is looking for Gulf Coast industries to partner and do business with?+ Homebuilders groupstake out the 'homebuilders'Apparently, there's a lot in a name. Just ask Jane Goodwin, executive vice president of the organization formerly known as the Home Builders Association of Sarasota County.

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 23, 2008
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

Juniper Communities buys Naples ALFFort Myers hoteliersbuy Naples Super 8 MotelBelleair Development Groupplans Skyline Boulevard 7-ElevenJBM Realty Advisorslisting River Reach ApartmentsHealth Care REIT funding Windsor facility in VeniceHide-Away Storage Servicesplanning Fruitville facilitySpec Building Materialsbuys Bradenton warehouseStarwood Land Venturesinks N.C.-acquisition dealKennedy Investments buys Hanna warehouseProBuild Holdingsbuys Plant City warehouseDEV Hospitalitybuys Clearwater Wingate Road, Shops at Wiregrass,set to open in October

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 16, 2008
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

Technical high school construction completeLandmark Residential buys Colony At El ConquistadorU.S. Postal Servicesbuys land for McIntosh annex Myakka City cattle rancherbuys additional 220 acresCounty micro surfacingeight-neighborhood roadsCharles & Chase Groupstarts Regency House phase twoPunta Gorda Lodging buys Hilton landBrookwood Value Partnersbuys Bella Vida home lotsNaples investor buysJPMorgan Chase building Rollin' Oats owners buy Nature's Harvest storeSchool District of Pasco Countybuys Handcart property Kissimmee area Patel familybuys Tarpon Springs innTower Realty Partners Inc.to lease Tampa office building

  • Manatee-Sarasota
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 16, 2008
Coffee Talk

Economy rainson home paradeThe economic downturn is raining on the fall parade of homes.un Hydraulics founder,plant innovator, diesRobert Koski, the co-founder of Sarasota-based Sun Hydraulics who pioneered flat corporate hierarchies long before the idea became corporate dogma, died Oct. 11. He was 79.Super visiting time,just in timeThe Gulf Coast is getting ready to host the Super Bowl in February and just in time for the game and its visitors, the new 255-room, 16-story Westin Hotel will open its doors on Tampa's Courtney Campbell Causeway, just west of the Hyatt.Sarasota group aimsfor elected in mayorA plan to create an elected mayor system of government, albeit in a watered down plan, is coming back to Sarasota.dvertising firmsupset with EDCsShould economic development groups hire local marketing firms?Dear Joy:Gendusa gives adviceYou can't fault Joy Gendusa for not taking the personal approach.Fort Myers airportgets more destinationsAirlines keep trimming service at airports around the country, but Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers is getting three new airline destinations this winter, according to Bob Ball, the airport's director.

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 9, 2008
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

Origin Capital buys 14 Lee County homesSellstate Professional Realtyowners buy North Cape CentreSchool Board of Lee Countybuys 19-acre Buckingham ChaseBCBE renovatingVillage on Venetian BayColorado REIT UDR buys Vintage LoftsNiagara Falls, N.Y. firmbuys Fowler Pilot Bank branchBZ Properties buys, renovating Clearwater retail strip centerSovereign Investment buys Ruth's Chris buildingMosaic Fertilizer buys270 acres from G&D FarmsFDOT buys SR-64 land,for roadway expansionSovereign Investment Co.buys Ruth's Chris building

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 9, 2008
Coffee Talk

+ Lee development... in 2014?Investors betting on future residential land development in Lee County may have to wait a little longer than anticipated, if a recent deal there is any indication.+ Are you in?Ad campaign hopes soWhat do a police chief, a bombastic Hall of Fame TV sports personality and the president of an arts and design college have in common?+ Winning changes everything,on and off the fieldWhat a difference a year makes at the ol' ballgame.+ Ayn Randfor every studentEvery student at Florida Gulf Coast University who signs up for the new free-markets course that will be taught there will receive a copy of Atlas Shrugged, the pro-capitalist novel by Ayn Rand.+ + Incumbent congressmanbuilds big lead in one pollOne of the most contested congressional races in the country taking place in Sarasota and Manatee counties might not be much of a contest after all, if a new poll is accurate. + Florida businesshopes to attract neighborsThe Florida real estate market is really hot after all. + Goodbye, bulletin boards, Hello, eDeanThe days of posters and paper stapled and tacked to cork college bulletin boards outside of class buildings and in libraries and dining halls may be quickly coming to an end, thanks to a two-year-old Tampa technology company.+ Put away the Capeopolyuntil next yearCapeopoly, the annual Cape Coral confab that used to draw hundreds of real estate business executi

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 2, 2008
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

City approves Whitaker Yacht ClubChurch buys apartment,plans housing for mothersDeveloper planningPorter Industrial expansionPublix Super Marketsbuys 25 area AlbertsonsOne Liberty Propertiesbuys Naples OfficeMax BG Capital Group buys local Neptune Society building Arthur Hill buys Westshore office buildingStirling Sotheby's Internationalmarketing Sheik Island FarmAssisted-, senior-living facilitysponsored by USF St. PeteLandscape supply firmbuys location in TampaTampa area couple buys Captiva Club apartments, more

  • Manatee-Sarasota
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • October 2, 2008
Coffee Talk

+ Holland and Knightgoes to the Middle EastAt a time when many law firms are consolidating offices, freezing hiring, reorganizing or cutting pay, Holland & Knight LLP is expanding.+ Big cash paymentscome at the right timeGevity, the Lakewood Ranch-based publicly traded human resources outsourcing firm, is in the midst of a nine-month run of declining revenues and profits. But it recently received an early Christmas present in the form of a $47-million net gain in payments it had previously earmarked as collateral for worker's compensation claims. + Sell two restaurants,win a MercedesWe've all heard about incentives for brokers to sell more homes. Now that trend is beginning to appear in the slowing commercial real estate business.+ One percent of Forbes 400 on Gulf CoastFour of the 400 richest people in America call the Gulf Coast home, according to the latest ranking by Forbes magazine. The price of admission to the magazine's list this year was $1.3 billion.+ Wiregrass centerplows forwardDespite tight economic times that have forced the closure, shrinkage or stalled expansion of many retailers, the Shops at Wiregrass shopping center project in Wesley Chapel, in south central Pasco County, is still planning for an Oct. 30 grand opening.+ Florida businesshopes to attract neighborsThe Florida real estate market is really hot after all. Sarasota group aimsfor elected in mayorA plan to create an elect

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 25, 2008
Coffee Talk

+ Analyst claimsHMA selling overdoneDid investors overreact to the recent resignation of Health Management Associates Chief Executive Officer Burke Whitman?+ New home permitshit new all-time lowThe city of North Port, a onetime tiny retirement village in southern Sarasota County, has grown so fast it recently overtook Sarasota as the biggest city in the county in terms of total population.+ Where's the beef?Making the female pitchTampa-based family sports restaurant chain, Beef 'O' Brady's, is feeling the pinch like all restaurants these days. Bailout watch:Everyone wants a pieceGulf Coast real estate investors are watching the government's proposed bailout closely, wondering if that's going to stem foreclosures and home-price declines.+ Engel steps downafter long EDC tenureThe Manatee County Economic Development Council is adding a new twist to its mission to recruit and keep companies.+ Frozen markets thawed -enough to finish dealNot even one of the biggest collapses on Wall Street and in U.S. financial history could stop The Plasencia Group, a Tampa hotel brokerage, from closing a sale recently.+ Million-dollar problemsgo national in JournalSarasota and Bradenton were recently featured prominently in a long Wall Street Journal story. But it wasn't the type of clip the Chamber of Commerce will be framing anytime soon.

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 25, 2008
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

Publix Super Markets buys Longboat Key's Town Plaza IKolter Land Partnersbuys 104 Stillwater lotsFirst Industrial Realty Trustbuys Bradenton auction landPine Avenue Restorationpartners break groundBrookwood Financial companybuys Calusa Creek home lotsCorders Landscape Supply buys Production Circle propertS&O Inc. buys Ortiz,Ballard retail centerForge Capital, DeBartolo buy Fairway Oaks centerPatel family hoteliersBuy, rebrand USA InnThe Sembler Co. appointedAtlanta's top retail developerHills & Associatesjoins Atwell-HicksSt. Luke's Cataract, Laser Institutebuys Dale Mabry bank branch

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 18, 2008
Coffee Talk

+ Gulf Coast investorbets big on Applebee'sBurton "Skip" Sack must really have a thing for Applebee's, the casual dining restaurant chain.+ Local builder's groupclose to naming new leaderOne of the leading pro-development groups in Sarasota and Manatee Counties, the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange, is getting ready to name its new executive director.+ Jabil stays in St. Pete,Lear leaves TampaThe news of Jabil Circuit deciding to stay in St. Petersburg was welcome news to Pinellas County, which worked with the state to provide more than $20 million in incentives to keep the electronics assembly company, which employs 1,880.+ Quest followsbike path to new HQQuest Corp. of America Inc., an advertising, marketing and public relations firm in Tampa, recently broke ground on its new Pasco County headquarters in Land O' Lakes.+ Survey: Businesses mustwork to regain consumer trustBankers and Realtors are among the professions on the wrong end of a new nationwide survey from the Better Business Bureau on how much - or more to the point, how little - consumers trust American companies.+ Branching out fromupscale jewelry to deliSuzanne Perry has built Jewelry Hauture, a two-year-old custom-made and designer retail jewelry business in South Tampa, selling high-end jewelry to affluent clients.+ From Neilsen managementto herbal entrepreneurDeserie Valloreo, a former business information systems professional, g

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 18, 2008
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

102 Development, RAR-1 LLC buys Collier's Pelican PlazaLee County 20/20buys 31 acres for preserveTaylor Morrison of Floridabuys 21 Treviso Bay lotsStevens Constructionrenovates Florida Hospital ER,Lutgert Cos. renovatingVillage on Venetian BayNew Port Richey trustbuys Woodland OaksTampa investor buysformer PolyGard buildingInvestor buys LeveretteHome Design CenterWestfield seeking approvals to enlarge SouthgateTwo U.K. companiesbuy Venice commercial landBradenton real estate partnersbuy Morgan Johnson landSchenkelShultz Architecturedesigns unversities joint-use facilityBank forecloses on Mariner

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 11, 2008
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

Chiropractor, Realtor buy Punta Gorda ClubWilliams Scotsman moving,consolidating operationsCharlotte County buys1,600 acres of Ryals RanchCape Coral issues RFPs,for two city-owned sitesConstruction begins on newshopping center in NaplesDock N Dine LLC buys Sarasota's CoastersTucson, Ariz., investorsbuy Pods Sarasota warehouseRingling Pointe developersdemolish former school building

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 11, 2008
Coffee Talk

+ Game, set . . .tennis exec watchedOne of the Gulf Coast's leading sports industry executives might be in line for a big promotion. + World bankeroptimistic about FloridaSheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. - also known as the world's second most powerful woman, according to the Aug. 27 issue of Forbes - hit Sarasota recently with a sobering message for Gulf Coast bankers: The worst is yet to come. + Builders burnedabout election resultsMichael Reitmann thinks Lee County is on its way to becoming more like Collier County after a trio of Republican incumbents won their Lee County Commission primaries on anti-growth platforms.+ The commissioneris coming to townThe buildup to Tampa's Super Bowl XLIII preparation will heat up a little more Oct. 13 when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell comes to town.+ Philosopher brokerleads Tampa officeLucas Hewett, the new managing director of the Tampa region for GVA Advantis, does not hold an MBA or accounting degree. Nor did he intern at a financial services firm in college.+ Lee leaders seekstimulus packageEconomic stimulus and rescue packages are all the rage these days.+ Gulf Coast Apple guruutilizes advantageHere's one way to beat the economic blues: Run a business that is devoted to all things Apple - the computer company that continues to outperform its peers in an industry-wide slump, thanks to hot sellers like the iPod and the i

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • September 4, 2008
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

Whimsical Arts buys former Buddhist retreatRestaurant chain Mattison'smay close Longboat steakhouseNorth Port Storage Zoneadds partner, changes nameCounty issues DRIfor Lakewood CentreAdler Group buys two airport-area parksInvestor group buys PalazzoVillage at Quail CreekVine Ripe specialties buys Canal Street buildingsMarcobay buys Kuehne & Nagel warehouseIllinois investor buys buildingfor Goodard School,br>Marcobay buys Kuehne & Nagel warehouseIllinois investor buys buildingfor Goodard SchoolBoston investment firm buysUlmerton industrial building

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
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