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More News

    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 21, 2007
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

Sturdivent Foods buys three buildingsMetro Parkway Realty buys Metro strip centerMiami builders plan Marco Island officeBrooks & Freund begins PaseoFinergy closes on Nokomis hotel siteSarasota Ophthalmology moves to Tamiami TrailRingling buys nine homes, one commercial buildingKeller Williams buys Channelside building for new officeAdvanced Developmentbuys Dixon Legal for condosGulfshore Bank headquarters planned

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 21, 2007
Coffee Talk

Shareholders question Source Interlink acquisition: Shareholders didn't share the enthusiasm of Source Interlink's management when the Bonita Springs-based magazine distributor announced it was jumping into the publishing business.New construction company comes to town: Competition for Gulf Coast construction projects will be getting a little stiffer with the announcement that West Palm Beach-based Suffolk Construction will be opening an office in Lakewood Ranch.Florida nets four thrifts: Research firm SNL Financial recently released its annual list of the top 100 thrifts in the nation and only four Florida institutions made the 2006 rankings.Start off new employees well - or else: Coffee Talk readers are all too aware about the perils of making a bad call when hiring employees. But a new survey says that even good calls can turn bad - rather quickly - if there isn't a healthy amount of training and orientation given to the employee from the first day.Hodges boosts Naples university: International College, an independent four-year institution for working adults, received a $12 million gift from Naples funeral-business owner Earl Hodges and his wife Thelma Hodges.A new kind of letter to the editor: Time was, when you didn't like something you read in the newspaper or a magazine, you simply wrote a letter to the editor.Look for the blue, ValPak blue, that is: Largo-based ValPak Direct Marketing Systems, a pioneer in direct mail, w

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 11, 2007
Coffee Talk

Pray we don't have a hurricane. That's the best thing we can count on now that the state has decided to compete with private insurance companies to write residential and commercial property insurance, says Florida Rep. Trudi Williams, the Republican who represents portions of Lee and Collier counties.ReadyAlert Services co-founder Happy Rideout told the Review last year he expected 2007 to be a defining year for the Largo-based emergency text messaging company.Now it looks like company revenue might pass the $1 million mark this year.Andrew Greenwell must have been absent the day they taught baby steps in infant school. Not yet 24 years old, the commercial real estate broker is leaving Corporate Realty Group, the Sarasota firm he co-founded with his aunt in 2004, to open his own shop. Sarasota-based electronics manufacturer Teltronics was recently recognized by a national magazine for its success in selling phone switches and circuits to government offices and agencies.If you want to know where the next category-3 hurricane is most likely to hit, ask the people who bet their money on such probabilities. At Intrade.com, speculators can bet on the chances of numerous events coming to pass. Sarasota Association of Realtors President Joe Hembree admits that numbers can be spun nearly any which way the spinner would like, and that's certainly true in monthly real estate sales figures released by countless local agencies throughout the Gul

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 11, 2007
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

Cedar Hills plans first Florida hotelInvestors planning Cortez carwash to replace gas stationInvestment group buys Clark Center Albritton Fruit buildingInvestment firm buys Premier Corporate CentreBoston's TA Associates Realty acquires Massaro warehouseKimco Realty Corp. buys Westgate PlazaCalifornia REIT buys Naples' Commons VRoyal Shell Vacations, Realty shuffles offices, expandsMetro Storage buys A1 Shelters

  • Manatee-Sarasota
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 4, 2007
Coffee Talk

The expensive advertising campaign put out by the Sarasota Association of Realtors to lure buyers in a slumping market has raised a question: The market is showing signs of awakening, but is it due to the ads themselves or the themes within those ads that would likely be occurring regardless of the ads?The campaign's slogan is Time 2 Buy. It promotes the idea that the slump has created a buying opportunity, as interest rates have dropped, prices have stabilized and the glut of available homes in several price ranges means buyers can be picky. Bob Graham, a former Florida governor and U.S. senator, joined the board of directors at Tampa-based WellCare Health Plans Inc., replacing another ex-politician.Clyde Nixon carried lots of titles in his business career. President and chief executive of several companies, chairman of the board, community fundraiser and regional economic cheerleader, to name just a few.But Nixon, who died April 29 at 72 years old after a yearlong bout with cancer, will also be remembered by legions of friends, colleagues and employees for carrying a bucket of water. Bond-fund managers tend to be a gloomy lot. But real estate and finance companies oon the Gulf Coast might want to heed what Bill Gross has to say about the relationship between home prices and interest rates.

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • May 4, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Two Cape Coral investors buying Hideaway Waterfront Passarella & Associates building office on MetropolisRegions Bank buys land, plans Cape Coral expansionAlessi Bakery expanding manufacturing facilitiesLynd Residential Properties acquires Bristol Place in TampaInvestors acquire Trouble Creek Shopping CenterSarasota investor Kaplan buys Bradenton propertySarasota, Naples developers buy downtown land for homesIrish American prepares to start Sarasota BaysideColdwell Banker buys Manatee's Buccaneer Realty

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • April 27, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Creative Events and Rental builds new warehouseSutter Roofing buys new Naples locationDevelopers plan community on Orange River BoulevardScaffolding maker moves to SarasotaVenice chiropractor buys East Side PlazaAmSouth buys Willette auto parcel for future branchZaremba group buys land for apartmentsNewport Property Ventures buys Normandy ParkCustom Components Co. buys Lynmar office, plans expansion

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • April 27, 2007
Coffee Talk

The Gulf Coast is once again home to some of the nation's boomiest of boomtowns, at least according to Inc. magazine. Mark Vitner, Wachovia Corp.'s senior economist, told a group of executives in Fort Myers recently that Florida will grow by 600 to 700 people per day for the foreseeable future. The nation's largest technology trade association, AeA, says Florida - the land of sunshine and low unemployment - is the fourth largest and second fastest growing cyberstate by tech employment.Florida's high-tech industry added a net 10,900 jobs for a total of 276,400 tech positions in 2005, the latest year available. Financial Florida, an economic development arm devoted to recruiting and retaining non-depository financial services firms for the state, held a kick-off event in Tallahassee April 25. Earlier in April, OSI Restaurant Partners Co-founder and Chairman Chris Sullivan was one of 10 business people to receive the 2007 Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans award, which is given to those who overcome adversity and humble beginnings to achieve great success through the American free enterprise system.Steve Lux is true to his word: In an interview with the Review earlier this year, the recently hired chief executive of Lakewood Ranch-based cultured diamond manufacturer Gemesis Corp. said his game plan was to raise the credibility of the finished product, which is sold directly to jewelry designers.

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • April 20, 2007
Coffee Talk

Many of Florida's largest corporations continue to grow like wildfires before the summer rains. Tech Data Corp. just grabbed the 109th spot on the 2007 Fortune 500, only two spots behind Publix Super Markets, which held the No. 1 spot as the largest corporation in the state.Florida's current unemployment rate is now so low that based on a new study of online job vacancies, just about anyone in the Sunshine State who wants to work, can work. The Conference Board, a New York-based business research agency, reports that the number of unemployed in Florida as compared to online job vacancies is 1.1 to 1 - a virtual full employment that many Coffee Talk readers likely know all too well.The Tampa Bay area got the kind of economic report card last week that you don't want to crow about.A scorecard, released April 17 by the Tampa Bay Partnership, shows the seven-county region dropped to fourth place from third, when compared to five similar metro areas of Jacksonville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and Dallas. Only Jacksonville performed more poorly.. This year marks the 10th straight year that NRT was ranked as the top residential real estate firm in RIS Media's annual Power Broker report.Maybe executives fighting the hiring wars (see above item) can look to Florida's plethora of retirees.

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • April 20, 2007
A different approach

Developer Leonard Gardner is asking for density increases and city funding to bring workforce housing downtown.

  • Manatee-Sarasota
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • April 20, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Realco Florida LLC buys 91-acre Airport Technology CenterSarasota investors buys Treeline office buildingFort Myers ISP buys office for headquartersFox Creek Holdings LLC buys I-75 parcelBank officials buy land for headquartersArdaman & Associates official buys George F. Young buildingAmerica's Capital Partners buys four-building Breckenridge VIIISt. Petersburg group buys 34th Street North warehousePriority Developers, NY investors plan Triple J Ranch development

  • Manatee-Sarasota
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • April 13, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Harp Development plans office, retail town centreMiami investors acquire Myerlee Square, plan officeNaples investor buys University Commons officeCharlotte State Bank plans North Port branchSarasota developer files Cobia Bay site planHupp Realty Advisors plans Manatee WalgreensKBS REIT buys Sabal VI officePublix buys Tampa land for GreenWise MarketOAM Associates buys Palm Harbor Red Roof Inn

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • April 13, 2007
Coffee Talk

Telovations Inc. CEO Rick Schonbrun says the Tampa-based startup is poised to expand now that it has received $6.5 million in venture capital.When Joe Hice, a marketing executive for places as varied as the University of Florida, Segway and Harley Davidson, talks about using the Internet to promote a business, he's not referring to any old Web site. Those days, says Hice, are over. Service has long been a buzzword in residential real estate, but the definition has always been tough to define. One customer's idea of the perfect agent is another's idea of the perfect bust. Scott Sosso, president of Prudential Palms Realty, a 250-plus agent firm covering Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties, is trying to get a more precise definition, starting with having all Prudential agents attend Quality Service Certification training.In June, Enterprise Florida, the statewide economic development arm, is taking an export sales trade mission to Bogota and Medellin, two of the more populous cities in the South American country. The Bank of Tampa and its co-founder and CEO, A. Gerald Divers, were recently profiled in the Review. After 23 years of overseeing and nurturing what some call "Jerry's Bank," Divers is slowly relinquishing control.Internet chat rooms have been buzzing about a Web site that analyzes sales for various residential projects by Bonita Springs-based developer WCI Communities.

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • April 6, 2007
Coffee Talk

Alexandra Miller has already survived a tricky internal power struggle within her Sarasota-based family-run medical supplies distribution company. Now she will try to survive a political campaign. The middle of March was good for US Home's Tampa division, which reported its best week this year. The builder sold 39 new homes in 23 Tampa Bay area communities during March 12-18.The gist of the survey, subtitled "what many boards and executives still don't know about the health of their businesses," is that many board members and senior executives are "in the dark about the overall health of their organizations" because they don't know enough about the non-financial matters, which tend to be tougher to monitor and judge.AnazaoHealth Corp. just made its third multimillion-dollar acquisition in 12 months. The Tampa-based custom mail-order pharmaceutical company acquired the assets of Kronos Compounding Pharmacy in Las Vegas.The latest taxable-sales data confirms anecdotes from many commercial builders: Charlotte County is experiencing a commercial construction boom.

  • News
    By
  • Business Observer Staff
  • April 6, 2007
Commercial RE Briefs

Gulfstream Developments closes on Cayo WhippoorwillNicaea Academy expands in Naples, Fort MyersPlastic Specialties owner sells building to companyFortress Investment Group buys Bradenton's Woodlands VillageSarasota investors buy, re-list former Khrome clubRoyal Senior Care buys Sarasota Heron HousesBoca Raton's Leder Group buys President's, Corporex plazasHernando investor buys Apollo Beach Mini StoragePraedium Group buys Bay Tec Center

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
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