A study published in March by Tillinghast Towers Perrin shows the average homeowner would have to pay an assessment of $13,971 to cover a $15 billion storm. Even a $2 billion storm would cost the average homeowner $1,726.The vindication train engineered by Tampa-based commercial real estate broker Steve Kossoff continues to roll. First, in a deal signed last month, Bradenton-based retailer Beall's agreed to lease 200,000 square feet in the former Winn Dixie warehouse in Sarasota - the same 950,000-square-foot complex surrounding 60 acres on Palmer Ranch in Sarasota County that Kossoff and his Meridian Development Group bought for $30 million last year.Sarasota based valve manufacturer Sun Hydraulics is a hot company once again in Business Week magazine's annual Hot Growth list.Garrett Richter, the Republican state representative from Collier County, says he wishes he could have voted "maybe" when confronted with the property insurance bill earlier this year.Agriculture is a huge business in Florida, especially in inland counties.But does agriculture business have a future? The answer is a qualified yes, according to Howard Finch and Stuart Van Auken, two professors at Florida Gulf Coast University's Lutgert College of Business in Fort Myers.
