Last updated December 31st, 2008.
By: Fernando Capablanca
In the last few years, most have shown slow but measured and steady growth.Many community banks have demonstrated great success in trending their local markets. Unlike their national counterparts, locally owned and managed banks are, by nature, more entrenched in their communities. An in-depth understanding of the changing factors that drive local economies has allowed these financial institutions to emerge as the brokers of the new New Deal.
Last updated December 31st, 2008.
By: Mike Melhorn
Regardless of your security approach, what steps have you taken to manage these programs for success?Let’s see if I can make this column positive and spare us all a rehash of the economic difficulties we face today and tomorrow. I do not have a crystal ball nor do you, but a very wise, experienced and successful business person told me last month that he feels our current economic situation is not based on what happened last year, five years ago or even 10. He feels we are now “paying for” for the last few decades.
Gosh, I hope he is wrong! Enough about economics, as this column is focused on security. However, economics do play a major part in security.
Last updated December 31st, 2008.
By: Larry Thornberry
Thanks to the condition of the national and local economies, no one has any idea what ’09 will bring.This is the edition, the first of the year, where it’s traditional to write a column based on asking people across the Florida development industry what they think the New Year will bring.
But thanks to the condition of the national and local economies, no one has any idea what ’09 will bring. Not even the people who think they do (maybe especially the people who think they do). It would be cruel and unusual to ask that question.
Last updated December 31st, 2008.
By: Robert Pitts
Debt is dumb, and cash is king!Well, I’m back in school again. Have been for the past eight weeks or so. But the class I’m taking has nothing to do with commercial real estate - at least directly. Instead, it has more to do with life - and money.
I’m enrolled in Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, a 13-week program designed to help people get control of their financial lives through time-tested principles of budgeting and self-discipline.
Last updated December 23rd, 2008.
WINTER PARK - Geof Longstaff, who earned his MBA from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College and has more than 30 years of experience in banking, real estate development and community service, has a question for U.S. bailout managers, not the least of whom is U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen: “Where were the boards?”
“It’s easy and justifiable to criticize CEOs of the firms that are getting bailout help,” said Longstaff.
Last updated December 23rd, 2008.
POINCIANA - A new $2 million Poinciana Post Office opened for business Dec. 12. The new 7,270sf Mediterranean-style facility, featuring four service counters, 2,000 rental boxes, and 24-hour access, replaces the existing 300sf Poinciana Post Office. Poinciana’s new post office is on a 1.9-acre site directly behind the Publix supermarket, which anchors the Promenade Shopping Center at the corner of Cypress Parkway and Doverplum Avenue in Poinciana Towne Center.
Last updated December 23rd, 2008.
ORLANDO - Tri-City Electrical Contractors Inc. received 10 awards in the 2008 ABC Excellence in Construction Competition for its outstanding work.
Tri-City won five prestigious ABC Eagle Awards for UCF Bright House Networks Stadium, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Renovation, and Mitsubishi Power Systems Expansion ($1 to $5 Million Category); and Florida Hospital Flagler and Rollins College Ward Hall (Under $1 Million).
Last updated December 23rd, 2008.
TAMPA - Mathews Construction has been selected for the 2008 Best of Tampa Award in the Construction Management category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA), a Washington, D.C.-based organization whose purpose is to promote local businesses throughout the nation. Mathews is based in Tampa and operates a Southwest Florida division out of offices in Punta Gorda.
Last updated December 23rd, 2008.
JUPITER - Bryan S. Cohen and Michael Carpenter of Cohen Commercial Realty Inc. announced recently the signing of Two To Tango, a franchised Fred Astaire Dance Studio, to lease a 3,215sf space at Fisherman’s Wharf, located just east of A1A on Indiantown Road in Jupiter. Cohen Commercial Realty Inc., represents Denholtz & Associates, the landlord of Fisherman’s Wharf.
Last updated December 23rd, 2008.
MIAMI - Tom Murphy Jr., chairman and CEO of Miami-based Coastal Construction Group, announced that the company has been awarded the $45 million contract for the construction of Worthing Place, a 217-unit, Class A luxury apartment community in downtown Delray Beach.
Developer Southcoast Partners selected Coastal’s Palm Beach office, Coastal Construction of Palm Beach Inc., to build the six-story structure at 900 East Atlantic Ave. in Delray Beach. Coastal will also construct a seven-level parking garage located next to the community.
Last updated December 23rd, 2008.
WEST PALM BEACH - Oliver-Glidden-Spina & Partners (OGS&P) has announced a strategic restructuring of the Architectural and Interior Design Firm.
Originally established in 1975, founding partners, Ed Oliver and John Glidden, have operated as two separate business divisions within OGS&P since 1998. The tremendous growth of the firm, including the addition of third partner, Keith Spina in 2002, has fueled the need for each discipline to operate separately.
Last updated December 23rd, 2008.
SAFETY HARBOR - Deron Thomas, CCIM, president of Industrial Realty Solutions Inc., facilitated the following transactions:
• Sale of a 13,477sf industrial building at 13524 Prestige Place, Tampa,. The sale price was $1,174,600. The buyer was BRJ Enterprises LLC; the seller was North Bay LLC.
• Lease of a 22,925sf industrial facility at 7600 72nd St. N., St. Petersburg. The tenant was Modern Technical Molding and Development LLC.