Feb 28 issue

F E B RUA RY 28 - M A RC H 6, 2014 | T H R E E D O LL A R S

FLOR IDA’S NE WSPAPER FOR T HE C - SUI T E

Pricing | To beat larger competitors, first you need to know everything about them. PG.11 P A S C O • H I L L S B O R O U G H • P I N E L L A S • M A N AT E E • S A R A S O TA • C H A R L O T T E • L E E • C O L L I E R

BIG PLANS Architecture firm Fawley|Bryant draws from the fountain of youth to dropkick the recession. PAGE 12

inside SALES

Jet Setters

To boost camaraderie and collaboration on its sales team, LexJet followed the lead of the Navy SEALS. PAGE 7

MARKETING

Hometown Sales

Daily deal sites don’t work to gain new clients. What works, Our Town America’s president says, is targeting a niche.

PAGE 8

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Growing like Weed

If approved, medical marijuana could create a boom for Florida’s industrial space market. Just ask Denver.

PAGE 9

ENGINEERING

Small to Survive

Waldrop Engineering held its size steady through the boom and the bust, but it has formed a unique offering to grow again.

PAGE 10

FRANCHISING

Flexing its Muscle

After opening five locations, Naples Flatbread is ready to franchise its flexcasual concept nationwide.

PAGE 14

MARKETING

What’s Your Brand Worth?

A brand’s value may be less tangible than other assets, but that doesn’t make it less important. Learn how to maximize yours.

PAGE 17

TOP DEALS Tampa hospitality fund buys Bonita Springs Holiday Inn Express. 18 Investors buy Beacon Isles Apartments in Tampa for $29.9 million. 20

Mike Bryant, Steve Padgett and Rick Fawley | Fawley|Bryant

3 Legislative session: Weed yes, gambling no?

PAGE

116578

DON’T MISS

Helmsley Sandcastle property fetches $27.4 million in sale. 22

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BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014

BusinessObserverFL.com

Vol. XVIII, No. 9

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review and comment

BY MATT WALSH | EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

Weed yes, gambling no?

3979 SOUTH TAMIAMI TRAIL

| (941) DIAMOND | DIAMONDVAULTJEWELERS.COM 132716

There is always great casino gambling. cynical amusement — Yes, “bring back.” and certainly exasperatFlorida since the late ing frustrations — when 1890s had been a thrivFlorida’s legislators gather ing destination of legal for their annual spring and illegal gambling — in fling. You never know what the lavish hotels of Henry dumb surprises are going Flagler and Henry Plant, to end up becoming law. and later in the Roaring If only all lawmakers ’20s in South Florida and would follow Naples Sen. Sarasota.

Garrett Richter. He says In 1959, then Gov. Leroy his first priority is: “Do no Collins argued against harm.” gambling in a three-page But surely, some of Richter’s colarticle in Parade magazine, calling it leagues and supporters may be won“poison.” “It kills more business than dering why he is the lead lawmaker on it generates,” he wrote. “It encourages three bills that are part of a package public corruption and … Worst of all, it that, if approved, could expand gamsaps moral strength and character.” bling in Florida — including the openThose same warnings continue ing of mega-casino resorts, one each in today. The Florida Chamber of Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Commerce, beacon of free enterprise, One reason Richter is shepherding has been one of the most vocal oppothis is the fact that he is chairman of nents of expanding casinos. the Senate Gaming Committee. And as “Las Vegas-style casinos … bring such that puts him in the center of the economic devolution — a decline in ring to try to craft and steer legislation Florida’s quality of life,” Greg Blose that would bring Florida’s patchwork wrote for the chamber last December. gambling laws into a comprehensive “How, during a time of such positive set of rules. growth in Florida, could we justify the And that process has led Richter’s expansion of an industry that has an committee to where it will be established history of cannibalizing Thursday, March 3, when it begins local businesses and offering little by consideration of Senate Bills 7050, way of sustainable job growth?”

7052 and 7054: To one extent, you can understand • SB 7050: It would create a new secthe chamber. One of its long-time suption of the constitution requiring that porters and members, Walt Disney any expansion of gambling be authoWorld, is a staunch opponent of casirized by a constitunos, and for obvious tional amendment or reasons — competiby a legislative act, tion, the loss of conCount the ways you legally can either of which would vention business. But gamble in Florida: require voter approval. there are many other • SB 7052: This is businesses as well Bingo Indian casinos Dog races Jai-alai the monster bill, more that oppose gambling Horse races Lottery than 400 pages, creatprimarily on grounds ing a new Department of morality and its States that allow casinos of Gaming Control negative social effects.

Commercial Indian and a Gaming Control They’re right — it’s bad.

Alabama X Board that would proTo another extent, Alaska X Arizona X vide oversight for all though, how is gamCalifornia X gambling in the state. bling any different Colorado X X One of the most than, say, selling Connecticut X crucial pieces of this tobacco or booze? The Delaware X bill is, to allow casisocial effects and costs Florida X nos in South Florida, of those can be and are Idaho X Illinois X the governor would damaging as well. But Indiana X be required to renewe allow those busiIowa X X gotiate the state’s nesses, and we give Louisiana X X “compact” with the consumers the choice Maryland X Seminole Indian tribe.

— they can drink or Massachusetts X X That compact gives not drink, they can Michigan X X Minnesota X the Seminoles a nice smoke or not smoke.

Mississippi X X monopoly on casino What’s more, Florida Missouri X X gambling in Florida, is already rife with Montana X to the point its Hard gambling. The State Nebraska X Rock casino in Tampa itself, for goodness Nevada X X is one of the most sake, is one of the New Jersey X profitable casinos in biggest pushers of New Mexico X New York X North America. gambling — with its North Carolina X • SB 7054: It would $4.4 billion (annual North Dakota X exempt the Gaming revenues) lottery busiOhio X Department from ness. As one lawmaker Oklahoma X public records laws told us, “We’ve had Oregon X in the licensing and the lottery, parimutuPennsylvania X South Dakota X X application process of els and Hard Rock for Texas X gaming companies. years, and we have 19 Washington X X Of the hundreds million people and are West Virginia X of bills filed for this still growing. I haven’t Wisconsin X legislative session, seen Florida collapse Wyoming X these gambling bills because of gambling.” are likely to be among While some people, the most emotionally no doubt, will say charged. They’ll make for great contro- Sen. Richter and his committee are versy, just as gambling always has. violating his motto of “do no harm” For the past three decades, permitwith the gambling bills, they are doing ting full-scale gambling in Florida has their jobs. It’s not the role of the state been as controversial as legalizing to decide what is moral. Every indimarijuana is today. In the mid-1980s, vidual has a rational mind to make that business interests squelched a popuchoice. Floridians should have more lar and aggressive effort to bring back choices to roll the dice.

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BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014

BusinessObserverFL.com

topstories from BusinessObserverFL.com TAMPA BAY

Second WellCare executive departing Tom Tran, WellCare Health Plans Inc.’s senior vice president and chief financial officer, is leaving the company. It was announced he will stay on until another CFO is chosen or until Nov. 30.

“Tom’s contributions to WellCare were instrumental at a time when the company was undergoing great transformation,” Dave Gallitano, WellCare’s chairman of the board and CEO, says in a press release. “However, it was mutually agreed that it was an appropriate time for Tom to pursue other opportunities.”

The announcement follows a shake up at CEO late last year.

Gallitano was named interim CEO in November, after the board chose to replace Alec Cunningham. At that time, the company said it expected to name a successor CEO sometime during the second or third quarter of 2014.

quote of theweek

“”

Thank goodness more inventory has come on the market.

Brett Ellis| Re/Max, commenting on the residential real estate market following the recession.

SEE PAGE 9

Bankruptcy court halts Channelside sale A bankruptcy court in Delaware has delayed the Tampa

what do you think?

Port Authority’s plans to buy the Channelside Bay Plaza.

The court ruled that the Irish Bank Resolution Corp., which owns the retail center’s buildings, must do additional due diligence before it can sell the center.

The port owns the land that the 234,520-square-foot plaza sits on and wanted to buy the buildings for $5.75 million.

Irish Bank Resolution Corp. needed the federal court to approve the sale because it has placed many of its U.S. properties under bankruptcy protection.

CHARLOTTE-LEE-COLLIER

Source Interlink names new CEO Source Interlink Media, the publisher of Motor Trend and other specialty magazines, named Scott Dickey as its CEO. Michael Sullivan, who previously held the position, will be CEO of Source Distribution.

Dickey previously served as CEO of Competitor Group, a company that staged events such as Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon series and publishes magazines for runners, cyclists and triathletes. Before joining the Competitor Group in

2008, Dickey was president of Transworld Media, a former division of Time Inc., where he led the company’s multimedia expansion.

Bonita Springs chain pinches Tampa area For its 10th restaurant, Pinchers Crab Shack will enter Tampa Bay, expanding the seafood restaurant chain’s reach from Key West to Pasco.

The first Tampa-area location will be at the Shops at Wiregrass in Wesley Chapel in south Pasco County. The restaurant is scheduled to open in June.

The Phelan family controls Bonita Springs-based Pinchers, starting with one restaurant nearly 20 years ago. The privately held company also owns Island Crab Company in Pine Island, which provides its restaurants with seafood.

SARASOTA-MANATEE

Berkshire Hathaway real estate grows Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty has acquired Sarasota-based Cristello & Company Real Estate,

Would the allowance of gambling in Florida hurt or help local businesses?

Vote at BusinessObserverFL.com/decision

Last week’s question:

a family-run brokerage with 13 agents. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty, part of Bonita Springs-based developer WCI Communities’ real estate services network, was formerly Prudential Florida Realty. Berkshire Hathaway, run by Warren Buffett, acquired Prudential Florida Realty last year.

LWR developer expands to Naples Kjims Development Co. LLC, with a specialty in luxury homebuilding and multifamily projects in Lakewood Ranch and Siesta Key, has acquired Bonita Springs-based Mac Contractors.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Lakewood Ranchbased Kjims will now take on projects in Marco Island and Naples, in addition to Manatee and Sarasota counties.

Jon MacDonough founded Mac Contractors in 2000. It works mostly in the luxury homebuilding and renovation market in Naples and Marco Island. It had about $5 million in annual sales and 35 employees at its peak.

Are women still treated unfairly in the workplace?

70% Yes 30% No

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FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER

CoffeeTalk Government makes a bad business partner Here’s a good lesson for entrepreneurs: Think twice before you decide to let the government be your business partner.

A seemingly offhand remark by Lee County Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass set off a firestorm in the algae world and reignited the debate about taxpayer subsidies for private enterprise.

At a public meeting recently, Pendergrass questioned whether Algenol Biofuels had met its requirement to create 108 jobs as part of a $10 million subsidy it received from county taxpayers. The company has been developing fuels from algae at a biorefinery in south Lee County.

The timing of Pendergrass’ remarks comes at a sensitive time for the county. Lee County commissioners want another firm, Bonita Springs-based VR Laboratories, to reimburse nearly $4.7 million of taxpayer subsidies because it alleges the company has not complied with the terms of the agreement

Algenol employees to create jobs and make requirement capital investments.

After hearing Pendergrass’ remarks, Paul Woods, the CEO and founder of Algenol, fired off a press release calling Pendergrass’ comments “preposterous and defamatory.” Woods says Algenol now employs 127 people and he hosted visitors recently to meet with them at the company’s sprawling campus off Alico Road.

Whatever the outcome, some might say both companies would have been better off without government as their partners.

BusinessObserverFL.com

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See COFFEE TALK page 23

STAR EXEC TAKES NEW ROLE The fast growth at Datum Corp., a Lakewood Ranch-based IT services and software consulting firm, hit a new stratosphere with its latest executive hire.

The firm, with more than $30 million in sales last year, named Rob Campbell chief strategy officer in February. Campbell’s business claim to fame is twofold. He was a product market manager at Apple in the early 1980s, where he worked directly CAMPBELL for Steve Jobs. He was also a marketing director at Microsoft in the late 1980s, when he worked with Bill Gates.

There’s also this nugget: Campbell co-founded a firm in 1983, Forethought, FROST which developed the programs PowerPoint and FileMaker.

Now Campbell will help Datum grow into new markets, and, eventually, get outside private equity funding. Datum, with clients that include breakfast-brunch-lunch chain First Watch, doubled sales in each of the past few years, says CEO Tom Frost.

The 2014 first quarter has been the 11-year-old firm’s best first quarter ever, Frost adds, and it could grow sales up to 40% this year.

Campbell, after being pulled out of semi-retirement, previously helped

Edward L. Roth, CFP®

134139

based Baldwin Beach Capital, a private equity fund that operates Yogurtology frozen yogurt stores in Florida, are also part of the investor group.

Fitlife’s five Tampa-area stores sell healthy made-from-scratch prepared meals, snacks and drinks. Osterweil, with the goal of making good food convenient, founded Fitlife in 2011. He and his wife sold their stocks and investments and obtained a Small Business Administration loan with their house for collateral to get funding in the early going. (See Business Observer, Aug. 30, 2012.)

The stores, including locations in Carrollwood, south Tampa and St. Petersburg, have since built a solid

run Sarasota-based Voalte, an IT company with a focus on smartphone apps that help nurses communicate better. (Voalte recently announced it received a $36 million capital investment from a New York private equity firm. See page 23.) Campbell mentored Voalte’s co-founder, Trey Lauderdale, and was the firm’s CEO from 2008 to March 2013.

It was a mentor-mentee relationship that connected Frost and Campbell.

The pair met through CEO roundtable sessions sponsored by GrowFl through the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County. They had lunch together a few times, when Frost peppered Campbell with questions. Frost then floated “a trial balloon” about a Datum job Campbell’s way late last year. “When he saw the growth potential he decided to come on board,” Frost tells Coffee Talk.

Campbell says he’s received “quite a few” similar requests — not surprising, given his successful track record.

But Campbell, 61, says he admires Frost’s ability to build Datum organically and how he’s positioned the business in the marketplace, where it partners with clients on all things IT, not just troubleshoots. Campbell adds that since he’s been where Frost is, he can provide some guidance on how the Datum executive can work on his business, not in it.

“I think I can help Tom avoid some obstacles and find some opportunities he might not see,” Campbell tells Coffee Talk. “My role is to help him look up and look out.”

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Former Outback Steakhouse executive David Osterweil is preparing his business, Tampa-based Fitlife Foods, for a level of serious growth backed by a prominent group of area investors.

The group, with an investment into the millions, includes Stuart Lasher, former chairman of TampaOSTERWEIL based Lifestyle Family Fitness; Bahram Akradi, founder and CEO of suburban Minneapolis-based Life Time Fitness; and well-connected Tampa entrepreneur and philanthropist Bob Gries with Gries Investment Fund. Keenan and Hannibal Baldwin of Tampa-

6

BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014

BusinessObserverFL.com

BY THE NUMBERS

economicsnapshot

1 Auto sales

2

The Cape CoralFort Myers posted the secondlargest annualpercentage increase in taxable sales of autos and accessories in the state in November, up 18.2%.

5

Every metro area of the Gulf Coast posted higher annual-percentage increases in taxable sales of autos and accessories in November than the state’s 9.6% increase.

$5.0 billion (Florida statewide) 4.8 4.6 4.4 4.2 4.0 3.8

Nov. 2012

Dec. ’12

Jan. ’13

Feb. ’13

Mar. ’13

Apr. ’13

WHAT THE DATA SHOW Taxable sales in this category include the sale of new and used cars, repair shops, auto-supply stores and taxable sales at gasoline stations. The latest data are for November.

WHAT IT MEANS The Gulf Coast scored a trifecta in November with Naples, Fort Myers, and Punta Gorda placing first, second and third, respectively, in the state in the annual-percentage increase in taxable sales of autos and accessories in November. Sarasota was edged out of fourth place by Panama City, which posted a 15.8% increase in this category over the same period. But every area of the Gulf Coast posted stronger annual-percentage increases in taxable sales of autos and accessories in November than the state as a whole (up 9.6%). Only one area of the state posted an annual-percentage decline in this category in November: Vero Beach, down 1.9%.

FORECAST Auto sales should remain strong through the spring as the economy improves. Employment on the Gulf Coast is rising, the stock market continues its upward trajectory and real estate values are recovering. What’s more, consumers are replacing older cars they bought before the recession. Now, they’re trading in for newer models. Still, auto sales may be vulnerable to rising gasoline prices.

May ’13

June ’13

July ’13

Aug. ’13

Sept.’13

Oct.’13

Nov.’13

NOVEMBER AUTO SALES AREA

AUTO SALES ($ in millions)

TampaSt. Petersburg SarasotaBradenton

% ANNUAL CHANGE

$608.4 10.3% $165.6 15.7%

Punta Gorda

$31.5 17%

Cape CoralFort Myers

$173.7 18.2%

Naples

$89.4 20.4% Source: Florida Legislature Office of Economic & Demographic Research

134465

The Naples area posted the largest annualpercentage increase in taxable sales of autos and accessories in the state in November, up 20.4%.

FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER

infocus | sales |

7

BusinessObserverFL.com

BY MARK GORDON | DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

in a

POD

A Gulf Coast business discovered how to grow — a lot — in a declining industry.

The secret: Think like frogmen.

LORI SAX

LexJet sales team leader BILL WEISER stands with the company’s fiberglass and resin elephant statue on the firm’s rooftop patio in downtown Sarasota. The elephant, say LexJet officials, represents the firm’s theme of fast growth, or “the elephant in the room.”

A

45-person sales force that sells inkjet printing equipment and supplies from cubicle pods seemingly has little in common with Navy SEALs. But those two sides connect, with excellent results, in Bill Weiser’s world. Weiser heads up the sales team at Sarasota-based LexJet, where annual revenues have jumped 37.7% since 2011, from $55.48 million to $76.4 million in 2013. The company is a subsidiary of S-One Holdings Corp., also based in Sarasota.

S-One owns several subsidiaries and brands that work with a host of companies, including independent photographers and Hewlett-Packard.

With more than 100 employees, LexJet markets and sells a combination of its own developed products and materials from industry leaders such as Canon and DuPont. Customers use the products in a variety of ways, from event signs to trade show graphics to canvas photo prints. Yet given the print industry’s demise and the move to digitize all kinds of businesses, LexJet, which turns 20 years old this year, could have been on the road to extinction.

“The industry isn’t getting larger,” Weiser concedes. “But we are able to take more market share.”

That’s where Navy SEALs come into play, in conjunction with pro golfer and Sarasota resident Paul Azinger, who wrote the book “Cracking the Code” in 2010. The book is a play-by-play of how Az-

“”

AT A GLANCE: S-One Holdings Corp.

Headquarters: Sarasota. Satellite office in Barcelona and sales teams in multiple other countries, including Germany, Australia and Japan.

Employees: 150 Founders: Art Lambert and Ron Simkins Industries: Inkjet printing, digital printing, graphic design, media publishing.

Subsidiaries: Six. List includes LexJet, which sells inkjet printing equipment and supplies and has customers in North America. LexJet had $76.4 million in sales in 2013, up

37.7% from $55.48 million in 2011.

Another subsidiary is Brand Management Group, which focuses on the wide format print market and has licensing partnerships with industry giants Hewlett-Packard and Kodak.

inger led the 12-man U.S. team to victory in the 2008 Ryder Cup. The key: To get a dozen Type-A golfers to play cohesively, Azinger broke the group down into pods of four. It’s a technique emphasized in Navy SEALs training, Azinger learned, where small pods, all part of the same larger squad, eat together, train together and are immersed in each others lives. The idea is to develop airtight camaraderie for missions where people’s lives depend on others’ actions.

“Tour players are hardwired to beat the guys next to them,” Azinger writes, “then one week a year we think they should go against their nature and become a championship team.”

The Navy SEALs training philosophy resonated with Azinger,

and his book resonated with LexJet co-founders Art Lambert and Ron Simkins. Lambert and Simkins passed around copies of Azinger’s book to top LexJet executives, including Weiser.

The concept also clicked with Weiser, who helped turn the 45-person sales staff at LexJet into small pods. The pods, says Weiser, have no bosses and anyone can be a captain or lead a specific sales contest or push into a new product. That independence, says Weiser, is integral to the overall success because it allows salespeople to think like business owners, not mere product pushers.

“There are a few rules by which one must abide in order to captivate and cultivate the LexJet culture, and those rules are one, have

Products: S-One, through subsidiaries, is the exclusive distributor of Tara Materials’ Fredrix line of wide format inkjet canvas. It’s also the exclusive business partner for HP Sign and Display large format printing materials for latex inks, and it has the exclusive trademark licensing agreement for Kodak wide format inkjet media.

THAT’S COLD The 45-person sales team at Sarasota-based LexJet, an inkjet printing equipment and supplies firm, has facilitated a major growth spurt at the company. The team works mostly off lead-generated cold calls, where sales personnel, says sales team leader Bill Weiser, are trained to develop relationship-based sales, not just go for transactions.

That training is centered on two key points: • Ask away: Weiser says asking a sales prospect questions about what they need sounds obvious, yet many salespeople, in all fields, mess it up by asking the wrong ones. “It comes down to asking questions with a strategy,” says Weiser. “The more times you can ask questions, especially in cold calling, the better the relationship you can build. If you ask enough good questions, you won’t have to sell anything.”

• Autonomous approach: LexJet wants its sales staff to work like entrepreneurs, not cubicle dwellers.

“We train them to be problem solvers,” Weiser says. “Think about the decision you will make as if it’s your business and your money.” fun, two, make money and, three, don’t get in the way of anyone having fun or making money,” Weiser says. “Seems simple enough (but) that particular modus operandi may not be suitable in other organizations that require micro and macro management tiers.”

Follow Mark Gordon on Twitter @markigordon

The industry isn’t getting larger. But we are able to take more market share.

Bill Weiser | LexJet

8 infocus | marketing |

BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014

BusinessObserverFL.com

BY TRACI MCMILLAN BEACH | TAMPA CORRESPONDENT

welcome

HOME

MARK WEMPLE

Our Town America President MICHAEL PLUMMER JR. says he’s gained most new franchises “through the envelope.” It costs $47,500 to open a franchise, with a $10,000 discount to veterans.

Michael Plummer Jr. plunged into the role of president sooner than expected. Without a formal transition plan in place, he’s managed to grow his company to more than $7 million in revenue.

T

hree days after his father’s untimely passing in 2009, Michael Plummer Jr. found himself sitting in his dad’s office signing payroll checks.

“Sitting in his chair, using his pen, the last check in the book was signed with his signature,” Plummer says. It was the hardest moment of his life, but he knew someone had to keep his dad’s business, Our Town America, rolling. That day, “most checks went out with tears on them.”

Learning from the military “to suck it up and do it,” was the only thing that kept him going.

Plummer’s father, whom he had worked with side by side for the previous eight years, founded the business 42 years ago, sending a one-time personalized packet of coupons to new residents. The packets feature deals from both mom and pop companies and national chains. Our Town America limits its offerings to one type of business in each zip code, so there can’t be two pizza places or two drycleaners in one packet.

A pizza place may offer a free pizza or a salon a free haircut, with the goal of getting new residents to try the restaurant, service or product. “Everyone is trying to get people into the doors — it’s newcustomer acquisition,” Plummer

“”

says. “We give people a reason to go into your location over the others.”

Today 37-year-old Plummer is operating his dad’s business, managing 60 employees at the Pinellas Park-based corporate office.

The company has hired 16 people at the corporate office this year, with a goal to bring on nine more by the summer.

A quarter of the company’s 50 franchisees have launched in the last three years. Last year the company added eight new franchisees and experienced 18% sales growth. It costs $47,500 to open a franchise. Corporate handles the analytics and tools, as well as the printing and mailing of the packets, while franchisees handle local sales in their area.

Plummer aims to bring on 12 more franchisees by the end of 2014. Sending packets to more than 7.5 million families last year, Plummer says he brought in more than $7 million in revenue.

His biggest challenge today is helping businesses understand the value of targeting a niche market like the newly moved family. Daily deal sites have a flawed model, Plummer says, because they are going after changing established habits. What ends up happening is they find customers

that are “not really loyal, they’re just chasing any discount they can get,” and the sudden rush of business can push loyal clients out.

Sending an oversized envelope with warm inviting colors and a packet of deals that seem too good to be true brings people back to the days when the neighbors would provide a list of their favorite restaurants and specialists, Plummer says. “They think the community is reaching out personally. No one thinks it is advertising, but at the end of the day it is.”

Although the model may sound simple and a bit dated, the data running behind the scenes is more complex than it was at its founding.

“It used to be about buying a list and mailing a list,” Plummer says. Now the company gathers information from credit bureaus, utilities providers, magazine subscriptions and more, to make sure that each household only receives the welcome packet once.

Local businesses providing deals for the packet pay a monthly subscription ranging from $50 to thousands of dollars a month, depending on how many people moved into their zip code that month and how many packets were mailed. The company provides an application to business-

es to track the rate of return, response times and best offers. They also send out follow-up mailings and track social media mentions.

The analytics help people determine what zip codes bode well for sponsors and which aren’t worth advertising spend, but it all “greatly depends on the offer,” Plummer says. “A buy-one-get-one is not as good as free.”

Plummer says his sponsors in the auto industry report an 8% to 15% response rate, compared with direct mail campaigns that usually see a fraction of a percent.

Restaurants can reach 20 to 30% response rates. National hardware retailer Ace is getting a 20% response rate, Plummer says.

Plummer says exclusivity is the company’s key. If he already has a small town pizza restaurant as a sponsor, he has to tell the big chain that “There are areas where local mom and pops lock the big chain out.” If that’s the case, Old Town America doesn’t succumb to a bidding war. Plummer says they apologize and offer a neighboring zip code.

Plummer says his company commits to long-term customers, in an effort to help its sponsors achieve loyal new business. “We are relationship makers. We’re not signing people up for a month.”

They think the community is reaching out personally. No one thinks it is advertising, but at the end of the day it is. Michael Plummer Jr. | Our Town America

FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER

infocus | real estate |

9

BusinessObserverFL.com

BY JEAN GRUSS | EDITOR/LEE-COLLIER

Smokin’ market The market for commercial warehouse space could get a boost if voters legalize medicinal marijuana in November. That’s just one of the reasons real estate executives are upbeat on the sector.

L

egalizing drugs isn’t a subject that comes up at commercial real estate conferences very often.

But warehouse owners and brokers are buzzing about the possibility of Florida voters approving the medicinal use of marijuana in November.

Consider what’s happened in Denver since the use of recreational marijuana was approved there. “They’re scarfing up space like crazy for grow houses,” says Jim Boback, executive managing partner and broker of iCore Global – Fort Myers, speaking at the CCIM Real Estate Outlook Conference in Fort Myers recently.

The Denver Business Journal recently reported that marijuana growers in that city leased 1 million square feet or more of industrial space to grow weed. That’s enough space to fill 17 football fields.

What’s more, these tenants are paying 30% more than asking rents, often in cash.

Already, industrial warehouse space in Southwest Florida is becoming more scarce. That’s because construction-related trades such as roofers and cabinetmakers are filling up space as a result of the rebound in homebuilding.

Indeed, the vacancy rate for warehouse space in Collier County stood at just 3.2% and in Lee County at 8.3%, according to the latest data from market tracker CoStar Group. In the threecounty area that includes Charlotte,

Collier and Lee, tenants absorbed more than 1.2 million square feet of industrial space in 2013.

Boback says falling vacancy rates and rising rental rates in industrial warehouse space will make it worthwhile for developers to start building them again, especially in the 5,000- to 10,000-square-foot range that is seeing the most demand. “I think we’re almost there,” he says.

On the residential side, new-home construction has rebounded as foreclosures dwindle and the supply of existing homes shrinks. “We’re getting back to the development of lots,” says Mike Timmerman, senior associate with Fishkind & Associates in Naples, speaking to a gathering of the Urban Land Institute in Bonita Springs recently.

New-home absorption in Southwest Florida communities Timmerman tracks has risen 60% in 2013 compared with the prior year, pushing prices up 14% annually for the last few years.

Timmerman says he’s not worried that the resurgence of homebuilding may lead to another residential real estate bubble because banks aren’t financing speculators. “We don’t have banks giving money out for free,” Timmerman says. “There’s totally different fundamentals this time.”

For this and other reasons, Timmerman cautions that new-home pricing can’t continue to grow at the double-dig-

JIMJETT.COM

MIKE TIMMERMAN, senior associate with Fishkind & Associates in Naples, says conservative bank financing will restrain the residential market. it percentage annual rates. “It just can’t,” he says, noting that new-home price increases may moderate to around 5%.

Prices of existing homes in Lee County have risen at twice the rate of new homes. Speaking at the CCIM conference, Brett Ellis with Re/Max says the

median price of an existing home in Lee rose 28% last year. “Thank goodness more inventory has come on the market,” he says. “I’m not expecting a 28% increase again.”

Follow Jean Gruss on Twitter @JeanGruss

Thank goodness more inventory has come on the market. Brett Ellis | Re/Max

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R

ecessions have a way of clea ring a pat h for entrepreneurs.

Consider Ron Waldrop, a civil engineer who started out as a solo practitioner in Bonita Springs in 2000. Today, Waldrop Engineering has 40 employees stretching from Pasco County north of Tampa to Collier County in the south.

Although he started the civilengineering business at the start of the real estate boom, Waldrop was careful never to overextend himself. “We stayed smaller and true to who we were,” Waldrop says.

By the time the bust occurred, he had 15 employees, a number that held steady during the downturn while his much-larger competitors trimmed their payrolls or shut their doors. “We were the only group I know of that kept intact,” says Waldrop, 43.

That’s quite a feat considering many of his clients were residential builders. These included Pulte, Taylor Morrison and Stock Development, among others.

Waldrop’s family was active in homebuilding in Southwest Florida and he had followed them here from Austin, Texas, in 1993. He started as an engineer with WilsonMiller in Naples, a well-established firm that was acquired by Canadian giant Stantec during the real estate bust.

In 2000, Waldrop decided to start his own firm. “I was one guy with a computer,” he chuckles at the memory of starting out.

His first client was big: Lely Resort, before the Stock family of Wisconsin took over the Naples development. “We knew competition was going to be the big engineering firms,” Waldrop says. “Our big thing is client service.”

When the real estate downturn started taking hold, many of Waldrop’s homebuilding clients consolidated their Florida operations and covered more territory with fewer people. That’s how Waldrop ended up doing civil engineering work for them in places such as Tampa and Sarasota. “As they consolidated, they added geography to their groups,” Waldrop explains.

“We saw it as a great opportunity.”

Even as the downturn was taking hold in 2008, homebuilders still needed civil engineering work on structures such as entryways, nature trails, playgrounds and clubhouses. Waldrop would help builders design them to appeal to wary homebuyers. “We do more than just engineering,” says Waldrop.

In 2009, Ryan Binkowski joined the firm to provide landscape architecture and Alexis Crespo to provide large-scale planning services. In 2010, Waldrop opened an office in Tampa led by Trent Stephenson, a Heidt & Associates alumnus. The Sarasota office opened one year ago.

With a team in place, Waldrop says he can offer builders a onestop shop to take a piece of land through the development process.

“Right now it’s full steam ahead,” Waldrop says, noting that builders are eagerly planning single-family communities throughout the region. “Our clients are still looking for land,” he says. “The southern area is the most active.”

Waldrop says commercial development is becoming more active now, too. “Multifamily is starting to get rolling,” he says.

The geography isn’t a challenge, Waldrop says. “There’s not time to micro manage,” he says. “We spend time to make sure we have the right people.”

Follow Jean Gruss on Twitter @JeanGruss

BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014

BY JEAN GRUSS | EDITOR/LEE-COLLIER

engineered for the

REBOUND

Ron Waldrop grew his engineering firm methodically to reap the benefits of the recovery.

ED CLEMENT

RON WALDROP and RYAN BINKOWSKI performed civil engineering and landscape architecture for the Esplanade Golf and Country Club residential community in Naples.

“”

I was one guy with a computer. Ron Waldrop | Waldrop Engineering

FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER

infocus | entrepreneurs |

Spy games W ine entrepreneur Mitchell Soffer spends a lot of time in clandestine spy mode.

T he ow ner of S a r a s ot a-ba s e d thewinetobuy.com, Soffer says he spends seven days a week checking prices, inventories and products at his competitors. That goes from websites to brick and mortar mom-and-pops to big stores such as Costco and Total Wine & More.

Prices at his store range from $15 a bottle to more than $2,000, for something like a bottle of Screaming Eagle.

“I go out snooping,” says Soffer. “I leave no stone unturned.”

Soffer then uses the reconnaissance to make pricing and inventory decisions, both for his website and storefront in the Gulf Gate neighborhood in Sarasota, near Siesta Key. While a relentless competitive analysis tactic isn’t necessarily novel, for Soffer, a 30-year wine industry veteran, it’s produced some delectable results: Annual revenues have exploded, from $100,000 when he bought the business in 2006 to more than $1 million in 2013.

“To me this is like playing a game, a sporting event,” says Soffer. “It’s nice to have a passion for wine, but it’s really about I don’t like to lose.”

That competitive spirit will only grow with news that wine industry experts project a rosy industry recovery. The 2014 Silicon Valley Bank Wine Report, for instance, says wine sales should rise 6% to 10% this year over 2013. That would come after three straight years of declines in total industry sales. The report also predicts a demand surge in 2014 for both lux-

BusinessObserverFL.com

11

BY MARK GORDON | DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

A one-man wine retail and brokerage business hit $1 million in sales last year.

The goal now: Continue to stick it to bigger competitors.

MARK WEMPLE

MITCHELL SOFFER has owned thewinetobuy.com since 2006. The business includes an online wine store and a storefront in south Sarasota. ury wines and lower-end bottles priced from $10 to $18.

Soffer saw one side of that projection play out last year. For example, thewinetobuy.com revenues were up 20% in 2013 over 2012, he says, but the volume of total cases sold dropped, especially in November and December. So customers spend more money, but buy less wine.

Says Soffer: “People are upgrading.”

Soffer’s strategy to keep on winning goes beyond competition price checks.

One goal is to increase the amount of wine tastings he holds in the store and through partnerships with Sarasota restaurants like Libby’s, in Southside Village and Chianti, on Clark Road. Not that the wine tastings and restaurant partnerships are profit machines. “It’s not something you make money off,” he

says, “but it’s something where you can build camaraderie.”

Soffer also hopes the increased marketing presence from the tastings will drive in-sale stores, which are more profitable than online sales. About 50% of Soffer’s sales are home deliveries from direct email blasts, while 30% come through in-store purchases and 20% from Internet searches.

An obstacle to increasing in-store sales lies in national chains like Potomac, Md.based Total Wine & More, which operates a busy east Manatee County location. Soffer attacks that challenge much like a community banker fights Bank of America: through local decisions and down-home, friendly customer service.

Says Soffer: “People don’t know the flavor profile of their customers like I do.”

Soffer got into the wine business in the 1980s, when he managed a wine store in his native north New Jersey. He later ran wholesale accounts for American BD, a New Jersey-based wine distributor. Soffer and his wife moved to Florida in December 2005, and soon after that he bought the wine business. He’s since moved it twice to bigger locations.

Soffer’s biggest fear, even amid the success of the past year, remains the big industry giants that can dictate price wars.

That’s one of the reasons he’s so vigilant about price checks. “This is really a dirty business,” Soffer says. “The big guys, if they want to destroy you, they can destroy you.”

Follow Mark Gordon on Twitter @markigordon

To me this is like playing a game, a sporting event. It’s nice to have a passion for wine, but it’s really about I don’t like to lose. Mitchell Soffer | thewinetobuy.com O V E R

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BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014

BusinessObserverFL.com

INDUSTRY UPDATE

BY MARK GORDON | DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

Fawley|Bryant, where annual revenues will likely double this year to at least $6 million, clawed its way back from the architecture industry-crushing recession. A youthful spirit anchors the rebound.

young and

HUNGRY MARK WEMPLE

RICK FAWLEY, standing, co-founded Lakewood Ranch-based Fawley|Bryant in 1994 with MIKE BRYANT, left. STEVE PADGETT, right, was named a principal at the firm in 2012.

R

ick Fawley and Mike Bryant are the wise greybeards of the architecture firm they founded 20 years ago, but they leave the office when they want the young’uns to really learn something.

That happens every Friday.

Fawley and Bryant, principals behind Lakewood Ranch-based Fawley|Bryant, have lunch catered that day. Then they take off so the staff of 18, including seven employees who joined the firm in the last year, can connect with each other. The employees talk about work, current projects and personal lives.

“The irony of the firm growing older is the staff has really never been younger,” says Bryant. “I think the staff is the best it’s ever been.”

Fawley|Bryant, with a second office in downtown Bradenton, will need to pluck all it can from that spunk. That’s because the firm expects 2014 will be the year it officially dropkicks the recession.

In addition to integrating new hires and likely adding a few more, Fawley|Bryant executives project

annual revenues will double in 2014, from around $2.9 million in 2013 to at least $6 million. That would even be a 33% increase from the firm’s boom-time peak in 2006, when it had $4.5 million in sales. The payroll is also nearly back to pre-recession levels at the firm, which provides planning, architecture, interior design and sustainability strategy services.

“We knew coming out of the recession there would be opportunities,” Bryant says. “There has been four or five years of pent-up demand.”

That demand has stretched to other parts of the Gulf Coast and nationwide. Billings at U.S. architecture firms rose in January over December, for instance, according to the American Institute of Architects’ Architecture Billings Index. The January index, the first month-over-month increase since last September, was 50.4, up from 48.6. The index’s midpoint between a projected increase or decrease in future projects is 50.

On a more local basis, Doug Whitney, president of WBRC Architects Engineers, with offices in Portland and Bangor, Maine, in addition to Lakewood Ranch, projects a robust 2014. Whitney says 2013 was mostly flat over

2012. But he expects gross revenues for the firm’s Florida business to increase 20% in 2014.

Whitney says health care, especially senior living communities, and retail, with a focus on discount stores, is behind most of WBRC’s predicted growth. Recent clients include Lakewood Ranch Commercial Realty and Beall’s Outlets stores in 17 states.

Says Whitney: “In the last three or four years everything is driven by value.”

Another firm with an increase in work is Sarasota-based Hoyt Architects, founded in 1993 by Gary Hoyt. Hoyt brought on a partner last year, Chris Gallagher, formerly with Sarasota-based Jonathan Parks Architect, to target more downtown Sarasota commercial projects.

Several other architecture firms in the region, of course, either didn’t survive the recession or have yet to return to glory days.

One notable fatality: Once-prominent Sarasota-based architecture and planning firm ADP Group went from 44 employees and a new downtown headquarters in 2007 to out of business by 2009.

‘TURN HEADS’ Even with the industry rebound,

STAY HUMBLE Some companies implement the no A-hole rule to keep jerks off the payroll.

But Fawley|Bryant, a Lakewood Ranch-based architecture firm with 18 employees and around $3 million in annual sales, adheres to the no ego directive. Co-founder Rick Fawley says outsized egos suffocate creativity, especially from new employees, of which the firm has several. “Architects tend to have big egos,” says Fawley. “But every day I come in here I try to check my ego at the door.”

Steve Padgett, a principal at the firm, is also big on staying humble. “We are change agents,” says Padgett. “And that can’t happen if you have a big ego.” two components of the survival strategy at Fawley|Bryant are straight-up business basics that go deeper than pent-up demand.

One element was to cut costs, from small, such as paper for the copy machine, to big, such as rewriting insurance polices. Bryant says the firm cut expenses 60% in the rough years. “We went through everything,” he says. “We did everything we could.”

The second element was to maintain a diverse mix of public and private clients, so it didn’t over-rely on one sector. A chunk

“”

We knew coming out of the recession there would be opportunities.

There has been four or five years of pent-up demand. Mike Bryant | Fawley|Bryant EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Company. Fawley|Bryant Industry. Architecture Key. Firm has rebounded to pre-recession levels and is primed for more growth.

FEBRUARY 28 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MARCH 6, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER

STAY FOCUSED While diversification is the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mantra, one area in particular has been big of late: the sports and fitness industry. In addition to IMG and the Pirates, other sportsthemed projects include an Olympic-rated BMX Track for Sarasota County; planning for a new Rowing Aquatic Center at USF SarasotaManatee; and a facilities assessment of Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota.

Longtime Fawley|Bryant manager Steve Padgett was promoted to vice president and named a firm principal in 2012, in part to lead the sports surge. Fawley|Bryant itself, much like the sports projects it targets, essentially stems from competition.

Fawley and Bryant founded the firm in 1994 after each ran his own small architecture business. They crafted their plan over drinks one night at Lost Kangaroo, a downtown Bradenton bar.

That plan, initially, was to grow locally and then expand statewide.

Bryant, a Bradenton native, and Fawley, who moved to Bradenton in 1983 from Vermont, could see a building industry boom was forthcoming. But competition and breaking into new markets, such as Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale, proved time-consuming and costly.

So the partners re-focused on the Gulf Coast in the late 1990s.

The firm now plans to stay focused on Gulf Coast projects, even during the current growth period, executives say. An aspect Fawley appreciates about the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resurgence, past the work, is the hires are more tactical now, to fit the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growth strategy. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that way in the boom. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I called it the silly season,â&#x20AC;? Fawley says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t strategic hires.

They were just warm bodiesâ&#x20AC;? to cover all the work.

New hires range from the youngsters to more experienced architects like Judd Heap, president of the American Institute of Architectsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Gulf Coast chapter. The mix gives Fawley and Bryant confidence in Fawley|Bryantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long-term stability. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The youthful enthusiasm in the office has elevated the energy level of everyone like a breath of fresh air,â&#x20AC;? says Fawley, â&#x20AC;&#x153;challenging all of us to the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;what-ifâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; possibilities.â&#x20AC;?

13

FIRM IN FULL Projects Lakewood Ranch-based architecture firm Fawley|Bryant has worked on over the last decade include: â&#x20AC;˘ Schroeder-Manatee Ranch corporate headquarters: East Manatee County building, a 33,000-square-foot complex, was constructed in 2006. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the first commercial building in Florida certified under the Florida Green Building Council Green Commercial Building Designation Standard. â&#x20AC;˘ Manatee County Judicial Center: Downtown Bradenton project, a nine-story, 300,000-square-foot building, included a parking garage designed to look like an oďŹ&#x192;ce. â&#x20AC;˘ Lake Erie College of Medicine School of Dental Medi-

cine: Project, in 2012, was a 130,000-square-foot addition to the fast-growing medical school. â&#x20AC;˘ Manatee Technical Institute: Project is 209,000-square-foot post-secondary adult, career and technical education center. â&#x20AC;˘ Student residence and multiuse complex at IMG Academy: Dorm, which opened last year, is 105,000 square feet. Complex includes a spa and athletic fields.

Projects under construction the firm is working on include: â&#x20AC;˘ Goodwill Manasota corporate campus: A 69,605-square-foot project in Bradenton.

â&#x20AC;˘ Darwin Brewery: A 6,400-square-foot brewery and event center just north of downtown Bradenton. â&#x20AC;˘ IMG Academy Field House: A 40,000-square-foot project scheduled for completion later this year. â&#x20AC;˘ Country clubs: Projects include remodels and expansions at Tara Golf & Country Club in east Manatee County; Sarasota National Golf Course in Venice; and Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club in northeast Pasco County.

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of the clients, such as IMG Academy in Bradenton and McKechnie Field, spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, are in the SarasotaManatee region. Others go from Tampa to Naples. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t particularly specialize,â&#x20AC;? says Bryant, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but with 20 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a project we couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do.â&#x20AC;?

The diversification also allows the firm to spread its expertise to a variety of clients. That inspires employees to reach for new ideas and go after projects Fawley says â&#x20AC;&#x153;turn heads.â&#x20AC;? Proficiency in multiple areas even gives the firm a financing edge. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a changing world out there,â&#x20AC;? says Fawley. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have to be mindful of banks and who will lend money for a project.â&#x20AC;?

A not her element of t he Fawley|Bryant turnaround leans more counterintuitive. The firm spent more than $250,000 to overhaul its software in 2007 and 2008, from AutoCAD to an electronic drawing system called Building Information Modeling. The move was risky given the timing and firm-wide effort to cut costs. But the payback was big-time, in that BIM software redefined how Fawley|Bryant works internally and how it interacts with clients. Now it can show off projects through high-tech programs on iPads and smartphones. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The days of rolling out a set of plans arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t gone,â&#x20AC;? Bryant says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really changed.â&#x20AC;?

BusinessObserverFL.com

14

BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014

BusinessObserverFL.com

RETAIL

BY JEAN GRUSS | EDITOR/LEE-COLLIER

RALPH DESIANO, co-founder of Naples Flatbread, says he’s ready to franchise the concept after successfully opening five restaurants.

PHOTOS BY JIMJETT.COM

FLEX CASUAL

Naples Flatbread promises an efficient and flexible operation to franchisees.

It took Ralph Desiano five years to perfect the concept.

D

on’t box Naples Flatbread.

The fast-casual chain of pizzas, panini sandwiches and salads offers tableside service and a liquor bar, two things that set the chain apart from others in the category.

Maybe that’s because owner and veteran restaurateur Ralph Desiano birthed the chain in early 2009 during the depth of the recession. He knew the recipe for success wouldn’t come by using the same old strategy.

“We’ve found our little niche,” says Desiano, whose restaurants average about $1 million each in sales annually.

In fact, Desiano has termed his restaurant “flex casual” because of the ability to switch from counter ordering to tableside service depending on the

time of day or the demands of his customers.

With five Naples Flatbread locations in operation, Desiano is now ready to start selling franchises in 48 states. He’s aware there’s plenty of competition in the fast-casual segment of restaurants (see accompanying article), but he shrugs it off. “I try not to worry about things I can’t control,” he says.

In the last year, Desiano says 40 to 50 people have approached him about buying a franchise.

“It’s f lattering, but it’s not the way I want to do it,” he says. He’s looking for seasoned restaurant operators, preferably ones interested in buying a territory of multiple stores in Florida or the Southeast.

A Naples Flatbread franchise costs $40,000. A development ag reement for a w ider a rea would cost an additional $10,000 per restaurant. “I’d love to sell a

state,” he says.

Desia no a nd his business partner, Tulsa, Okla.-based entrepreneur Jim Wilburn, have spent in excess of $50,000 to hire Monroe Moxness Berg, a Minnesota law firm, to draft franchise documents that spell out the details explicitly. “We sought out the best legal minds,” says Desiano.

After five years and more than $2 million building the restaurants and perfecting the operations, Desiano says he’s ready to shift his attention to selling franchises. “I’m feeling really good, but we have a lot of work to do,” he says.

EFFICIENCY AND A BAR Desiano gains an advantage by equipping his kitchen with easyto-operate equipment, including a wood-burning stone oven, panini presses and sophisticated ovens. There are no charbroilers,

fryers or flat grills that are messy and more costly.

That means the restaurant can run with just two people in the kitchen: a manager and an employee. “My underlying thing is to keep things simple,” says Desiano.

So far, Desiano and Wilburn own three restaurants in Naples and two in Tulsa. There are no regional variations on the menus and prices are the same in both markets, proving the concept can work in the heart of the country and in a resort area.

One of the things that make Naples Flatbread different from other fast-casual chains is the bar, which takes up about one third of the total space of the restaurant. For example, at the newest Tulsa restaurant, the bar has 32 seats and the restaurant has room for 150 people inside and another 60 on the open-air patio.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Company. Naples Flatbread Industry. Restaurant Key. Easy-to-use equipment is key to an efficient restaurant.

FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER

BusinessObserverFL.com

15

FAST AND FURIOUS

Naples Flatbread’s founder believes a key to success is its kitchen design: Each restaurant can run with just two people in the kitchen. In addition, it uses bar space to boost sales.

Desiano initially served beer and wine, but he says he added liquor to the menu when customers requested it. He says the average checks and margins are higher at the bar than they are at the tables and it creates a fun, upscale atmosphere that draws the dinner crowd. Beer, wine and liquor now account for about 25% of the restaurant’s total sales.

SELLING THE FRANCHISE Desiano says the challenge now is to step away from the operations of the restaurants so he can focus on selling franchises. “I’ve got good young talent that I’m nurturing,” he says. “I’ve learned that I need to

“”

step back a little bit,” he smiles.

But finding good managers who will work alongside the staff is tough. “There’s a lot of office managers out there,” Desiano says.

“They don’t want to work hard.”

Still, handing off the sales of franchisees to someone else could be costly, too. One prospective franchise salesman who has experience in this field asked him for a six-figure salary, an expense account and royalties in perpetuity, Desiano laughs.

But Desiano isn’t in a rush and he’s not worried anot her f latbread chain might try to beat him.

“There’s plenty of room for us,” he says. “I think we’re primed.”

One of the hottest sectors of the retail market is the fast-casual restaurant.

It’s an establishment that offers counter ordering like fast food, but it promises higher-quality food in an atmosphere of a casual restaurant. Often, staff will bring your meal to your table after you order it at the counter. Panera Bread is one example of this kind of restaurant.

Many fast-casual chains that expanded to the major cities of Florida such as Tampa and Orlando during the real estate boom put their expansion plans for the Fort Myers and Naples markets on hold during the recession.

Now, restaurateurs in Southwest Florida are dusting off those plans.

Commercial real estate brokers say some names scouting the area are easily recognizable, others not so much: Culver’s, Chipotle, Ker’s Wing House, Genghis Grill, Zaxby’s, Noodles & Company, Pollo Tropical, Moe’s, PDQ, How Do You Roll, Papa Murphy’s and Carlos ’n Charlie’s.

“For a long time we didn’t even see a new Starbucks,” says Karen JohnsonCrowther, managing director and principal with Colliers International Southwest Florida in Fort Myers.

“I think the confidence in the Southwest Florida market is returning,” Desiano is particularly concerned about expanding too fast.

He prefers to expand the franchise in Florida or in areas such as Atlanta or Charlotte, N.C., where success is most likely. “California would be a recipe for disaster,” he says, citing the high costs of doing business

Johnson-Crowther says. “There was a lot of money waiting to find a home.”

The success of fast-casual restaurants mirrored the recession, when diners became more conservative about their spending. Typically, someone might pay $7 to $15 at a fast-casual restaurant.

Sometimes a fast-casual restaurant will have a drive-thru window and special parking while you wait for the meal to be delivered to your car. “Everybody’s in a hurry,” says Walt Nelson, senior associate with Trinity Commercial Group in Naples, who has helped Culver’s locate sites throughout the region.

One of the challenges is that municipalities sometimes confuse the fastcasual restaurants with fast-food chains, especially if there’s a drive-thru window, Nelson says.

That definition can create confusion when it comes to municipal taxes on new construction, also called “impact fees.” For example, in Collier County, such one-time taxes are based on traffic count and could amount to $400,000 for a busier fast-food restaurant, but $200,000 for a fast-casual restaurant.

“We had a deal die in Collier County because of impact fees,” says Dan O’Berski, Trinity’s managing director.

there.

“I’ve seen great concepts self destruct,” he says, citing Boston Market and Krispy Kreme as examples of rapid expansions that went wrong. “It’s hard to say no to someone who gave you a million-dollar check,” he says.

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We’ve found our little niche. Ralph Desiano | Naples Flatbread

16 corporatereport |

BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014

BusinessObserverFL.com

BY SEAN ROTH | RESEARCH EDITOR

Brown & Brown board backs $25 million stock buyback Lazydays, state fair authority reach three-year promotional partnership Seffner-based RV dealer Lazydays has reached a multi-year partnership agreement with the Florida State Fair Authority (FSFA), which will provide Lazydays branded events at the fairgrounds for the next three years. The agreement covers the annual state fair and year-round events, including concerts and festivals.

“There are a number of large RV shows and many other events that are in line with the Lazydays RV lifestyle like equestrian events, boat shows and home shows held throughout the year at the state fairgrounds,” Lazydays Chief Marketing Officer John Lebbad says in a press release. “Through this new partnership, we have a unique opportunity to connect on a broader level with existing and potential customers from across the state and beyond.”

In addition to signage throughout the fairgrounds, Lazydays will display luxury RVs throughout the property during big events.

“Lazydays has been a great neighbor to the Florida State Fairgrounds for many years now, and we are excited to take our relationship to an exciting new partnership,” FSFA Executive Director Chuck Pesano, says in a press release.

Lazydays kicked off the new threeyear partnership as the presenting sponsor of Heroes Day on the opening day of the Florida State Fair. The company also offered a one-week stay at an RV Campground.

The board of directors of Daytona Beach- and Tampa-based Brown & Brown Inc. has authorized the company to repurchase up to $25 million worth of shares of the company’s common stock over the next two years.

The buyback was primarily designed to reduce dilution from the company’s employee equity incentive plans.

These repurchases may be carried out through open market purchases, block trades and negotiate private transactions.

Brown & Brown Inc. offers insurance and reinsurance products and services, as well as risk management, thirdparty administration, managed health care and Medicare set-aside services and programs.

The Busy Buddy relocates office to SMARTstart Dade City Incubator The Busy Buddy, a Dade City-based business support services company, is moving into the SMARTstart Dade City Incubator in the Dade City Business Center.

Founded in 2009, The Busy Buddy specializes in consulting for small businesses. It serves industries including small business law, food products, public relations, telecommunications, engineering and residential cleaning.

SMARTstart is a program, where companies work in a collaborative workspace with other small businesses. SMARTstart residents have access to technical support along with the ability to network with local organizations and community partners. The program, which is managed by the

Cutting Loose Salon ranked among top 200 salons, spas Salon Today magazine, a business publication for salon and spa owners, has named Cutting Loose Salon in University Park to the Salon Today 200. Salons are ranked based on best business practices. To qualify, salons or spas must have generated annual service and product sales revenues of at least $250,000 per year since 2011. Owners must also submit statistical information about the business and complete a best practices category essay.

Cutting Loose Salon was recognized for its retention and referral programs, recruitment and training and retail and merchandising.

This year marks the fourth consecutive year that Cutting Loose, owned by Coral Pleas, has received this recognition.

Pasco Economic Development Council Inc. is the first of its kind in Pasco County.

“It’s wonderful to have a program where a small business like mine can network with other small businesses and participate in DASH workshops and seminars geared to help my business grow,” Kellye Dash, president of The Busy Buddy, says in a press release.

Blalock Walters partner joining hospital board of governors Blalock Walters’ principal William

DON’T GO ALONE: Chris Karlo, partner with Mercury New Media, will discuss business partnerships at the Tampa Bay Innovation Center’s Tech Talk. The event will start at 8:30 a.m. at Microsoft Headquarters offices, 5426 Bay Center Drive, Suite 700, Tampa. There is no cost. For more information call Jen Suereth at 727547-7340 or email suerethj@tbinnovates. com.

MARCH 5

FELLOWS FORUM: Mindy Grossman, CEO and director of HSN, Mike Jackson, chairman and CEO of AutoNation USA, and David Kohler, president and chief operating officer of Kohler, will speak at the University of Tampa’s Fellows GROSSMAN Forum. The event will run from 7:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at The David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, Louise Lykes Ferguson Hall, 1010 N. Macinnes Place, Tampa. Cost is $20 for members of the Tampa Chamber of Commerce and $40 for JACKSON others. For more information visit ut.edu/fellowsforum.

MARCH 10

GET THE GRANT: Laura Rhoad, human resources director at Shaw Development, will discuss how to leverage a Florida quick-response training grant at a Southwest Regional Manufacturing Association’s tour of the Bonita Springs manufacturer. The event will run from 5:30 p.m.

Salon Today is a division of Modern Salon Media, which is owned by Vance Publishing Corp. in Lincolnshire, Ill.

Cloud Robinson Jr. Esq. has been named to the Board of Governors of the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, which is composed of hospital leadership, medical staff members and community representatives.

ROBINSON The purpose of the Board of Governors is to oversee the safety and quality of services of Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, advise the CEO on hospital operations and represent Lakewood Ranch Medical Center in the community.

Robinson practices in the Bradenton law firm’s land use, local government law and real estate law service areas.

calendar

of MARCH 4

Cutting Loose owner CORAL PLEAS

to 7 p.m. at Shaw Development, 25190 Bernwood Drive, Bonita Spring. For more information visit http://srma.net.

MARCH 12

EYES ON ESTERO: Ed McMahon, an expert on sustainable development, will speak to the Urban Land Institute’s Southwest Florida chapter about development in the Estero community of Lee County, the future home of Hertz’s corporate headquarters. The meeting will take place from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Florida Gulf Coast University, 10501 FGCU Blvd., Fort Myers. Cost is $15 for members and $20 for others. To register, call 800-321-5011 (reference 8118-1403) or email swflorida@uli.org.

MARCH 19, 20

PINEAPPLE TRADE: The International Pineapple Organization will hold a conference in Tampa for growers, importers and transportation providers. Port Tampa Bay is hosting the two-day event at the Marriott Waterside Hotel, 700 S. Florida Ave., Tampa. Cost is $350 per person. For more information call 760-643-1153 or visit http://i-pineapple-a.blogspot.com.

MARCH 21

DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT: Rob Walsh, former commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services, will be the keynote speaker at a forum presented by the Tampa Downtown Partnership. The event will be held at the Tampa Preparatory School, 727 W. Cass St., Tampa. For more information visit tampasdowntown.com.

FORMER FDIC CHIEF: Bill Isaac, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., will be the speaker at

events

The Argus Foundation’s Meet the Minds luncheon. The event will start at 11:30 a.m. at the Sara Bay Country Club, 7011 Willow St., Sarasota. Cost is $45 per person. For more information email shalene9448@gmail.com.

MARCH 27

MEET THE MAYOR: Bob Buckhorn, mayor of the City of Tampa, will be the speaker at a meeting of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. The event will run from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Hilton Downtown Tampa at 211 N. Tampa BUCKHORN St., Tampa. Cost is $45 for members and $55 for others. For more information visit tampachamber.com.

MARCH 28

UNIVERSITY CHIEF: Jim Towey, president of Ave Maria University, will be the feature speaker at the Leadership Collier Foundation Alumni Association luncheon. The event will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Professional Development TOWEY Center, 615 Third Ave. S., Naples. Cost is $15 for alumni and $20 for others. For more information visit napleschamber.org/events.

APRIL 3

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT: The Girls Inc. of Sarasota County will honor five philanthropists and entrepreneurs with the She Knows Where She’s

Going award. Honorees include Ariane Dart, Susanne Wise, Erika Wise Borland, Courtney Wise Snyder and Whitney Wise Verdoni. The luncheon will start at noon at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, 1111 Ritz-Carlton Drive, Sarasota. For more information contact Kay Mathers at 941-366-6646, ext. 207, or email kay@ girlsincsrq.org.

APRIL 8

FLOOD INSURANCE: Chris Heidrick of Heidrick & Co. Insurance and Risk Management will discuss the flood-insurance crisis at the Real Estate Investment Society’s April luncheon. The event will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Pelican Preserve Clubhouse, 9802 Pelican Preserve Blvd., Fort Myers. For more information visit reis-swfl.org.

APRIL 17

HALL OF FAME: Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida will induct Norman Love of Norman Love Confections and Mark Loren of Mark Loren Designs into the 2014 Business of Hall of Fame for Lee County at an awards banquet. The event will start at 5 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa, 5001 Coconut Road, Bonita Springs. Cost is $250 per person. For more information visit jaswfl.org.

MAY 2

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness, will discuss his economic forecast at an Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County meeting. The event will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota, 1000 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota. For more information visit edcsarasotcounty.com.

FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER

brandstorm

BusinessObserverFL.com

17

BY JAMES R. GREGORY | CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST

Ten reasons brand value matters Often overlooked in corporate planning and analysis, your brand’s value is one of your company’s most important assets. Discover how paying attention to it can pay off for your firm.

The corporate brand is probably the least understood asset in most companies, yet it can be one of the greatest tools for the CEO to build enterprise value.

Since brands are an intangible asset. they don’t show up on the balance sheet and therefore they are often thought of as having no financial value. Yet, over the past 40 years intangible assets have grown from about 20% of the value of a company to 80%. A good portion of this value is derived from the brands of the company.

Here are 10 good reasons that CEOs should pay close attention to corporate brand valuation and to the nurturing and growth of these assets with a longterm view: 1. Brand valuation legitimizes investment. By understanding and defining the value that the brand creates, questions about brand-building investment change from whether to invest to how much to invest. Companies that understand this value manage their brand investment to maintain and maximize the value.

These companies are characterized as communicating aggressively to shape the landscape of their markets, thus managing their markets to their strengths and reaping the associated benefits.

2. Brand value provides an objective measure of effort. By measuring the impact of brand building, leadership can evaluate the quality of branding efforts without resorting to subjec-

tive opinions or personal perspective. Measurement and metrics add science to the art of creative brand building.

3. Brand valuation creates accountability. By utilizing a tangible measure of impact, leadership and marketing teams can be evaluated by their stewardship and management of a tangible asset over the long term.

4. Brand valuation aligns leadership. Creating a common vocabulary for a brand gives marketing an appropriate seat at the management table. Because the return for branding can be identified and tracked over time, the effort and return for any department is visible. This permits all senior managers to work together for the optimum total return on investment. When finance and marketing cooperate, working toward defined goals, everyone wins.

5. Brand valuation identifies growth opportunities. Understanding brand value illustrates the opportunity to advance a business not only through geographical growth but also through product/service adjacencies.

6. Brand valuation predicts market shifts. By understanding the relationship between brand value and other performance drivers, leadership can identify changing market conditions. Intelligence is about understanding where the market is going before your competitors know.

This is usually best done by knowing the right questions to ask, by researching continuously and by creating custom models that zealously seek the answers.

7. Brand valuation identifies competitive opportunity and advantage. Understanding brand value relative to competitors can drive changes in market-growth strategies. By understanding the value of your brand vs. competitors and the dimensions that drive that value, you gain valuable intelligence for creating and maintaining a competitive market advantage in the areas that define business success. Understanding the market and opportunity available can point a company in the right direction.

8. Brand valuation informs M&A or strategic alliances. Understanding the value of all business assets will inform negotiations in mergers, acquisitions and partnerships. M&A can be tricky, and emotional attachment to pre-existing entities can be strong.

But by understanding the value and dimension of all brands involved, leadership can strategically deploy those brands for maximum impact.

9. Brand valuation creates licensing opportunities. Understanding the brand’s value permits predictable revenue growth through licensing efforts. A brand on the move creates momentum that can be leveraged.

Licensing is a great way to make sig-

James R. Gregory is founder and CEO of CoreBrand, a global brand strategy, communications and design firm headquartered in New York, with offices in Los Angeles and Tampa. He helps clients develop strategies to improve their corporate brands and profitability. Gregory has written four books on creating value with brands: “Marketing Corporate Image,” “Leveraging the Corporate Brand,” “Branding Across Borders” and “The Best of Branding.” Contact him at JGregory@corebrand.com. nificant income from the brand itself.

10. Brand valuation helps to define the value of other intangibles. Is it good business to be a good corporate citizen? Sustainable business practices, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), philanthropy, and other “goodwill” efforts can be understood and valued. Knowing the amount of impact can help make CSR a good business decision rather than one that is based purely on the goodness of the management of the company.

Brand valuation begins with consistently benchmark tracking the brands that are vital to your growth. There are many valuation experts including your accounting firm who can help you set a value for your brand. Your brand is what sets you apart from your competition. As a CEO always remember that measuring, valuing, and managing the corporate brand and your product brands is a key component of managing the financial health of your corporation.

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18 commercial real estate | CHARLOTTE-LEE-COLLIER |

BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014

BusinessObserverFL.com

PREVIOUS PRICE: $5.75 million, April 2005 LAW FIRM ON DEED: Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC, Naples PLANS, DESCRIPTION:

1 Liberty Hospitality Fund I LLC buys Holiday Inn Express & Suites BUYER: LHF1 Bonita LLC (principal: Punit Shah), Bonita Springs SELLER: FAC Hotel Limited Partnership LLLP PROPERTY: 27891 Crown Lake Blvd., Bonita Springs PRICE: $4.25 million

The private equity real estate fund Liberty Hospitality Fund I LLC purchased the 108-unit Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Bonita Springs for $4.25 million.

The price equated to $39,352 per unit.

The hotel features a business center, outdoor swimming pool and laundry facilities. The new owner plans to renovate and reposition the asset later this year. It will be renovating common areas and adding a breakfast room and fitness center.

The Tampa-based investment firm Liberty Group of Cos. says the hotel was purchased for significantly below replacement cost.

“This was a good strong hotel brand that could benefit from our expertise in managing other hotel properties,” says Matthew Ram, an associate with the Liberty Group.

The Holiday Inn Express & Suites was the Liberty Hospitality Fund I’s second purchase. It occurred as the fund became fully capitalized at $75 million. The fund, which focuses on acquiring upper mid-scale hotels, is scheduled to be fully invested over the next three years. It acquired its first hotel, the 125-room Candlewood Suites in Charleston, S.C., in late 2013.

“Access to capital has provided us a distinct advantage in acquiring hotels since we can offer a quick and certain close, something that few buyers can match,” Punit Shah, president and chief operating officer of the Liberty Group. “Liberty Hospitality Fund I allows us to continue expanding our hotel portfolio and creating operation-

commercial real estate | TRANSACTIONS | DEEDS/MORTGAGES The following real estate transactions more than $1,000,000 were filed in Charlotte, Collier, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota county courthouses. The information lists the seller, buyer, amount of sale, mortgage and lender, if available, address and book and page of the document.

Cardanell Farms I LLC sold to Jen Florida XVII LLC, $12,400,000, pasture land, 85.67 acres, 725 Lithia Pinecrest Road, Brandon, 2014029922.

San Marin Apartments LLC sold to CLP Waters Ave LLC, $9,000,000, Mortgage: $15,350,000, LMREC III Holdings IV Inc., multifamily residential, 8442 Del Lago Circle, Tampa, 2014035072.

CHARLOTTE COUNTY

J-Squared Holdings LLC sold to Citrus Park Capital LLC, $4,500,000, Mortgage: $2,700,000, Symetra Life Insurance Co., strip center, 7002 Gunn Highway, Tampa, 2014029116.

Tru 2005 RE I LLC sold to Rare Hospitality Management Inc., $3,500,000, department stores, Toys“R”Us, 1381 Tamiami Trail, 2240378.

Village Square West Champ LLC sold to Property Village Lake W LLC, $4,400,000, strip center, 11602 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa, 2014029493.

COLLIER COUNTY April Circle Ltd. sold to Windsong Club Apartments LLC, $8,400,000, Mortgage: $6,921,000, Keybank National Association, multifamily, 11096 Windsong Circle, 4940064.

GCCFC 2005-GG5 Northbrooke Plaza Drive LLC sold to Shree Mahalaxmi MAA LLC, $6,772,500, Mortgage: $5,257,829, Branch Banking and Trust Co., hotel or motel, 2630 Northbrooke Plaza Drive, 4938543.

Zons Property 15 LLC sold to Zons Property 15 LLC (76% interest) and Steven Singerman as trustee of the Bernard L and Georgia Marie Singerman Family Trust (24%), $3,632,845.35, multi-story office, 6701 S. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa, 2014043199.

Florida Engineered Construction Products Corp. sold to Cast-Crete USA Inc., $3,619,000, mineral processing, 6324 N. 579 Highway and vacant acreage, 6334 579 Highway, Seffner, 2014032372.

Hunter’s Lake LLC sold to Jen Florida XVIII LLC, $3,350,000, pasture, 49.26 acres, 1325 Seffner Valrico Road, Seffner, 2014037862.

BY SEAN ROTH | REAL ESTATE EDITOR

Dune FL Land I Sub LLC sold to D.R. Horton Inc., $1,496,000, vacant residential, a portion of 10401 Tucker Jones Road and pasture land, 11911 S. U.S. 301, Riverview, 2014036375.

Tampa Acquisitions Inc. sold to Urgent Care Developers of Tampa LLC, $1,285,000, convenience store or gas station, 301 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa, 2014034356.

Berkshire Development LLC sold to Shadow Woods Lots LLC, $1,200,000, Mortgage: $1,600,000, Berkshire Development LLC, vacant acreage, 7.25 acres, 3333 Ehrlich Road, Tampa, 2014041975.

FFRP 12 LLC sold to ARC DBPPROPOO1 LLC, $1,194,742, lots 13-16, Block 8, Revised Map of MacFarlanes Addition to West Tampa, 2014029434.

C.E. Mendez Foundation Inc. sold to 601 South Magnolia LLC, $1,167,619, 601 S. Magnolia Ave., Tampa 2014032656.

LEE COUNTY IMT Reflections Apartments LLC sold to Reflections Property Holdings LLC, $15,800,000, Mortgage: $15,000,000, ACRC Lender LLC, multifamily, 38003910 Central Ave. (3891 Solomon Blvd.), Fort Myers, 2014000019812.

Island Center Corp. Inc. sold to 251 CF Aviation LLC, $2,900,000, auto dealership, 11109 and 11111 N. Florida Ave., Tampa, 2014041735.

Charlemagne of Naples LLC sold to La Playa Naples Investment LLC, $3,750,000, retirement homes and miscellaneous residences, 3510 Fort Charles Drive, 4940138.

CVK Investments Inc. sold to Leelevi LLC, $2,351,000, Mortgage: $2,650,000, Homebanc NA, assisted-living facility, 312 E. 124th Ave., Tampa, 2014037818.

G.F. Riley Family LLC sold to Advenir@Little Marco LLC, $1,530,000, single-family residential, 11776, 11781 and 11811 and Little Marco Island, 4939821.

Business Property Lending Inc. vs. Sino-Tampa Holdings LLC, et al., sold to Business Property Lending Inc., $1,850,100, restaurant, 2702 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa, 2014031484.

IMT The Place Apartments LLC sold to The Place Property Holdings LLC, $12,350,000, Mortgage: $11,725,000, ACRC Lender LLC, multifamily, 15711585 Matthew Drive (4757 Barkley Circle), Fort Myers, 2014000019797.

Fremont Building Co. sold to Sun City Center Senior Living Inc., $1,600,000, Mortgage: $7,144,897, Branch Banking & Trust Co., mixeduse office, 105 Commercial Center, Sun City Center, 2014030203.

HC3 Ft Myers LLC sold to PH Fort Myers Realty LLC, $2,953,500, Mortgage: $2,640,000, Bank Leumi USA, retirement homes, 1896 Park Meadows Drive, Fort Myers, 2014000024856.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY 501 East Kennedy Associates LLC sold to SCIP 501 LLC, $30,360,000, multi-story office, 501 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, 2014044148.

Dolgencorp LLC sold to Realty Income Properties 13 LLC, $1,503,885, store, 14715 Highway 574, Dover, 2014027681.

Brittany Apartments LLC and Brittany Apartments II LLC sold to Brittany Partners IV LLC, Brittany Roem LLC and Dafr Brittany LLC, $15,350,000, Mortgage: $12,600,000, Arbor Commercial Funding LLC, multifamily, 4000-4058 and 4008-4024 Winkler Ave., Fort Myers, 2014000025188.

Boos Fund 2-41 Bonita Springs LLC sold to Cole FD Portfolio VII LLC, $1,782,902.26, store, 26875 Old 41 Road, Bonita Springs, 2014000026998.

Family Dollar Stores of Florida Inc. sold to Boos Fund 2-41 Bonita Springs LLC, $1,648,145, store, 26875 Old 41 Road, Bonita Springs, 2014000026997.

Steil Family LLC sold to JMFG LLC, $1,065,000, Mortgage: $1,038,375, Steil Family LLC, warehouse or distribution terminals, 11866 Metro Parkway, Fort Myers, 2014000020225.

Stonegate Bank sold to McGreggor Holdings LLC, $1,050,000, Mortgage: $600,000, The Barbour Enterprises Limited Partnership I, vacant commercial, 13681 McGregor Blvd., Fort Myers, 2014000025247.

RCS-Corkscrew Land LLC sold to Lennar Homes LLC, $1,044,000, lots, 294, 295, 298, 307, 308, 327, 330, 331, 362, 363,366, 410 and 417, Preserve at Corkscrew, unit 6, 2014000023625.

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Taipan Raintree LLC sold to Balsam Fir LLC, $2,050,000, community shopping center, 2402, 2406, 2414, 2436, 2442, 2438, 2432, 2420, 2418, 2416, 2412, 2410, 2442, and 2446 E. Manatee Ave. (2424 E. Manatee Ave.), Bradenton, 02507-0205.

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2

COSTAR

New York area companies buy The Brittany Apartments BUYER: Brittany Partners IV LLC (principal: Solamein Rabanipour), Brittany Roem LLC (principal: David Shweky) and Dafr Brittany

BY SEAN ROTH | REAL ESTATE EDITOR

610 Development Co. LLC sold to Hazelden Foundation, $5,880,646.69, units 1-12, The Lofts at Six10 condominium, 4941512.

FL-9 Inc. sold in quit-claim deed to MLB Group LLC, $1,200,000, hotel or motel, 290 Fifth Ave. S., Naples, 4942363.

al efficiencies that add value to each of our investments.”

Liberty Group already owns the 80unit Candlewood Suites in Fort Myers and the 75-unit Hampton Inn in Cape Coral.

office condominium or medical, 5440, 5450 and 5460 E. 63rd St. (5460 63rd St. E., unit 8B), Bradenton, 02506-6939.

Sarasota Real Property LLC sold to Praetorian Capital LLC, $1,260,000, light industrial, 7150 E. 15th St., Sarasota, 02507-6562.

PASCO COUNTY Harvest Regency Residence Retirement Residence LLC sold to NIC 12 Regency Residence Owner LLC, $15,889,600, retirement homes, 6711 Embassy Blvd., Port Richey, 8986-0212.

PINELLAS COUNTY HP Ulmerton II LLLP sold to Wendover Real Estate LLC, $11,596,000, Mortgage: $7,455,000 and $5,357,000, Hancock Bank, vacant industrial land, a portion of 126th Avenue, Largo also known as lots 10-12, Pinellas Groves, 18284-0208.

Convenience Center Development Associates LLP sold to Caracara LLC, $1,685,000, Mortgage: $1,232,500, USAmeriBank, convenience store, 825 49th St. N., St. Petersburg, 18295-1999.

Fitness International LLC sold to Bridgepoint Church Inc., $1,600,000, Mortgage: $2,000,000, 1st United Bank, bowling alley, pool hall, enclosed arena, skating rink and/or gymnasium, 6690 Crosswinds Drive N., St. Petersburg, 18297-2059.

Harpo Holdings Inc. sold to J Square 2700 Partners LLC, $1,500,000, Mortgage: $4,300,000, American Momentum Bank, single-family, 2730 Willey St. N., restaurant, 2742 Fourth St. N. and vacant commercial land, a portion of 28th Avenue North and a portion of Willey Street North, St. Petersburg, 18292-1151.

Florida Capital Bank NA sold to USAmeriBank, $1,400,000, financial institution, 710 E. Tarpon Ave., Tarpon Springs, 18284-1941.

SARASOTA COUNTY West Villages Improvement District sold to Lennar Homes LLC, $7,190,000, 10.57 acres, Gran Paradiso Phase 1, a portion of Renaissance Boulevard, Venice also known as tract 600 Gran Paradiso, 2014014512.

Civix Sarasota GC LLC sold to D.R. Horton Inc., $7,025,000, residential, 172 acres, 7280 N. Leewynn Drive, Sarasota, 2014009429.

THI IV Sarasota AI LLC sold to RJ Hotels LLC, $6,300,000, Mortgage: $3,436,385 and $2,061,821, (junior lien), First America Bank, hotel, motels or lodging, 5931 Fruitville Road, Sarasota, 2014009597.

AL Investors Sarasota LLC sold to PH Sarasota Realty LLC, $3,000,000, Mortgage: $500,000, Bank Leumi USA, assisted-living facility, 741 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota, 2014012709.

North Port Place LLC sold to Sarall Ltd., $2,800,000, Mortgage: $1,310,000, Iberiabank, retail strip store, 14942 S. Tamiami Trail, North Port, 2014013661.

TT LLC sold in a quit-claim deed to Sabal Palm Bank, $2,550,900, mobile home park, 718 S. Tamiami Trail and commercial, 727 and 728 S. Tamiami Trail, Osprey, 2014013442.

BDG Toledo Blade LLC sold to Cleveland Associates I LLC (40% interest) and Nordman Associates I LLC (60%), $2,427,400, store, 1183 N. Toledo Blade Blvd., North Port, 2014013178.

Oaktree Bougainvillea LLC sold to D.R. Horton Inc., $1,881,000, vacant acreage, 3515 E. 63rd Ave., Bradenton, 02507-2135.

Nisley Properties LLC sold to D.R. Miller Properties LLC, $1,265,000, grazing land, 710 Shilo Road and portions of Shilo Road and Palmer Boulevard, Sarasota, 2014014003.

River Landings Medical Center LLC sold to Bradenton Landings Medical Center, $1,550,000, Mortgage: $1,000,000, TD Bank NA,

FCB Hotel LLC sold to Casey Key Venture LLC, $1,200,000, hotel, motel or lodgings, 208, 212 and 216 Casey Key Road, Nokomis, 2014011624.

FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER

BusinessObserverFL.com

The price equated to $214 per square foot. That figure is higher than the two-year average price per square foot for retail space ($140) in Southwest Florida, according to the CoStar Group.

The discount store was built in 2013.

Cole, who owns several net leased investments, recently was acquired by American Realty Capital Properties, creating the largest publically traded net-lease REIT. The company owns $21.5 billion worth of real estate, of which 26.5% are located in the Southeast. The combined company owns 29 other Family Dollar locations in Florida, according to its website, including in St. Petersburg, Tampa, Fort Myers and Plant City.

45

LLC (DAFR LLC) as tenants in common, Brooklyn, N.Y. SELLER: Brittany Apartments LLC and Brittany Apartments II LLC PROPERTY: 4000-4058 and 4008-4024 Winkler Ave., Fort Myers PRICE: $15.35 million PREVIOUS PRICE: $6.73 million and $3.62 million, April 2012 LAW FIRM ON DEED: Macfarlane Ferguson & McMullen, Clearwater

Port Charlotte

776

Rotonda West

35

Punta Gorda 771 17 75

Fort Myers Shores

80 78

Fort Myers

Cape Coral

2

867

Lehigh Acres 82

93 45

San Carlos Park

Sanibel

Immokalee

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:

41

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Three New York-area companies purchased the 320-unit The Brittany Apartments for $15.35 million.

The price equated to $47,969 per unit. That figure is less than the current average price per square foot for multifamily space ($70,191) in Southwest Florida, according to the CoStar Group.

Built in phases in1999 and 2001, the 324,068-square-foot apartment complex features 26 buildings spread across 18.74 acres. The two-story property is considered highly stabilized.

It had just four vacant units (1.3% vacancy rate) as of the CoStar Group’s last review of the property. Units average 1,013 square feet and range from 771 to 1,444 square feet.

Its community amenities include a fitness center, playground, swimming pool and laundry facility.

The seller, Largo apartment investor Benjamin Mallah, purchased the apartment in April 2012.

The purchase entities, Brittany Partners IV LLC, Brittany Roem LLC and Dafr Brittany LLC, mortgaged the property to Arbor Commercial Funding LLC for $12.6 million.

29

Bonita Springs

Naples Park

ETC…

Golden Gate

93

75

Marco Island

45

Ochopee 41

3 Cole Real Estate Investments buys Bonita Springs Family Dollar

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Bryan J. Stanley PA, Clearwater BUYER: Boos Fund 2-41 Bonita Springs LLC SELLER: Family Dollar Stores of Florida Inc. PRICE: $1.65 million PREVIOUS PRICE: $595,000, March 2013

BUYER: Cole FD Portfolio VII LLC (Cole REIT Advisors III LLC), Phoenix SELLER: Boos Fund 2-41 Bonita Springs LLC PROPERTY: 26875 Old 41 Road, Bonita Springs PRICE: $1.78 million

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:

Cole Real Estate Investments Inc. purchased an 8,345-square-foot Family Dollar store for $1.78 million.

Class

19

• Southwest Florida Workforce Development Board Inc. leased 9,406 square feet of office space in Renaissance Center at 9530 Marketplace Road, Fort Myers from The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Co. Randy Mercer and Brandon Stoneburner of CRE Consultants represented the landlord and Matthew Stepan of Premier Commercial represented the tenant.

• Randy Krise, the broker/ owner of Krise Commercial Group LLC of Fort Myers, was inaugurated as the 2014 President – Elect 2014 for the Florida CCIM Chapter. Krise will serve as the Florida CCIM Chapter President in 2015. The Florida CCIM Chapter encompasses Florida and Puerto Rico.

• Rani Investments LLC purchased 1.33 acres of vacant land at Creekside Commerce Park West, Lot 3, 1171 Creekside Parkway, Naples from Creekside West Inc. for $1.29 million. Clint L. Sherwood of Investment Properties Corp. handled the transaction.

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20 commercial real estate | TAMPA BAY |

BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014

BusinessObserverFL.com

BY SEAN ROTH | REAL ESTATE EDITOR

after it was opened in September.

Heitman is the asset manager for the fund, and ZRS Management is the property manager for the Pierhouse at Channelside.

2 1

1

2

State public pension fund buys Pierhouse at Channelside BUYER: Pierhouse Channelside Inc. (principals: Stephen Spook, Lamar Taylor and Maureen Hazen), Tallahassee SELLER: RD Channelside LLC PROPERTY: 1226 E. Cumberland Ave. also known as 114 and 120 S. Meridian Ave., 110, 125, 128 and 210 S. 11th St., 209 S. 12th St. and a portion of South 12th Street, Tampa PRICE: $76.5 million PREVIOUS PRICE: $6.5 million, December 2010 LAW FIRM ON DEED: Greenberg Traurig PA, Miami PLANS, DESCRIPTION:

Florida’s public pension fund purchased the new 356-unit Pierhouse at Channelside apartment development for $76.5 million.

The price equated to $214,888 per unit. That figure is higher than the current average price per unit for multifamily space ($70,803) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

Miami’s Related Group completed construction of the four-story upscale

COSTAR

Aventura investors buy Beacon Isles Apartments BUYER: Beacon Isles LLC (principals: Luis Delgado and Erwin Sredni), Aventura SELLER: Related Isles Apartments LLC and CAM Isles Apartments LLC PROPERTY: 6158 Beacon Isles Drive also known as 6202 Sheldon, Tampa PRICE: $29.9 million PREVIOUS PRICE: $2.44 million, May 2011 (25% interest) and $33.79 million, November 2007 LAW FIRM ON DEED: Foley & Lardner LLP, Tampa

3

apartment in August.

Although the development still has a large vacancy rate, 39.9% as of the Costar Group’s last review of the property, its average asking rent comes in at $1,676. Asking rent starts in the $1,200’s for a 539-square-foot studio and goes up to around $2,500 for the most expensive two-bedroom/two-bathroom units.

Community amenities include a gated parking garage, nautical-themed art park, clubhouse, courtyards, two-story fitness center, swimming pool, spa and

gazebos with fire pits and grilling areas.

The state public pension fund invests 10% in real estate, says Dennis MacKee, a spokesman for the State Board of Administration. He says the fund invests the majority in core real estate and a smaller portion to enhanced or opportunistic real estate. The fund has 12 apartment investments, but each investment can contain multiple properties, according to MacKee. Engler Financial Group started marketing the property for sale shortly

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:

Beacon Isles LLC, an Aventura investment group led by Luis Delgado and Erwin Sredni, purchased the 484unit Beacon Isles Apartments for $29.9 million.

The price equated to $61,723 per unit. That figure is lower than the average price per unit for multifamily space ($70,803) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

Located in the Town ‘n’ Country area of Tampa, the 31-building apart-

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To receive more information or our editorial calendar, contact Rosemary Felton at 941.362.4848.

FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014 | BUSINESS OBSERVER

Georgia investment group buys, rebranding Mariners Pointe Apartments BUYER: DWSS St. Pete LLC (principals: Steven Stanley and Richard Willingham), Atlanta SELLER: CRP II-Tarpon Springs LLC PROPERTY: 1175 Pinellas Point Drive S., St. Petersburg PRICE: $11 million

An Atlanta investment group purchased the 368-unit Mariners Pointe Apartments in St. Petersburg for $11 million.

The price equated to $29,891 per unit. That figure is lower than the average price per unit for multifamily space ($70,803) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

John Burpee and T. Sean Lance of NAI Tampa Bay handled the transaction. The seller was a Texas-based fund.

The new owner plans extensive renovations to the property. The brokers report the units will receive complete interior rehabs with new countertops, cabinets, lighting, plumbing and appliances as well as exterior upgrades.

The complex will also be renamed and gated.

“The south St. Petersburg submarket provides great value-add opportunities and this property will benefit from an infusion of capital combined with a top-to-bottom renovation and new management,” Burpee says in a press release. “The buyer has extensive experience in turning around challenged properties such as this and the surrounding community will be impressed with the end result once it is completed.”

ETC… • International Stone Quarries purchased a 30,580-square-foot manufacturing/office/warehouse facility at 4820 122nd Ave. N. Clearwater from David Hartzell as trustee for $900,000.

Deron Thomas of Industrial Realty Solutions Inc. handled the transaction.

• NE Apartments Associates Inc. purchased an 18,000-square-foot

office and retail building at 290 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St., St. Petersburg from Florida Bank for $610,000.

Steven Klein of Klein & Heuchan Inc. represented the seller.

• Ronson Recycling Inc. leased a 18,278-square-foot office/warehouse facility at 6203 80th Ave. N., Pinellas Park from Pan American investments Group Delaware LLC. Deron Thomas of Industrial Realty Solutions Inc. handled the transaction.

• HFF has hired Michael Tabor as a director in its Tampa office. Tabor will focus on arranging debt and equity placement transactions in the Southeast. Prior to joining HFF, Tabor was a loan officer and assistant vice president at Walker & Dunlop, where he assisted with managing the Florida capital markets group.

• Hackman Capital purchased a former distribution center at 12880 49th St. N., Clearwater from Hostess Brands Inc. for $169,470. Mark Klein of Klein & Heuchan Inc. represented the seller.

• Darryl N. Crowe purchased a 5,000-square-foot office/warehouse facility at 12673 59th Way N., Clearwater from C1 Bank for $240,000. Deron Thomas of Industrial Realty Solutions Inc. handled the transaction.

• Tampa-based RMC Real Estate Services, which contains both RMC Property Group and RMC Ross Realty, recorded total transaction volume of $79.5 million from 1.4 million square feet. It says it handled 279 lease transactions encompassing 905,000 square feet for $49.1 million. During the same period, RMC was awarded 53 new exclusive listings totaling 2.1 million square feet and 11 new land listings totaling more than 45 acres.

21

• Tin and Cao Truong Danh purchased an eight-bay former Goodyear automotive facility at 1706 Clearwater Largo Road, Largo from Genrak Holdings Inc. Chris Howell of Klein & Heuchan Inc. represented the seller.

• Highwoods Properties Tampa Division won the Best Landlord award at the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties’ Best of the Best Gala. This is the second year in a row the company received the award.

• ASIEEI Inc. leased a 9,612-squarefoot office/warehouse facility at 6911 Bryan Dairy Road, Largo from Interlaken Fortune 2000 Inc. Deron Thomas of Industrial Realty Solutions Inc. handled the transaction.

• Dietel Investments LLC, an affiliate of Orlando based Puff ‘n Stuff Events and Catering, purchased a 31,750-square-foot light-industrial warehouse/office building at 5802 and 5804 E. Columbus Drive, Tampa for $850,000. The new owner plans to renovate the building into a specialized commissary. The facility will include a high output show-kitchen with chef’s table, warehouse, executive offices and a multi-function event space. Nancy Surak of Eshenbaugh Land Co. in Tampa handled the sale.

• Coastal Holdings I LLC purchased a 34,446-square-foot office/warehouse facility at 9937 Race Track Road, Tampa from Military Distributors Inc. for $806,325. Deron Thomas of Industrial Realty Solutions Inc. handled the transaction.

• Francesco “Frank” Carriera and Michael Regan, in Marcus & Millichap’s Tampa office handled the sale of the 152-unit Rolling Hills Apartments in Tallahassee for $6.44 million.

20,000 SF Manufacturing Warehouse 1610 Northgate Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34234 Truck Well | Fenced Yard | 15’ Ceiling 15 Overhead Doors | 3 Phase Power A/C Warehouse | 4,000 SF Office Area Executive Offices | Sales Showroom FOR SALE $1,250,000 Jon Kleiber | 941.780.4623 Terry Eastman | 941.914.2936 www.WarehouseBroker.com 20,000 SF Manufacturing Warehouse 1468 Northgate Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34234 Large Fenced Yard | Four Loading Docks 20’ Eave Height | 25’ Ceiling at Peak FOR LEASE 20,000 SF at $4.95 Gross FOR SALE 40,000 SF Building $1,925,000 Jon Kleiber | 941.780.4623 Terry Eastman | 941.914.2936 www.WarehouseBroker.com

Major Price Reduction–US 41 Frontage 1401 S. Tamiami Trail, Osprey, FL 1.46 Acre on the corner of US 41 & Habitat Blvd, Osprey, FL. This parcel is at the entrance to the Willowbend Residential Development. Average household income is $80,000 within a 5 minute drive time. Great for neighborhood use.

FOR SALE $319,000 Bill Rex-941-350-5253 For Lease Office on Center Rd, Venice, FL 151 & 166 Center Rd, Venice, FL 34292 Two great office spaces for lease. 151 Center Rd has 2,000 SF 3 bright offices, reception/lobby, conference room, bullpen, and more. 161 Center Rd has 1600 SF with 7 good-sized private offices, large reception, 2 bathrooms and a kitchenette/storage area.

FOR LEASE $12.50 SF Gross Janet Lincoln-941-544-4820 131998

3

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:

1800 2nd Street, Suite 104, Sarasota, FL | 941.925.8586 | CBCWorldwide.com Office/Industrial | Retail | Multi-Family | Property Management | Site Selection | Investment and Corporate Advisory Services 131464

ment development occupies a 27.11acre site. The 354,946-square-foot apartment complex, formerly known as Camden Isles, was built in 1983.

Units average 723 square feet.

Community amenities include a swimming pool, business and fitness centers, laundry facilities, picnic area, tennis and sports courts and a car wash.

The property last sold in November 2007 for $33.79 million. In May 2010, Fannie Mae foreclosed on the property. After passing ownership of the apartment complex through several related companies, Fannie Mae sold a 25% interest in the property to Related Isles Apartments LLC, an affiliate of The Related Cos. LP in May 2011.

Beacon Isles LLC mortgaged the property to JPMorgan Chase Bank NA for $22.41 million.

BusinessObserverFL.com

Operated by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. 7789FL_1/14

22 commercial real estate | SARASOTA–MANATEE |

BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2014

BusinessObserverFL.com

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2

RaceTrac Petroleum buys land for S.R. 64 store BUYER: RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. (principals: Max Lenker, Susan Bolch, Robert Dumbacher, Bill Milam, Carl Bolch Jr., Allison Moran, Joseph Akers and Robert Posener), Atlanta SELLER: Edith Butler PROPERTY: 8100 E. State Road 64, Bradenton PRICE: $1.5 million

Undisclosed Delaware company buys school district’s Checkers property BUYER: Bradenton 14 LLC, Cincinnati SELLER: The School Board of Manatee County, Florida PROPERTY: 115 W. Manatee Ave. and 500 W. First St., Bradenton PRICE: $1.4 million PREVIOUS PRICE: $75,000, September 2001 LAW FIRM ON DEED: Dye Deitrich Petruff & St. Paul PL, Bradenton

BY SEAN ROTH | REAL ESTATE EDITOR

as long as the deal would close before the end of the district’s fiscal year.

Route 32 Investments and Bradenton 14 LLC are both represented by Richard Herndon of law firm of Griffin Fletcher & Herndon LLP in Cincinnati.

Route 32 Investments has suggested it would use the property for a future mixed-use, office and retail development.

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:

Gas station chain RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. purchased 2.76 acres of vacant land on State Road 64 for $1.5 million.

The price equated to $543,478 per acre. That figure is less than the twoyear average price per acre for retail land ($893,571) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

John Wentz of KW Commercial / Keller Williams Realty of Manatee handled the transaction.

“It was zoned agricultural,” says Wentz. “It took about three years to get it rezoned [for commercial use]. Once we had that it was under contract within three months.”

Wentz says RaceTrac has made acquiring prominent locations along Interstate 75 a priority.

Construction is scheduled to start on the new gas station in the second quarter for a completion before the end of the year.

The Atlanta-based conveniencestore chain manages the operations of more than 600 convenience store locations in 12 southeastern states.

Sandcastle Resort at Lido Beach. The community features two heated swimming pools, a business center, dining room and lounge, shuffleboard and volleyball courts and meeting/banquet facilities.

Ocean Properties is one of the largest privately held hotel operating and development groups in North America its owns more than 100 hotels and 17,000 guestrooms. Its portfolio includes several Gulf Coast properties, including the Resort at Longboat Key Club, Hilton in Longboat Key Courtyard Bradenton Sarasota/Riverfront, the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Naples and the Sandpearl Resort on Clearwater Beach.

ETC…

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:

An undisclosed Delaware company purchased a 7,500-square-foot former Checkers Drive In restaurant building on 1.36 acre of land for $1.4 million.

The price equated to $1.03 million per acre. That figure is more than the two-year average price per acre for retail land ($893,571) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The two-parcel site is located next to the School District of Manatee County administration building at the corner of Manatee Avenue and First Street West. It was previously used to house the school district’s human resources department.

The school district has been looking to sell the Checkers/Owens property since 2010, but those efforts were elevated after a string of financial mistakes left the school district with a several million-dollar shortfall.

After entering into a contract with Cincinnati-based Route 32 Investments LLC to sell it for $2.07 million, the school district offered to vastly reduce the price and allow the company to transfer it to another related entity

3 Ocean Properties Ltd. closes on Lido’s Sandcastle Hotel BUYER: Lido Sand LLC (principals: Mark, Michael and William Walsh and Richard Ade), Delray Beach SELLER: Sandcastle Hotel Inc. PROPERTY: 1540 Benjamin Franklin Drive, Sarasota PRICE: $27.4 million LAW FIRM ON DEED: Richard Critchfield, Delray Beach PLANS, DESCRIPTION:

Delray Beach-based Ocean Properties Ltd. purchased the 177-room Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel on Lido Beach for $27.4 million.

The price equated to $154,802 unit.

Built in stages in 1953, 1957 and 1967, the 152,546-square-foot resort occupies a 6.13-acre waterfront site. The property will operate under a new name, the

• Lynn Brock as trustee purchased 2831 Ringling Blvd., Suite 221F, Sarasota from Schimmel & Schimmel LCSW PA for $49,000. Rico Boeras of Sarasota Commercial Realty LLC represented the buyer.

• F&H Electrical Contractors Inc. leased 6,000 square feet of space at 4580 Ashton Road, Sarasota from Peter Datino. Rico Boeras of Sarasota Commercial Realty LLC represented the landlord and Troy Robbins of Robbins Realty represented the tenant.

• Commercial broker James (Jay) Heagerty Jr. has formed The Heagerty Group with Karie Gorgone, a residential specialist at Wagner Realty. The Heagerty Group will focus on commercial and residential real estate.

• Fit2Run has agreed to lease 1400 Main St., Sarasota in downtown. The building, formerly home to Floribbean and Patrick’s restaurants, is currently undergoing interior demolition. The new store is scheduled to open in June.

Fit2Run currently has 10 locations in Florida.

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CoffeeTalk following and customer base. The success also attracted the deep-pocketed group of investors, who plan to help Osterweil with expansion throughout Tampa and into new markets. “Fitlife Foods is a business opportunity that presents tremendous growth potential in this market and throughout the country,” Lasher says in the statement.

Fitlife recently announced plans to open its first franchise location, in Brandon this summer. The firm also serves dozens of companies in the Tampa area with corporate wellness and prepared meals catering.

Former Chico’s CEO’s art on exhibit

Marvin Gralnick will always be known as one of the founders of Chico’s FAS, the women’s retailer based in Fort Myers.

Gralnick and his wife Helene started Chico’s on Sanibel Island with a single store. Today, publicly traded Chico’s operates 1,472 stores in the U.S. and Canada and it has announced plans for stores in Mexico.

Gralnick, who retired from the board of directors of Chico’s in 2006, has been a prolific artist since he retired. He’s presented his paintings and sculptures in galleries, exhibitions and international art fairs.

The former CEO and GRALNICK entrepreneur plans a solo show of his art at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in Fort Myers starting March 7 and ending March 28.

His art has been described as postmodernist, inspired by such artists as Robert Rauschenberg, a neighbor on Captiva. In fact, Lawrence Voytek,

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Rauschenberg’s director of art production is a collaborator with Gralnick.

Area construction attracts Texas-sized competition A $420 million construction firm from Houston, one of the 150 largest contractors in the country, wants in on the Florida recovery.

Satterfield & Pontikes, No. 148 in Engineering News-Record’s 2013 list of the top contractors in the U.S. by revenues, has opened an office in Lakewood Ranch. The firm has offices in Dallas, New Orleans and San Antonio, and is on a select preferred builder list for Wal-Mart in Texas. The company, with a national client list that includes Delta Airlines at JFK Airport, has also been lauded in its home state for its utilization of new technology in construction.

Craig Campbell, a familiar face to many in Sarasota-Bradenton construction circles, heads up the local Satterfield & Pontikes office. Campbell spent more than a decade in executive roles in the area, where he worked for DooleyMack in Sarasota and later Palmettobased Zirkelbach Construction. Satterfield & Pontikes recruited Campbell to Houston in late 2012.

But the firm’s plans changed, quickly, when Wal-Mart executives asked it to bid for work in the Sunshine State. WalMart requires contractors to have an office within 500 miles of a jobsite. So Campbell’s move to Houston became a short stint.

While Wal-Mart was the impetus, Campbell says the goal is to make Satterfield & Pontikes a firm that can compete with giants like Beck and Skanska.

He envisions a split where 30% of the

Mobile firm surpasses milestone News that Sarasota-based mobile health company Voalte received a $36 million capital investment, courtesy of a New York private equity firm, was certainly a big deal for the fast-growing business.

It’s also a big to-do for the SarasotaBradenton business community.

Homegrown success stories like Voalte, with a software application that allows nurses and hospital employees to improve communications, aren’t everyday happenings.

Voalte, which stands for voice, alarm and text and is pronounced like “volt,” received its capital infusion from White Plains, N.Y.-based Bedford Funding, a $1.4 billion technology-focused LAUDERDALE private equity firm.

Trey Lauderdale, Voalte’s co-founder and president, responded to a few questions from the Business Observer by email.

Where does this investment rank in milestones for Voalte?

This investment is a huge milestone for Voalte. When you consider that we launched the company only five years ago, with four employees and funding on a shoestring, it’s clear we’ve come a

division’s work is for Wal-Mart, while 70% goes toward other clients, especially in retail and health care. “If Wal-Mart hadn’t spoken to us about expansion, I’d still be in Houston,” Campbell tells Coffee Talk. “That said, this is a regional office.”

Campbell is already back in the

long way in a very short time.

How did Voalte develop a relationship with Bedford?

Raymond James Health Care Investment Banking Group served as exclusive financial adviser to Voalte in this transaction. This is the first foray private equity firm Bedford Funding is making into the health care industry, with plans to invest $1 billion in this market in the future.

What else do you envision happening with Voalte this year in terms of new clients, expansion and investments?

With 100 hospitals throughout the United States currently under contract with Voalte, we have aggressive plans to continue to expand our customer base in the future. Our staff has tripled in size in the past year and a half, to our current total of 130 employees, and we are continuing to hire in a variety of positions. Our product line is also growing, with the recent launch of Voalte Me, which enables secure texting inside and outside the hospital walls; Motorola MC-40HC, an Android-based mobile computer that provides all-in-one communication via Voalte One plus barcode scanning capabilities; and relationships with all the major electronic medical records vendors to tie in with their future mobile applications.

networking game, with organizations like the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange in Sarasota-Bradenton and the Associated Builders and Contractors Gulf Coast chapter in Tampa. He’s close to signing a few deals for work, one in Pinellas County and another in Manatee County. He projects a busy summer for the firm.

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