Verizon provides $10,000 grants to small businesses for Ian recovery

A family-owned coffee shop, a floral truck, and a bait and tackle business are among 25 small businesses across Southwest Florida awarded grants today from Verizon Business, totaling $250,000, providing them with critical relief as recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Ian continue.

“Long after the storm has passed, the devastation caused by Ian continues to unfold for small businesses, many of which lost everything and have had to start over,” said Aparna Khurjekar, chief revenue officer of Business Markets and SaaS at Verizon Business. “Our hope is that these grants can help these small businesses with resources they urgently need to recover.”

Hurricane Ian struck Florida as a catastrophic Category 4 storm on Sept. 28, killing over 100 people and causing damage to infrastructure, homes and other property estimated to exceed $50 billion. Thousands of Southwest Florida small businesses were affected by the storm. To aid in the recovery, Verizon partnered with Collaboratory, a local nonprofit community-problem solving organization in Southwest Florida, and Florida

TaxWatch, a trusted nonprofit organization that serves as the ‘eyes and ears’ of Florida taxpayers and promotes economic development across the state, to create the $10,000 grant program.

Collaboratory and Florida TaxWatch worked with community leaders to select the final 25 small businesses from hundreds of deserving applicants and nominees.

“We are thrilled to have received this grant as these funds will help us invest in sales channels to grow outside of Southwest Florida while our community focuses on rebuilding,” said Maddy Eagle, grant recipient and CEO of Flying Eagle Kombucha. “It will also assist us in strengthening our impact here at home, while we continue to support our local farms, community gardens, and their missions for a sustainable region.”

The full list of small business grant recipients includes: Captain Josh Greer; Captain Ozzie Lessinger; Chocolattés Roasting, LLC; Cracker Box Restaurant; D & D Matlacha Bait & Tackle; Exclusive Affair Party Rentals; F.I.S.H of Sanibel-Captiva, Inc.; Flying Eagle Kombucha; Gannon’s Antiques & Art; Gathering House

Space Florida announces space transportation call for projects

Space Florida announced its annual call for projects to further develop Florida’s spaceport system. Commercial space companies are invited to submit applications for Space Florida’s Space Transportation Infrastructure Matching Fund – requiring a private match of 50% or greater – to help meet current and future commercial and public sector space transportation needs. Last year’s call for projects was valued at $48.2 million. Applications are due March 15.

Frank DiBello, president and CEO, Space Florida, said, “Florida is the premier transportation hub for a global space economy providing rapid transport routes to other major world markets. Working in further collaboration with the growing space private sector will help consolidate and mature a Florida spaceport system of the future. The work we do at Space Florida extends beyond today, with a focus on the next generation of space enterprise. Our mis- sion is to create a thriving space ecosystem, which not only supports today’s operational needs but also the establishment of pioneering outposts in high-value orbits, waypoints in space, and a lunar economy that fuels commercial and military operations.” by Dwelling Place Project; Gator Lanes; FastSigns of Cape Coral; Gulf Coast Leisure LLC; Gulfshore Playhouse; Hoops on Mission; Hope Clubhouse of SWFL, Inc.; Increase the Peach, Inc.; Jesi Cason Photography; Just N Time Barber Shop; Koza Farms, Inc.; Island Vibez Grill; Ollie’s Pub – Records and Beer; Rupert’s Karate Academy; White Orchid at Oasis; and Wild at Heart Flower Truck

Previous Spaceport Improvement Projects include SpaceX’s processing and Starship manufacturing facility; Cecil Spaceport improvements to its operations control center and payload process to enable commercial launch operations; Blue Origin’s pad at Launch Complex 36; Boeing’s Starliner assembly; the Airbus OneWeb Satellite facility; and United Launch Alliance’s improvements to Launch Complex 41 to enhance capabilities for medium/heavy vehicles at Cape Canaveral Spaceport.

Space Florida will be accepting Space Transportation Infrastructure Matching Fund applications for Fiscal Years 2025 to 2029.

In addition to hurricane relief efforts, Verizon is providing assistance to small businesses through Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, a free comprehensive online curriculum focused on helping small businesses with digital transformation. The portal was created with and for small businesses, with a specific focus on helping diverse and under-resourced business owners, and offers personalized learning through more than 30 courses, mentorship, peer networking, one-on-one expert coaching and incentives. Spanish-language content, coaching and networking events and grant opportunities aimed at Hispanic-owned small businesses are also now available.

Rental Page 1

“We’re really, really happy to be introducing something to the marketplace that doesn’t currently exist. Part of the way of driving costs down is marketplace competition. And an added product helps with that. So being able to provide a house at an apartment price, even though it’s a slightly modified lifestyle, is a great thing in today’s economy. And it’s one of the ways that we can begin to help solve the workforce housing issues we face.”

Allan explained the purpose of ReVital Development. “In our business, we focus on affordable housing. It’s really the lack of affordability that creates the demand for housing developers like us. It’s very difficult to keep up and provide that additional affordable inventory. We certainly struggle with it. We rely on not only private debt in our contributions, but also local, state and federal subsidies. Because you can’t do a project without it— and this is why we will often do smaller projects, or ‘cure the need’ with one project, for example. We’re seeing just a lot of demand and limited ability to deliver due to several hurdles.”

Leadbetter noted, “A lot of institutional investors didn’t like this market initially. They felt it was a secondary or tertiary market; it was more risk than they were willing to take on. And so we had to find an equity partner that was here and understood the story. And what was interesting is that COVID helped that national institutional investor understand the story. It was very clear when COVID hit that this market is someplace people really want to be. So you know, first and foremost, that demand is there.

“For us specifically, we looked at what that traditional apartment demand was, how much of the supply was coming online and how much of it was being fed by the demand. Then we saw that in 2020, I think we absorbed about 4,200 units in this area. So for us to get comfortable around a new product and a new market, we just needed to absorb a very small fraction of the overall apartment demand.”

Bonora explained how Catalyst started.

“We built our first apartment project on McGregor Boulevard in 2013’14. We were coming out of the recession. Everybody thought, if you weren’t living down here, if you lived up North, you thought this region was still in a depression. There’s no recovery, developers thought, and Southwest Florida just fell off the radar as an option.”

He continued, “When you only look at the data points, if you’re not from here and you’re not spending time here, it’s very easy to overlook the market and opportunities. But when you’re here and you see it and see how people live and where they live and then the living and lifestyle patterns, then you can see where the opportunity is going to be. I remember having to tell that story over and over.

“Today, when a new project or capital partner is coming into the market, I don’t have to educate them on why they want to be here. And now that data is also coming online where they can read it, and they don’t have to be here to experience it firsthand.”

What are the economics of renting vs. owning your home in Southwest Florida?

Leadbetter noted, “When looking at the home-for-sale pricing, it really came down to, what is that ‘whole chunk price’ somebody is able to pay per month in the marketplace for your rental product? We analyzed this and created rental units that ‘matched’ the for-sale pricing.

“So right off the bat, we could see from the ‘whole chunk price’ that the rental market has a place here with a low barrier to entry. And it can compete here because it’s very difficult for folks to be able to afford purchasing a home, due to a number of factors. Number one is because of rising homeowner insurance costs. That feels like one of the biggest threats to everybody because it will drive home sale prices down. Then add in your general cost of maintenance and the cost of homeownership has gone up. All of those things contribute to everybody’s ability, or inability, to afford purchasing a home here. This situation, in turn, creates a great opportunity for the rental home segment.”