General Excellence 3

+ HMA acquisition pipeline ‘rich’

Naples-based hospital opera-tor Health Management As-sociates continues to scout for acquisitions.

The Naples-based operator of 70 non-urban hospitals tar-gets health care systems that are struggling but can be turned around with good management and operating leverage.

In a call with analysts to dis-cuss recent earnings, HMA President and CEO Gary New-some says the company has a “rich” pipeline of deals.

“There will be some commu-nication pretty soon, I think, in terms of our acquisition pro-cess and it will be very pleasing for everyone when they hear it,” Newsome hinted, according to a transcript of the call posted on SeekingAlpha.com.

+ Warehouse reels in out-of-towners

Turns out it wasn’t only Sara-sota residents who clamored for Costco, the popular bulk quan-tities warehouse.

Scott Christensen, the local store manager, says the chain received at least 400 transfer re-quests from current Costco em-ployees worldwide who sought a job at the Sarasota store. “They came from the West Coast, the Northeast, Puerto Rico and all points in between,” says Chris-tensen.

The 145,000-square-foot store, at the Sarasota Square Mall in south Sarasota County, opened Aug. 17. Speaking at a re-cent Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce event honoring local businesses, Christensen re-ported the store received 4,000 job applications in total. The 180 jobs were broken down 50-50: Half went to local applicants, while half went to employees within the company to fill spe-cific experience positions.

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Business ReviewGULF COAST OCTOBER 26 - NOVEMBER 1, 2012

THREE DOLLARS

SpaceDebateRather than lease warehouse space, companies are building their own.

A GOODFIT

STORY ON PAGE 12

One store owner proves service can still beat the big box stores. Page 8

SEE PAGE 10How does Sarasota’s planned upscale mall stack up in the region?

RETAIL:BREAKINGGROUND

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Christensen adds that Costco, which doesn’t disclose individual store sales, has exceeded expectations with the Sarasota location. Sales so far are 15% over budget, and the store has signed up 19,000 mem-bers since August — a record for new Costco openings in the Southeast region. Says Christensen: “We look forward to in-creasing those numbers.”

+ Housing starts to rise in Fort Myers-Naples

Housing starts are expected to be strong next year in the Fort Myers-Naples area because builders are bidding against each other for lots, says market tracker Metrostudy.

The fact that builders are competing for lots means they anticipate greater de-mand for new homes next year, says Brad Hunter, who oversees the Fort Myers-Naples market for Metrostudy.

Already, Metrostudy says the pace of housing starts in Lee County in the third quarter is nearly 36% higher than it was at the same time last year. In Collier it’s up nearly 12% over the same period.

Metrostudy, which tracks new-home sales in master-planned communities, says move-ins were 16% higher in the third quarter in Lee County than in the second quarter. In Collier, they were up 13%.

+ Long wait generates happy ending

Even in a slump of a commercial real estate market, like the current one, an office property that sits vacant for more than three years can be excruciating.

But in one specific case in Hillsborough County, west of Tampa International Air-port, persistence has paid off.

The property is a 7,700-square-foot building on West Hillsborough Avenue, a strip where straight-up office spaces, in-stead of flex buildings, are rare. The pre-vious tenant was a company named Space Age Services Inc. “Large office spaces like that are the exception,” says leasing agent Theresa Margaris, “not the norm.”

Margaris, with Trinity-based Com-mercial Asset Partners Realty, says in the eyes of prospective tenants, the building’s high visibility on a main drag is regularly trumped by being too big. Plus, Margaris tells Coffee Talk, the property, built in 2000, is harder to modify than newer buildings. There are five air-conditioning units, for example, and an older septic

system that restricts where bathrooms can move. Says Margaris: “This wasn’t a building that lent itself to more than one user.”

Hence, the three-year vacancy. The wait, though, is over now that IT

software consulting firm Checkpoint Technologies moved into the building, which is now its headquarters. Margaris says the space was initially larger than what Checkpoint sought. But she and lo-cal Re/Max Realtec Group broker Mark Ganier, who represented the owner, Shelby Randall, got into heavy negotia-tions.

One key to the ultimate lease, says Margaris, is the landlord was realistic on

www.review.net 3

ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT

What the data show: Total non-agricultural employment estimates for the major metropolitan areas of the Gulf Coast in September. The data are not seasonally adjusted.

What it means: The Tampa Bay region is adding jobs at a faster rate than areas further south and the state as a whole (up 0.9%). Punta Gorda and Cape Coral-Fort Myers saw year-over-year employment drops in September despite improvements in the real estate and tourism industries. On the Gulf Coast, the Tampa-St. Petersburg area added 11,900 jobs in

the year ended in September. In that same one-year period, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area lost 3,000 jobs, the most of any area in the

state. Employment growth has slowed since

the spring, as business owners remain cautious in light of economic and political uncertainty.

Forecast: Greater certainty over issues such as taxes and health care costs will give business owners a clearer sense of whether to boost hiring going into 2013. With govern-ment action on those important issues at a standstill until the November election, it’s not clear whether employment will get a boost before then. However, there are signs that industries such as real estate and tourism are rebounding and could lead to increased hiring early next year.

GULF COAST EMPLOYMENTSEPTEMBER EMPLOYMENT AnnualArea Employment ChangeNorth Port-Sarasota-Bradenton 240,000 1.1%Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 1,151,500 1%Naples-Marco Island 112,900 0.5%Punta Gorda 40,500 -1%Cape Coral-Fort Myers 199,000 -1.5%

Source: Florida Department of Economic Opportunity

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

COFFEE TALK

See COFFEE TALK on page 5

GULF COAST BUSINESS REVIEWOCTOBER 26 – NOVEMBER 1, 2012

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Free coffee and doughnuts…for life

Coffee Talk loves great marketing promotions, especially when it comes to its favorite brew.

Bennett’s Fresh Roast, a popu-lar café near downtown Fort My-ers, plans to celebrate the sale of its millionth doughnut by rewarding the lucky buyer with free coffee and doughnuts for life.

If you time it right, you might be the winner. Bob Grissinger, the former disc jokey t u r n e d cafe en-t r e p r e -neur, esti-mates that the win-ner will buy the shop’s m i l l i o n t h d o u g h n u t some time in mid- to late November.

Bennett’s has been in business since February 2008 and the place has be-come a hot spot for coffee and dough-nut aficionados. The café specializes in rare coffees and exotic doughnuts such as maple bacon.

The winner will be entitled to one doughnut and one cup of coffee each day for the rest of his or her life or as long as Bennett’s remains in busi-ness in Fort Myers. The prize is non-accumulative and non-transferrable, so failure to redeem the prize one day is a forfeiture of that day’s coffee and doughnut, and you can’t let someone else pick it up for you.


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TAMPA BAY NFL star buys into firm

Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice has bought an ownership stake in VertiMax, a Tampa-based athletic training system company.

Terms of the deal weren’t released. However, in a release, Rice says he has used VertiMax for five years.

VertiMax founder and CEO Mike Wehrell, a former football player at the University of

Florida, built the VertiMax system to help athletes build up leg power, speed and vertical jumping ability.

Jabil announces new CEOWith Chairman William D.

Morean’s retirement, Jabil Circuit announced that Presi-dent and CEO Timothy Main will become the new chairman immediately upon Morean’s departure, and Chief Operating Officer Mark Mondello will take the helm as CEO. Mondello will take over as CEO March 1.

Mondello started working at Jabil in 1992 as a manufactur-ing supervisor. He worked his way up management and has served as COO since 2002.

SARASOTA-MANATEEBuilder increases sales

Lennar Homes sold 40 con-dos in one northeast Manatee County community over the last two months — more than $5 million in total sales volume.

The condos sold at an aver-age sales price of $140,000 to $150,000. The sales, moreover, continue the upswing at River Strand, a gated golf and coun-try club section of Heritage Harbour, off State Road 64.

Commission seeks judgeThe 12th Judicial Circuit

Nominating Commission, for which Florida Gov. Rick Scott recently appointed three new members, is primed to fill a

vacancy. Chaired by local homebuilder

Pat Neal, the commission seeks a replacement for longtime Manatee County Judge George Brown Jr., who recently an-nounced he would retire next year. Brown’s term isn’t over, so Scott will replace the judge.

The nine-member commis-sion will submit three to six candidates to the governor. The commission will judge the candidates on a list of quali-fications, from legal system knowledge to judicial experi-ence to professional conduct. The 12th Judicial Circuit covers DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties.

Governor appoints trusteeFlorida Gov. Rick Scott re-

cently appointed Eric Robinson, former chairman of the Sara-sota County Republican Party, to serve on the State College of Florida Board of Trustees.

An accountant in Venice, Robinson is married to Sara-sota County Commissioner Christine Robinson. His four-year term on the SCF board, which began Oct. 22, is still subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate. Robinson has been on the Florida Board of Accountancy since 2010.

CHARLOTTE-LEE-COLLIERNaples home prices rise

The median price of an existing single-family home in

Naples rose 25% to $232,000 in September compared with the same month one year ago, according to the Naples Area Board of Realtors.

Meanwhile, the number of ex-isting single-family home sales fell 6% to 268 in September. The inventory of single-family homes for sale in the Naples area declined 12% to 2,884.

By contrast, the median price of a condominium in Naples fell nearly 3% to $151,000 in September compared with September 2011. The number of condo sales rose 11% to 268. The inventory of condos for sale in September dropped 12% to 3,311 compared with the same month one year ago.

Lee targets GermanyThe Lee County Visitor &

Convention Bureau appointed Frankfurt-based Global Com-munications Experts to handle marketing and public relations in Germany. The agency will be responsible for maintaining contacts with tour operators, travel agencies, airlines and consumers.

In 2011, Germany was the second-largest international source of tourists for the Fort Myers area with 111,028 visitors staying in paid ac-commodations, according to the bureau’s statistics. In July, 16,480 visitors from Germany stayed in paid accommoda-tions in Lee County, a 377% increase over the same month one year ago and 7% of total visitors to the area.

HMA profit fallsHealth Management Associ-

ates, the Naples-based opera-tor of 70 hospitals, reported net income fell 5% to $41.3 million on net revenue of $1.4 billion in the third quarter com-pared with the same quarter one year ago.

The profit decline was due in large part to higher expenses, including a charge for interest-rate swaps. In addition, Hur-ricane Isaac affected Health Management’s Florida and Mississippi hospital admissions.

Still, net revenue grew 18% in the third quarter compared with the same quarter last year.

GULF COAST WEEKREGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS AT A GLANCE

EXECUTIVE DECISIONHow secure do you think your business is against cyber attacks?

To vote in this week’s poll, visit: review.net/decision

Results from last week’s poll:

What’s your forecast for the economy in the upcoming year?

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Depends on the election

Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, citing insurmount-able legal hurdles, has pulled out of a major redevelop-ment project at Chan-nelside, the mixed-use project next to the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

Vinik and his partners with the project, Tampa busi-

nessmen Anthony Ever-ett and Andrew Wright, had formed Metis

Channelside LLC to re-vitalize the once-booming

commercial area. The Tampa Port Authority, which leases

the property, and the Irish Bank Resolution Corp., which took it back in a foreclosure, awarded the Vinik-led group the project in a bid process in May.

Vinik pulls bid for Channelside

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rates. Many brokers say one of the main factors holding up a market recovery is property owners who overreach on price.

But Checkpoint also budged. The firm paid for significant building improve-ments, for instance, including new carpet and cubicles for sales staff. “Certainly,” says Margaris, “at the end of the day ev-eryone was happy with the deal.”

+ Florida is on overtime for wage and hour claims

The reputation of Florida being a heavi-ly litigious state is apparently well earned.

Consider this factoid: Nearly 30% of the 1,870 wage and hour claims filed un-der the national Fair Labor Standards Act occurred in Florida this year, according to Thomson Reuters data. That’s more than California, New York or Texas. Roughly one in 10 of those claims were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle Dis-trict, which covers the bulk of the Gulf Coast, says Tampa attorney Christine Howard.

The figures, further, aren’t merely a one-year blip. Florida averaged 34% of all claims over a five-year period. Most of the claims arise when employees, many times through high-powered plaintiff class-action firms, accuse a business of unfair pay practices or unseen overtime pay. The cases could cost businesses thousands of dollars in fees and penalties.

Howard, managing partner at Fisher & Phillips LLP in Tampa, says several elements have led to Florida’s lofty posi-tion in wage and hour claims. For one, the Fair Labor Standards Act was modified in 2004, and that opened more avenues to bring claims. Also, tourism and hospi-tality jobs are magnets for these claims, given the industry is both large and filled with many hourly employees. “Certainly Florida has the type of jobs that can be susceptible to misconduct,” Howard tells Coffee Talk.

Florida business owners and executives can nonetheless fight back against wage and hour claims. One key, says Howard, is on the prevention side. “You want to be as proactive as possible about this,” says

Howard. “There are steps you could take to protect your business.”

That includes training managers and having written policies in place about em-ployee classification and overtime rules. Howard, whose firm handles defense work in employment law, also says it’s critical to update the training and poli-cies, so managers don’t get complacent.

+ Uncertainty abounds prior to Election Day

Pre-Election Day surveys that find high uncertainty levels among small business owners have become as common as Flor-ida summer sun showers.

One of the latest surveys to pick up the theme is the American Express 2012 Fall Small Business Monitor. That report, a nationwide poll, finds small business owners’ top priority is to maintain current revenues, rather than make growth plans. Respondents with plans to hire more em-ployees, furthermore, have dropped to 29%, from 35% in the spring survey.

“In many ways,” American Express OPEN President Susan Sobbott says in a release, “our research on small business sentiment mirrors economic indicators on the consumer front — confidence and optimism gauges are showing positive signs, but there is a sense that people are not willing to go all-in until after the elec-tions.”

Still, the Florida breakdown of the sur-vey is somewhat scattered, with a wide mix of views. For instance, 82% of Florid-ian respondents plan to grow their busi-ness over the next six months, up from 77% in the spring survey. But nearly two-thirds from Florida, 65%, say the econo-my stresses them out, up from 55% in the spring.

Another interesting nugget: More than half the statewide respondents, 61%, pay themselves a salary, though the average annual wage is down, from $68,100 last year to $62,100 this year. Nonetheless, the amount of small business owners who pay themselves any salary at all spiked significantly, from 39% last year to the 61% figure this year.

Steve Martin’s Gulf Coast taco em-pire continues to grow.

Martin opened his eighth Tijuana Flats restaurant on the Gulf Coast, on Cortez Road in west Bradenton, late last year. Store No. 9 opened this sum-mer, in the Feather Sound area of St. Petersburg, and No. 10, in east Mana-tee County, opens Oct. 29.

“It thrills me to death that we keep opening restaurants and creating jobs,” Martin tells Coffee Talk. “We are at the right price point. People can afford to go out and do tacos.”

A longtime restaurant industry exec-utive, Martin opened his first Tijuana Flats, known for its quirky collection of hot sauces, in 2002. He poured his 401(k) and other savings, $300,000 in total, into the launch. Stores, after an opening period, tend to generate about $1 million a year in annual sales. (See Business Review, Aug. 13, 2009.)

Martin’s not done expanding yet, ei-ther. He recently signed a letter of in-tent for another store, in Palm Harbor, and he’s in talks with Maitland-based Tijuana Flats to open stores in the Fort Myers area. Martin says a key factor in the growth, past price point, is the chain got into the local Tex-Mex quick-casual segment earlier than most com-petitors, like Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill.

“We’ve done a good job covering the

market,” Martin says. “People now look for us to open” in their neighborhood.

Not that Martin shies away from a food fight. The Manatee County loca-tion, for example, is across the street from a Chipotle and a shopping center down from a Moe’s Southwest Grill. Martin, however, says he follows the demographic trends — not the com-petitors. “If it’s an A location, we are going in,” says Martin. “I don’t care if everyone is there or no one is there. That’s how confident we are that we can deliver.”

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Anyone who thinks taxes don’t matter when it comes to attract-ing companies to Florida should

chat with Douglas Gyure.Gyure’s company, S4J Manufacturing

Services, makes special fittings used by more than 1,000 companies in the medi-cal-device field to connect fluid- and gas-carrying tubes. Some of its customers include Fortune 500 companies, and the company makes about 1 million fittings a year.

Tucked away in an industrial park on the north side of Cape Coral, S4J is the kind of company that industry recruit-ers are eager to attract. The company manufactures custom parts and provides skilled “blue tech” jobs.

When New Jersey boosted taxes in

1990, Gyure’s father, Steven Gyure, de-cided he’d had enough. “Our governor doubled the state income tax,” the young-er Gyure recalls. “Dad said, ‘I’m going away.’ And he loves fishing.”

The lesson for politicians and eco-nomic development groups who want to attract high-paying jobs to Southwest Florida: The weather’s nice, but low taxes matter a lot.

It’s not just corporate taxes that affect corporate relocations. “When you’re in a small business, you look at personal and business taxes,” says Gyure.

Florida’s overall comparatively lower tax scheme made it easy to leave New Jersey. “It was far cheaper,” Gyure says.

When the elder Gyure decided to leave New Jersey, he didn’t leave many em-ployees behind. “All of our key people came,” says his son, who today manages the business. “We flew them down here to meet with a real estate agent.”

The younger Gyure, who had worked for S4J since he started sweeping the

factory floor when he was 8 years old, says cell phones and the Internet make it easier to relocate companies today. “We could be anywhere in the world,” he says.

S4J is the kind of high-tech manufac-turing that gives the U.S. an edge over the competition. Although it sells 250 standard items, many customers turn to S4J to create special one-of-a-kind parts. “Much of our work is custom,” says Gyure.

Gyure says he first saw the company’s parts in action when his wife was in labor in the hospital. S4J connectors connect-ed the blood-pressure monitor hoses to a machine, and Gyure jokes that he was as excited about seeing his products in the delivery room as he was about the birth

of his child.Gyure declines to share sales data, but

he says growth has been flat in recent years because of the recession. A looming tax on medical manufacturers as part of Obam-acare isn’t encouraging, he says. “We have very little competition, but I don’t feel like we can raise prices,” says Gyure.

S4J hasn’t raised prices despite rising labor and material costs. Gyure says au-tomation is the key to productivity im-provements. The entire operation runs with 13 employees. “It’s all in the auto-mation and efficiency,” Gyure says, point-ing to one machine he recently acquired for $300,000.

—Jean Gruss

Low taxes,great fishingKeeping taxes low is critical to attracting more high-tech manufacturing companies and jobs to the Gulf Coast. The fishing’s good, too.

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Douglas Gyure says his company, S4J Manufacturing Services, can do business any-where in the world because of Internet and shipping.

VIDEO: For Gyure’s outlook on the medical market, visit review.net.


Chuck Kienzel is familiar with caretaking. Frequent trips across the state to take care of his aging

mother-in-law with Alzheimer’s took an emotional toll. It also motivated Kienzel to start on a new company that emerged him from retirement.

After selling security systems in Colum-bus, Ohio, for decades, Kienzel moved to Florida in 1987 to start his own company. He sold that firm in 2002 to retire, but he decided two years ago to go back to work to create Bradenton-based Nurse Alert. “I would only do it if I could find a better way, and I did,” Kienzel says.

People may be familiar with personal emergency response systems (PERS), from the famed “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” commercials. When there is an emer-gency, a person with the device pushes a button and gets connected with a call center that dispatches emergency per-sonnel or contacts a “key person” in his or her file.

Kienzel’s idea, Nurse Alert, takes that idea a step further. Although the device looks similar, the press of the alert but-ton connects users to a triage center with

specialized medical professionals, either a pediatric nurse or geriatric nurse with more than 10 years of experience. The nurse on the line also has access to the patient’s medical records within 40 sec-onds of the alert. This enables the nurse to give advice or recommendations, or to call for other help if needed.

A triage call center isn’t new, but con-necting it to an alert system is. The tri-age center is its own entity, used by the military, hospitals after hours and other care-taking organizations.

Aside from reaching the older demo-graphic, Kienzel wants to diversify his users by reaching a younger generation through Pedia Nurse, an alert system for children. Kienzel says no one else cur-rently provides this type of service for children, and offering both versions al-lows him to reach the sandwich genera-tion. This refers to those who find them-selves taking care of young children and aging relatives at the same time.

One of Kienzel’s top selling points is his customers’ ability to handle health concerns over the phone rather than during a hospital visit, saving time and

money. Kienzel says Nurse Alert is the most economical way to provide service, peace of mind and it prevents unneces-sary trips to the doctor. Compare a doc-tor’s bill with Nurse Alert’s monthly $30 service fee.

Kienzel declined to share Nurse Alert’s annual revenues, but says he expects to see a 20% increase in sales this year.

Amid budget problems Medicare and Medicaid programs face, an in-home health line seemed a reasonable alterna-tive for South Carolina Rep. Bill Herbk-ersman. Herbkersman proposed a pilot program using Nurse Alert, with the goal of lowering the state’s Medicaid costs.

The program started by targeting Med-icaid patients who had frequent trips to

the emergency room. It gave 3,000 vol-unteers access to Nurse Alert’s service in hopes that health concerns could be solved with a phone call and prevent a costly trip to the ER.

According to Kienzel, the program saved an estimated $58 million. Kienzel is talking with legislators in Tallahassee about a similar pilot program in Florida. “In my opinion it’s a long ways away in Florida, but it’ll happen,” Kienzel says.

Services from Kienzel’s company are large steps forward in telemedicine, and all of the advances seem just in time for Kienzel. “I’m getting close to being a cli-ent,” he joked.

–Jennifer Glenfield, contributing writer

An entrepreneur changes the standard “Help, I’ve fallen and can’t get up” alert system. What happens after users push the button could change health care — and its costs.

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FOR SALE3279 81st Ct. E., Bradenton, FL 34211This 1,150 SF Office/Warehouse is close to I75, just south of SR64. It has 200 SF of A/C office with a restroom. The balance is a 35’ x 25’ clear span warehouse that is fully insulated. There is a 12’ overhead door at grade level. The tenant in place is month-to-month.$73,000 for 1,150 SF Office/Warehouse near I-75Contact Sam Watkins at 941-321-8323

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FOR LEASE6446 Parkland Dr., Sarasota, FL 34243There are about 10,000 SF of office and research area and about 6,000 SF of manufacturing/warehouse space. Ceiling height ranges from 16’-18’. Cat 5 throughout. Fully AC, two truck wells, full wet fire sprinkler. 1.3 acres of land with abundant concrete surface parking. This is Sublease space $8.75 PSF. High Quality Free Standing 16,057 SF Industrial Building For LeaseContact William Rex 941-350-5253

6423 Parkland Drive, Sarasota, FL 34243Manufacturing space, with energy efficient lighting in plant, 20% office area, 480 volts, 3 phase, 800 amps. painted floor, dropped ceiling at 12 ft. Was a former aeronautical parts manufacturing plant and was certified by the National Aviation Administration. The plant has air lines and electrical drops. 2 large drive-in doors. Must be seen to be appreciated. $4.50 PSF NNN. Free Standing Fully Air Conditioned 17,472 Industrial Building For LeaseContact Janet Lincoln 941-544-4820

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Charles Kienzel shows a pamphlet for Pedia Nurse, an alert system for kids. He says his two alert services will appeal to the sandwich generation — those caring for their kids and their elderly parents.

SANDWICHAPPEAL


When customers enter Steve Litschauer’s store, he wants them to stay for at least 30

minutes, maybe even an hour. It’s quite an expectation for a guy who

sells sneakers. But Litschauer says the patient, de-

liberate sell has been a key weapon in a remarkable accomplishment: The run-ning and walking shoe store, Braden-ton-based On a Shoestring, thrives in an environment where similar one-outlet, boutique-style athletic footwear stores have turned into dinosaurs. One Gulf Coast competitor, for example, Fit2Run, has gone from one local location to six statewide in recent years. And the big-box competition threat, from Kohl’s to Sports Authority, constantly lingers.

On a Shoestring, however, has more than held its own. A retired 30-year veteran of the Manatee County Sher-riff ’s office, where he rose to the rank of captain, Litschauer launched the busi-ness with his wife, Sharon Litschauer, in 2005. Litschauer says sales have grown

at least 10% a year every year since then, through 2011, when revenues increased 9%. On a Shoestring, in a west Braden-ton strip mall that includes a dentist of-fice, a trophy store and a McDonald’s, is in the six-figures in annual revenues.

“Our business model is different,” Litschauer says. “We don’t go to the low end, and we don’t go to the $200 to $300 shoe.”

Litschauer and the store, with shoes in the $90 to $140 price range, have both been recognized locally and state-wide for the ability to fend off bigger competitors. The Independent Running Retailers Association and Competitor Magazine named it one of the 50 best running stores in America in 2009 and 2011. Competitor magazine also named it a top running store in the Southeast in 2008, 2009 and 2011. Earlier this year, moreover, the Florida Retail Federation presented Litschauer with the Florida Outstanding Retail Leader Award. The federation measures community service and business acumen in determining

the award. Like many small business owners,

Litschauer says On a Shoestring suc-ceeds partially because it’s heavily in-volved in the community. The store and brand are highly visible in the Manatee County running community, from 5Ks to half marathons. The store is also a regu-lar in schools, church and local chamber of commerce events.

On a Shoestring further markets heavily to the local medical community, where it regularly hosts open houses for podiatrists and other physicians. Part of the goodies the store hands out at those events: a prescription-style pad with the store’s name, address and logo that doc-tors can give to patients.

Still, Litschauer realizes community outreach won’t be worth much with-out top customer service. That’s why he trains employees to take their time with each customer. “You can’t take a shoe off the rack here,” says Litschauer. “We have to get it for you. We want it to be an ex-perience.”

Litschauer never considered himself an entrepreneur while he worked his way up in law enforcement, first with the city of Bradenton Police Depart-ment, and later with the sheriff ’s office. But he also sought a plan for retirement, past sitting “out on the porch and rock-ing.”

The Litschauers first opened On a Shoestring in a corner of MVP Sports, a store down the street, since closed, that was a conglomeration of local sports equipment businesses. The couple, us-ing $100,000 in savings, moved into its current location in 2006. They recently spent $10,000 on an internal renova-tion, which included new hardwood floors.

Litschauer considered moving the store to a bigger location. But he decid-ed to focus on consistent improvement, not expansion. “It’s not just a business,” says Litschauer. “Every day we are help-ing people.”

— Mark Gordon

Walk This WayMark Wemple

Steve Litschauer founded Bradenton-based On a Shoestring, a boutique-style athletic footwear store, in 2006. The Florida Retail Federation presented Litschauer with the Florida Outstanding Retail Leader Award earlier this year.

A 35-year law enforcement veteran finds a comfortable fit in entrepreneurship. His next challenge: Stay ahead of big-muscled competitors.


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Gulf Coast Bx Review_Oct 26 Issue_Layout 1 10/19/2012 9:21 AM Page 1

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COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE: RETAIL by Mark Gordon | Deputy Managing Editor

MALL MANEUVERSThe first new mall in the region in a decade will add nearly 1 million

square feet of retail space. How will the mall stack up to the competition?

Pam Eubanks

Representatives of Benderson Development, Taubman Centers and Manatee and Sarasota counties participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for The Mall at University Town Center.

200

6,000

2001 1978(Westfield acquired property in 2003)

1956(Westfield acquired property in 2003)

2016* 1977 1965

4,500 4,242 4,7122,000

1,200

2,500 2,000 plus 1,000construction jobs to build mall3,500 in holiday season

N/A

N/A N/A

123 46 117 160at least 100*

1.19 millionsquare feet;

125,000 square feet on Bay Street, an outdoor plaza

880,000square feet*

943,514square feet

421,398square feet

960,000square feet

1.051 millionsquare feet

5,000

1950 2020 1950 2020 1950 20201950 2020

INTERNATIONALPLAZATAMPA

THE MALL ATUNIVERSITY

TOWN CENTERSARASOTA-MANATEE

WESTFIELD SARASOTA

SQUARE MALLSARASOTA

WESTFIELDSOUTHGATE

MALLSARASOTA

COASTLANDMALL

NAPLES

EDISONMALL

FORT MYERS

NUMBER OF STORES = 10 stores

TOTAL GROSS LEASABLE AREA

PARKING SPACES = 1,000 spaces

JOBS

YEAR OPENED

FAST FACT

= 100 jobs

1950 2020 1950 2020

The mall opened on Sept. 14, 2001, three days after the terrorist attacks. The parent company canceled several grand opening-related events, including Cirque du Soleil.

About 50% of the stores will be new brands in the market. *

The first Costco in the Sarasota-Bradenton market opened here in August.

H&M, a trendy Sweden-based retailer, plans to open a store in the mall later this year. The store will be H&M’s first location in the Naples-Fort Myers market.

Mall is home to several brands exclusive to the Sarasota market, including Ann Taylor, Banana Republic and Pottery Barn.

The first mall in America to have rivals Sears and JCPenney in the same mall.

SOURCES TAUBMAN CENTERS, SARASOTA SQUARE MALL, SOUTHGATE MALL, EDISON MALL* = Projected

ONLINE: For more on how The Mall at University Center stacks up, visit review.net.

Bill Taubman, chief operating officer for one of the more prominent shop-ping mall development firms in the

country, isn’t kidding when he says good things come to those who wait.

Like The Mall at University Town Cen-ter, a project that by some accounts is near-ly 20 years in the making. That waiting period officially ended Oct. 15, when the partners behind the mall, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman Centers and Uni-versity Park-based Benderson Develop-ment, held a celebratory groundbreaking.

Planned at 880,000 square feet and more than 100 stores, the mall will be built just west of the University Parkway exit of Interstate 75, off Cattlemen Road. The area is in Sarasota County, with the Mana-tee County line across University Parkway. “We believe in Florida, and we believe in Sarasota County,” says Taubman. “We’ve

had our eye on this location for a long time.”With a projected construction value of

$315 million, the mall is one of the largest building developments to break ground in the Sarasota-Manatee region during the past decade. The project, moreover, is one of only a few new malls going up nationwide.

Taubman says the mall will utilize both natural light and the newest technologies. “I promise you’re not going to be disap-pointed,” says Taubman. “(This mall will) represent the future of shopping.”

Here’s a glance at some of the present malls on the Gulf Coast and how each com-pares with The Mall at University Town Center.


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UPCOMING

OCTOBER 30HALL OF FAME: Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida will induct Richard Akin and Phil McCabe to the Col-lier County Business Hall of Fame. The event will be held at the Waldorf Astoria Naples, 475 Seagate Drive, Naples. Akin is president and CEO of the Healthcare Network of Southwest Florida Inc., a non-profit primary health care provider in Collier County. McCabe owns and operates the Inn on Fifth, McCabe’s Irish Pub & Grill and four other restaurants. For more information visit jaswfl.org, contact Anne Frazier at 239-225-2590 or email [email protected].

NOVEMBER 1BLUE CHIP: The 18th Annual Southwest Florida Blue Chip Community Business Awards program will recognize successful small business owners in Charlotte, Collier

or Lee County who have overcome ad-

versity to achieve success. The event will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Har-borside Event

Center, 1375

Monroe St., Fort Myers. For more informa-tion contact Stacey Mercado of BB&T-Oswald Trippe and Co. at 239-433-7189 or [email protected].

OBAMACARE PRIMER: Allen Weiss, president and CEO of NCH Healthcare Systems Inc., will discuss the impact on the region of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at a Leadership Col-lier Foundation leadership luncheon. The event will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Professional Development Center, 615 3rd Ave. S., Naples. Cost is $15. For more information visit napleschamber.org.

ECONOMIC JUMPSTART: Ray Leach, CEO of JumpStart Inc., will discuss JumpStart’s ef-forts to promote entrepreneur-ial ventures in Northeast Ohio at a Gulf Coast Venture Forum and Florida Venture Forum meeting. The event runs from 5:15 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Trianon Bonita Bay, 3401 Bay Commons Drive, Bonita Springs. Cost is $25 for members and $45 for others. For more information visit floridaventureforum.org.

NOVEMBER 7THE ROSS SHOW: The Collier Building Industry Association will host its annual residential-market presentation featur-ing land broker Ross McIntosh. The event, dubbed the Ross Show, will run from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist

Life Center, 675 111th Ave., Naples. Cost is $25 for members, $35 for others. For more information call 239-436-6100, visit cbia.net or email [email protected].

NOVEMBER 9EMERGING TRENDS: Charles DiRocco, director of real estate research for Price-waterhouseCoopers, will discuss emerging trends in real estate. The meeting, which will also feature a panel of Southwest Florida developers, will run from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Grey Oaks Country Club, 2400 Grey Oaks Drive N., Everglades Room, Naples. Cost is $45 per person. For more information visit swflorida.uli.org.

NOVEMBER 13ONLINE RETAIL: The Florida Venture Forum will host a discussion with entrepre-neurs and investors about Internet retail-ing from 5:15 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, 2900 Bayport Drive, Tampa. Cost is $25 for members and $45 at the event. For more information visit floridaventureforum.org.

NOVEMBER 14ENTREPRENEUR AWARD: Brent Brit-ton, prominent Tampa technology and intellectual property attor-ney and founding partner of the Britton, Silberman & Cervantez law firm, will be the feature presenter at the Charlotte County Economic Development Of-fice’s entrepreneur award luncheon. The event will run from 11:30 a.m.

to 1 p.m. at the Charlotte Regional Medical Plaza, 713 E. Marion Ave., Fourth Floor Conference Room, Suite 149, Punta Gorda. Cost is $10. For more information call the Charlotte County Economic Development Office at 941-764-4941.

NOVEMBER 15MEET THE CEO: Margaret Callihan, chairman, president and CEO of SunTrust Bank will be the honoree at the American Jewish Committee West Coast Florida’s 2012 Civic Achievement Award Dinner. The event will start at 6 p.m. at Michael’s On East, Sarasota. For more information con-tact AJC Regional Director Brian Lipton at 941-365-4955 or email [email protected].

NOVEMBER 16TECH AWARDS: The Tampa Bay Tech-nology Forum will hold an awards gala to recognize technology entrepreneurs from 6 p.m. to midnight at the Hilton Bayfront, 333 First St. S., St. Petersburg. For more information visit tbtf.org.

NOVEMBER 27MEET ALEX SINK: The Women Owners of Florida Inc. will host Alex Sink, senior advisor with Tampa-based Hyde Park Capital and former Florida chief financial officer. The event starts at 1:30 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn, 8270 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. For more information contact Deb Shuck at 941-685-0250.

DECEMBER 4COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE AWARDS: CREW Tampa Bay will hold its 2012 Excellence Awards black tie gala dinner from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort, 501 Fifth Ave. N. E., St. Petersburg. For more information visit crewtampabay.org of call Executive Director Sue Fern at 727-943-8280.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Britton

Leach

Akin

McCabe


Congratulations to C1 Bank’sChief Information Officer

Marcio deOliveirafor being named one of the

Gulf Coast Business Review’s 40 under 40. We’re proud to have you on our team.

www.C1Bank.com

MEMBER FDIC

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COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE by Jean Gruss | Editor/Lee-Collier

Big space is getting scarce.Distribution companies that ca-

ter to growing customers on the Gulf Coast are discovering that there aren’t many large blocks of warehouse space to choose from.

The warehouse market is at a difficult point in the cycle, when the recovery is be-ginning and space is getting tight, but de-velopers are unwilling to deliver new build-ings to market because rents haven’t caught up.

Instead, companies that need large warehouses are building their own. For ex-ample, food distributor Cheney Brothers is building a 250,000-square-foot distribu-tion center in Charlotte County, and medi-cal distributor LeeSar recently opened a 205,000-square-foot facility it built in Fort Myers.

With low land and construction costs, many companies choose to build their own facilities rather than lease space. “The smart developers are going to tie up the

well-located properties and wait for build-to-suits to come, because they’re coming,” says Bob Johnston, a principal with Lee & Associates in Fort Myers.

It’s a similar situation in the Tampa Bay region, especially in east Hillsborough County, Plant City and Lakeland. “There comes a point — and I think we’re there — that there’s just no space,” says Bruce Er-hardt, executive director of land brokerage with Cushman & Wakefield of Florida in Tampa.

Erhardt estimates that developers are poised to start building 1 million square feet of warehouse-distribution space in the Tampa Bay region next year. Such specula-tive construction has not occurred since the start of the real estate downturn.

“We do not have enough large distribu-tion facilities with the 20-foot ceilings and the dock high so the big rigs can come in,” says Ron Struthers, a broker with Coldwell Banker Commercial in Punta Gorda. “If somebody could spec a 60,000-square-foot

JimJett.com

Robert Simpson, president and CEO of LeeSar, says his medical distribution cooperative can serve more health care facilities from its new $40 million distribution center in Fort Myers.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Industry. Commercial real estate

Trend. Large warehouses are filling with tenants.

Key. Large spaces are in demand as vacancies dwindle and developers are poised to start construction.

Big-space shortageTenants are taking up big blocks of warehouse space as the economy recovers, reducing vacancies in many larger buildings. But rents haven’t risen to entice developers — yet.


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building, they could lease it up.”While vacancies may be declining,

rents haven’t yet started to rise to the point that a developer could make a prof-it on a new warehouse. “We’ve got vacan-cy saying ‘build’ but we have rents that say ‘don’t build’,” says Erhardt.

While warehouse buildings are gen-erally less costly to build than offices or shops, that’s starting to change. For example, Cheney Brothers estimates the computer technology in the new Charlotte warehouse will cost $2 mil-lion. LeeSar’s building cost $40 million to build. That’s because computers now monitor every step of the “just-in-time” distribution process so there’s no waste.

Sometimes, the challenge is geography. “There’s never been big industrial build-ings in Southwest Florida,” says Randy Mercer, founding partner of CRE Com-mercial and the developer of the original 70,000-square-foot LeeSar building in Lehigh Acres. “We’re at the end of the distribution line.”

Cheney expands to CharlotteCheney Brothers, a privately held food

distributor headquartered in Riviera Beach, is a growing operation that hit $1 billion in sales this year. The company has been seeking locations on the Gulf Coast, and it picked a site near the Charlotte County Air-port and Interstate 75. “This is really a cen-tral point for us,” says Bill Foley, Cheney’s president and chief operating officer.

From Charlotte County, Foley says it can distribute more than 15,000 products to restaurants and other customers south of the Tampa Bay region. Its trucks can cut across the state using State Road 70 and from Charlotte County it can supply cus-tomers in Lee and Collier as well as Sara-sota. It already has another distribution center in Ocala that supplies Hillsborough and Pinellas.

Cheney plans to build 250,000 square feet of space in Charlotte County initially, but the site could accommodate 400,000 square feet and employ nearly 400 people. That’s enough to fill seven football fields.

What’s more, a host of ancillary services may follow Cheney. For example, the com-pany leases a fleet of trucks and it’s likely that a truck-repair facility will locate near-by, says Bruce Laishley, the Charlotte devel-oper who persuaded Cheney to locate there.

Laishley says he’s working with nine or

10 other businesses to locate nearby. “We expect to see many others,” he says. A road that’s being built to the Cheney site will open up other sites for development.

LeeSar grows in LeeLeeSar, a nonprofit cooperative es-

tablished by Lee Memorial and Sara-sota Memorial, recently moved into a 205,000-square-foot distribution facility it built in Fort Myers.

In addition to medical supplies, the facil-ity includes a 38,000-square-foot, $7 mil-lion kitchen that can make 15,000 meals a day, and a 40,000-square-foot sterile pro-cessing center where it cleans and packs

surgical equipment. “HCA Columbia was here last week with their executives and their jaws dropped,” says Simpson.

Besides Lee Memorial and Sarasota Memorial hospitals, LeeSar also supplies Central Florida Health Alliance in Lees-burg and Huntsville Hospital in Alabama. For the year ended September 2011, LeeSar reported net income of $5.2 mil-lion on sales of $158 million.

Simpson says the new facility will allow LeeSar to grow and add more capacity be-cause the new facility is nearly three times bigger than the previous space. He also says LeeSar could set up similar distribu-tion facilities in other locations.

JimJett.com

Bill Foley, the president and chief operating officer of Cheney Brothers, says Charlotte County is a central location to distribute food to areas south of the Tampa Bay region.

Tenants are absorbing warehouse space on the Gulf Coast, lowering vacancies in the third quarter compared with the same quarter one year ago. However, per-square-foot rents haven’t risen to the point of enticing developers to build addi-tional space.

Area Vacancy 3Q2011 Vacancy 3Q2012 Asking rates 3Q2011 Asking rates 3Q2012Tampa Bay region 10.4% 9.9% $4.66 $4.65Southwest Florida (Charlotte, Collier, Lee) 12.5% 9.4% $5.37 $5.14

FILL THE WAREHOUSE

Courtesy

LeeSar’s new distribution facility in Fort Myers measures 205,000 square feet, with room for further expansion. That’s enough space to fill nearly four football fields.

““Bruce Erhardt Cushman & Wakefield of Florida: “We’ve got vacancy saying ‘build’ but we have rents that say ‘don’t build.’”

VIDEO: To hear more on LeeSar’s expansion, visit review.net.


COMPANIES by Mark Gordon | Deputy Managing Editor

Mark Wemple

John Hillman is CEO of Nationwide Title Clearing, a Palm Harbor-based mortgage paperwork-processing firm. Revenues at the firm have grown 85% since 2008, from $9.2 million to $17 million in 2011.

Title TownAllegations of mortgage industry irregularities, mixed with

connections to a controversial religion, confront a Gulf Coast company. But Nationwide Title Clearing has withstood the salvos.

The lunchtime scene at Nation-wide Title Clearing, a fast-growth 315-employee mortgage-processing

firm in north Pinellas County, is like being back in high school.

Nearly every employee takes lunch at the same time. Indeed, the rows of cubicles in-side the gated 38,000-square-foot complex, a former Christian church and daycare cen-ter, are a virtual ghost town during lunch. The Palm Harbor-based company, partially in response to employee requests, sets daily lunchtime from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Some folks gather inside the cafeteria to eat. Others eat lunch at metal picnic tables, where one munches on Doritos and yogurt. Some people huddle off to the side, chatting and smoking cigarettes. Still others eat by themselves while reading a book, curling up against a wall. On one recent Tuesday, a few people left the campus and returned with McDonald’s bags.

Everyone at lunch, however, has one thing in a common: A Nationwide Title Clearing employee ID badge. The badge is access to the company, a unique — and complicated — success story among Gulf Coast businesses.

On the one hand, Nationwide’s growth,

in employees and revenues, defies the re-cession. Annual sales, for instance, have more than doubled since 2008, to at least $20 million.

On the other side, though, a state attor-ney general recently accused Nationwide of unethical mortgage industry practices. Moreover, several company officials and founders have ties to the Church of Scien-tology, a somewhat controversial religion with a sizable presence in Pinellas County and Clearwater, both in members and in property it owns.

The company continues to fight allega-tions of wrongdoing. But the Scientology connection, say Nationwide executives and some local officials, are irrelevant to any-thing at the company.

The growth side to Nationwide, mean-while, is impressive: In the past five years Nationwide has become one of the largest firms in the country that focuses on post-closing services for residential mortgages.

That means clients pay Nationwide, es-sentially a middleman, to handle the reams of paperwork and document verification a mortgage requires, from lien releases to title searches to final documents. Clients, according to the company, include eight of

the 10 largest mortgage firms and banks in the country, in addition to a few federal agencies.

It’s labor-intensive work. Each document, say company executives, goes through an eight- to 12-step approval process. Nation-wide’s clients have mortgages in every state, which covers more than 3,500 jurisdic-tions. So the firm’s employees must know the laws and regulations for wherever they process paperwork.

Moreover, the company’s proprietary document-tracking system enabled it to stay relevant to clients when the housing bubble burst. “We filled a need,” Nationwide Vice President of Sales Michael O’Connell says. “Our ability to predict what was com-ing has paid off.”

So much so that Nationwide’s annual revenues are up 85% since 2008, from $9.2 million to $17 million in 2011. The payroll more than doubled in that time, from 86 employees in 2008 to 222 at the end of 2011. The growth surge has continued into 2012, where through September Nation-wide had 315 employees.

Still, Nationwide’s fast growth comes with an asterisk because of its ongoing legal allegations.

‘Undermining integrity’The state of Illinois, in fact, sued Na-

tionwide earlier this year for alleged viola-tions of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act. The state attorney general’s office says Nationwide filed faulty documents with Illinois county recorders.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, asks a judge to impose civil penal-ties against Nationwide. “The practices that NTC used were a key contributor to the mortgage crisis by undermining the integ-rity and accuracy of the mortgage servicing and foreclosure process,” Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says in a Feb. 2 state-ment.

Nationwide CEO John Hillman, in an interview with the Business Review inside Nationwide’s campus in mid-September, declined to comment on specific allega-tions in the Illinois lawsuit.

Hillman, though, denied Nationwide engages in any unethical practices, denials that include robo-signing. That term en-tered the lexicon in late 2010, when several big banks, through employees who signed documents they allegedly didn’t read, were accused of speeding up the foreclosure pro-cess.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Business. Nationwide Title Clearing, Palm Harbor

Issue. Mortgages, financial

Key. Firm has grown significantly since 2008, defying the recession.


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“We’re not a foreclosure shop,” says Hill-man. “We’ve never done that. We have em-ployees who sign a lot of documents, but they review every piece of the documents before they sign.”

Adds Hillman, regarding the Illinois law-suit: “I’m sure it will come to a good result soon.”

At least one other entity, outside gov-ernment, has also accused Nationwide of unprincipled mortgage practices. St. Pe-tersburg attorney Matthew Weidner, who specializes in foreclosure defense cases, made some allegations against Nationwide on a blog post in 2010.

Nationwide sued Weidner for slander and libel, in a case that was ultimately set-tled out of court. Weidner declined to com-ment on the specific case, saying he signed a confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement. Weidner, nonetheless, did say he believes the entire mortgage processing industry remains an overlooked source of some lingering issues in the housing mar-ket malaise.

“This industry came out of nowhere,” says Weidner. “There are no rules, no nothing.”

Religious mattersFending off unethical mortgage industry

allegations is a much different challenge than the perception of mixing religion and business. That could be why the affable Hillman — who sometimes smilingly tells visitors to call him Johnny — grows slightly defensive when asked about Nationwide’s connections to the Church of Scientology.

The link is most visible in a system the company uses created by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. This fact is high-lighted on Nationwide’s job application, which, in the middle of the legalese lan-guage, states the company actively utilizes a nonreligious management and process-ing system Hubbard created.

Hillman says the secular system is akin to Six Sigma, a uniform work process that makes everything run more efficiently. At a place like Nationwide, where speed and

teamwork are vital, a simple system is a key component of the success, company offi-cials say. The firm, adds Hillman, also uses Hubbard’s system to analyze trends and improve quality control.

But Hillman bristles at accusations that Nationwide is a Scientology-controlled business merely because the firm uses Hubbard’s work-processing techniques. The church doesn’t own the company, ac-cording to Florida Secretary of State docu-ments, though several people with current or past connections to Scientology are of-ficers and directors.

“Scientology doesn’t play a role in the company environment,” Hillman says. “Sci-entology doesn’t play a role in what we do. There is no connection, other than I’m a Scientologist myself. It’s a nonissue.”

Connie Davis, president and CEO of the Greater Palm Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce, says religion never comes up in her conversations and work with Na-tionwide employees. Nationwide is a major

chamber supporter. “I have nothing but good things to say

about the company as a chamber member,” says Davis. “Anything other than that, I’m not aware of.”

Hillman, furthermore, says he has no idea how many Scientologists work at Na-tionwide. He threw out a guess once, when the Tampa Bay Times wrote a story on the company in early 2011, but refuses to speculate now. Says Hillman: “I don’t know how many Mormons are here and I don’t know how many Catholics are here.”

Hillman says he understands the genesis of the Scientology questions, given the reli-gion’s sometimes negative perceptions, but understanding doesn’t equal agreement. “It’s odd,” says Hillman, “because in what other company does the religion matter?”

Perfect chainNationwide was founded in 1991 in

Southern California. At one point Hillman says the company shared offices with Walt

Disney Imagineering in Glendale, Calif. A son-in-law of Ivan Kezsbom, one of sev-eral Nationwide co-founders, Hillman joined the firm 1995. Hillman worked in human resources, and he also ran the IT department before he was named CEO in 2006.

Hillman says his management style is to walk around. He will check in with various departments regularly, but he tries to stay out of decision-making until it’s absolutely necessary. “I allow people to do their jobs,” says Hillman. “I want to empower my em-ployees.”

Nationwide relocated to Palm Harbor in 2002. In its first few years on the Gulf Coast, Hillman says the company was mostly stuck in a cyclical market. Revenue growth was stagnant. But a revamped training program in 2008 partially led to the growth spurt. The company also recently enhanced its in-centive program for employees.

Another area of improvement for the company in recent years has been in the mailroom — a bustling hub of 30 employ-ees. That’s where the company sorts a vast amount of documents, both coming and going. The system for what goes where, ex-ecutives say, is constantly refined to make it smoother and more efficient.

Hillman and other Nationwide officials hope the latest growth boost for the com-pany will be PerfectChain, a trademarked and proprietary system the company launched lasts year. PerfectChain, says the company, detects and reports any issues on recorded documents related to a mortgage that could hold up a sale.

Technology innovations like Per-fectChain, says Hillman, is where Nation-wide’s future lies. The IT infrastructure budget, adds Hillman, is the company’s biggest expense.

Yet while Hillman aims for more fast growth, he also wants to make sure Na-tionwide sticks to its niche: research and processing. Says Hillman: “I don’t want to stray too far from what the company is good at.”

“

“Michael O’Connell, vice president of sales, Nationwide Title Clearing: “We filled a need. Our ability to predict what was coming has paid off.”

AT A GLANCE: Nationwide Title Clearing

5

10

15

$20 million

2008 ’09 ’10 ’112008 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12*

$17 million

50100150200250300350 315*through September

RevenuesEmployees

Source: Nationwide Title Clearing


BUYER: Rifai Properties LLC (principals: Hany Rifai), TampaSELLER: West Coast Holdings LLC and Sark Properties I LLCPROPERTY: 2230 Nursery Road, ClearwaterPRICE: $6.6 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $6.9 million, August 2007LAW FIRM ON DEED: Bush Ross PA, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Investor Hany Ri-fai purchased the 120-unit Arbors at Bel-leair in Clearwater for $6.6 million.

The price equated to $55,000 per unit or $63 per square foot.

The gated 5-acre garden-style apart-ment complex features 10 buildings with 12 units each. In 2008, the property re-ceived a $500,000 renovation, which included construction of a new fitness center and clubhouse. The roofs of all its buildings were also replaced recently.

The development features a security office, several laundry facilities, a swim-ming pool and fitness center. It was 85% occupied at the time of the sale.

Darron Kattan, Bob Goldfinger and

Kevin Kelleher, all of Franklin Street Real Estate Services, handled the trans-action.

“We’re planning to redo the cabinets, tile the floors and replace the landscap-ing,” Rifai says. “My general belief is that prices in Florida are just going to con-tinue to climb. They have been on the upswing starting over the last year and half.”

The property also included five or six unrentable units that the new owner plans to fix up and put back out to lease. He says the Arbors at Belleair purchase price equated to a payoff ratio based on income (capitalization rate) after the re-habilitation of 7.5 to 8%.

Rifai owns and manages the 42nd Street Apartments near USF, 32-unit Oakwood Trace Apartments on Mason Street and a separate Orlando apartment development.

“My family and I relocated here a year ago from Canada and I’ve been selling off my Canadian pieces,” he says. “Prices in Canada got a little too high for my taste. As prices pick up here my interest has started to slack a little bit.”

Rifai says he is done investing for at least the next year.

Kattan describes the property as gen-erally a B- asset: an older property in a good location.

“For a 1960s vintage property to trade at $55,000 per unit shows that we have recovered a significant amount of the lost value from the last commercial real estate downturn,” Kattan says in a press release.

Largo investors buy building,lease to HydroLogic DistributionBUYER: 7902 Anderson Road Crossing LLC, LargoSELLER: Monument Leasing Corp.PROPERTY: 7902 Anderson Road, TampaPRICE: $1.07 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $880,000, October 1988LAW FIRM ON DEED: Conroy Conroy Durant & Rudnick PA, Naples

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Two undisclosed Lar-go investors purchased the 25,800-square-foot former Wesco warehouse building for $1.07 million.

The price equated to $41 per square foot.Originally constructed in 1981, the build-

ing has been vacant for roughly 18 months. It features 5,600 square feet of office space, two dock-high doors with a covered load-ing platform and outdoor storage.

Jan Boltres of Colliers International Tampa Bay represented the seller and John Anderson of European Equities represent-ed the buyer.

Anderson has arranged for plumbing supply distributor HydroLogic Distribu-tion Co. to lease the entire building for at least the next 10 years. The triple net lease obligates the tenant to handle all mainte-nance and repair of the building and pay for its insurance and taxes.

“This was purely an investment,” Ander-son says. “[The building] needs some mi-nor improvements to make it fit for them. Mainly things like paint. Minor work in the scope of the overall building. This is passive income for them.”

According to Boltres, activity in the in-dustrial market remained strong from January to June, before a drop off in July. Since then, the industrial market has been strengthening, and she says this sale closed at a strong price compared with several re-cent sales for buildings of similar condition.

“Recently, pricing for this submarket has been a bit unpredictable,” Boltres says in a press release. “There is significant demand, but it’s being held up due to uncertainty with the economy, resulting in hesitant buyers.”

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COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE TAMPA BAY by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Tampa apartment investor addsArbors at Belleair to portfolio

CoStar2230 Nursery Road, Clearwater


Etc…• Allied Building Products Corp.

leased 53,204 square feet of the Gate-way Commerce Center at 13555 49th St., Largo from CUNA Mutual Investment Corp. Bruce Vaughan and Jan Boltres of Colliers International Tampa Bay repre-sented the landlord.

• DS Waters of America Inc., a bot-tled water delivery service, leased 24,811 square feet in the Pinellas Commerce Center at 10280 U.S. 19 N., Pinellas Park from Highway 19 Properties LLC.

Mary Clare Codd of Colliers Internation-al Tampa Bay represented the tenant.

• Construction on Residence Hall 7 at the University of Tampa has topped out. The 11-story, 193,000-square-foot build-ing is being developed to house 528 stu-dents and is scheduled to open in August 2013. The project is being designed and built by The Beck Group and is the sev-enth residence hall built by Beck for the university.

• James Vestal, of Marcus & Millic-hap Real Estate Investment Services’ Tampa office, represented the buyer,

Farland Realty LLC, in the purchase of The Townhomes at Lake Butler for $460,000. The nine-unit apartment complex was built in 2006.

• Wells Fargo Advisors has leased 8,000 square feet at City Center in down-town St. Petersburg. This latest lease brings occupancy at the building to more than 80%. Reynolds McCabe of Travers Realty represented Wells Fargo Advi-sors in the transaction. Feldman Equities Inc., which purchased the building in a joint venture with Tower Realty Partners in late 2010, has since leased up more than 105,000 square feet.

• Michael Donaldson, a senior associ-ate and multifamily specialist in Marcus & Millichap’s Tampa office, represented the buyer, an Aventura private inves-tor, in the sale of the 34-unit Arlington Square in Deland for $780,000.

• The Next Level CrossFit Tampa plans to open a 7,200-square-foot loca-tion at 9843 N 18th St., St. Petersburg. At the same time, the company plans to re-located its existing Tampa facility over to a 25,000-square-foot location at 14401 McCormick Drive, Tampa.

• Jonathan S. Ruprai, and Dennis Hop-per, both in Marcus & Millichap’s Tampa office, handled the sale of the 55-room Best Western Inn of Palatka.

• The law firm Gunster recently leased 14,298 square feet in the 36-story Sun-Trust Financial Centre at 401 E. Jackson St., Tampa. Sharon Bragg of Jones Lang LaSalle, represented the landlord.

• Vaco Tampa LLC, a consulting and placement firm specializing in the fi-nance and technology sectors, leased 4,345 square feet in MetWest One at 4030 W. Boy Scout Blvd., Tampa. Tim Kilkelly of CNL Commercial Real Estate represented the tenant and Angela Odell of Taylor & Mathis represented the land-lord.

• Enterprise Holdings, the company that operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car,

National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands, signed a 20,000-square-foot lease for a 10-year term at the Concourse Center in Westshore at the southeast corner of Memorial Highway and West Spruce Street. The company is scheduled to occupy the property before the end of the year.

Enterprise Holdings first entered the Tampa market in 1973 and today it has about 800 employees in the area. The new space will be home to more than 100 employees from the company’s adminis-trative staff and its fleet management af-filiate.

Located at 3501-3507 East Frontage Road, the four-building Concourse Cen-ter office park contains nearly 300,000 rentable square feet.

Roxanne Kemph and Clay Wommack of CBRE represented the landlord, a fund managed by DRA Advisors LLC of New York City.

• Real Time Staffing Services Inc. has signed a lease for 2,215 square feet in One MetroCenter at 4010 W. Boy Scout Blvd., Tampa. Caleb Lewis with Bishop & Associates represented the tenant and Angela Odell of Taylor & Mathis repre-sented the landlord.

• Kellogg & Kimsey Inc. has hired Cuhaci & Peterson Architects to design the interior renovations for JCPenney stores at Westshore Mall in Tampa and Brandon Town Center.

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Orlando-based Parkway Properties Inc. announced it is under contract to purchase the 169,619-square-foot Westshore Corporate Center in Tampa for $22.5 million. The building, located at 600 N. Westshore Blvd., Tampa, is currently managed by Parkway Proper-ties’ affiliate Parkway Realty Services.

The 12-story office building was con-structed in 1988 and is currently 77.7% leased.

Based on 2013 estimated cash net operating income, the purchase price would equate to a payoff ratio (capital-ization rate) of 8.5%.

Parkway plans to assume the first mortgage secured by the property, which has a current outstanding bal-ance of $14.5 million with a fixed inter-est rate of 5.8%. It is scheduled to ma-ture in 2015.

The purchase is scheduled to close sometime in the fourth quarter as long as the lender agrees to the loan as-sumption.

If the transaction closes the build-ing will be acquired through Parkway Properties Office Fund II LP.

Parkway Properties is a self-admin-istered real estate investment trust that owns or has an interest in 39 of-fice properties in nine states with an aggregate of 10.3 million square feet of leasable space as of Aug. 8. It currently owns 788,000 square feet in the Tampa Bay area and manages an additional 1.3 million square feet of commercial space.

Parkway Properties plans purchaseof Westshore Corporate Center

CoStar600 N. Westshore, Tampa

Concourse Center in Westshore


BUYER: RSII Properties Inc. (principal: Yaoyu Chien), Fort MyersSELLER: Swauck Co. LLCPROPERTY: 7557 S. Tamiami Trail and additional 0.99 acres, residential single-family land on a por-tion of Kai Drive, SarasotaPRICE: $7.4 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $10.47 million, April 2006LAW FIRM ON DEED: Kutak Rock LLP, Omaha, Neb.

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Fort Myers-based Robb & Stucky International purchased the two-story Bacon’s Furniture building on U.S. 41 for $7.4 million.

The price equated to $111 per square foot. The 66,856-square-foot building is very

familiar territory for the Robb & Stucky brand. For most of the past decade, the building held the upscale furniture retailer,

until Robb & Stucky’s Chapter 11 bankrupt-cy in early 2011 and eventual liquidation auction. In late June 2011, Port Charlotte-based Bacon’s Furniture started leasing the building to consolidate two smaller stores it owned on Tamiami Trail.

Steve Lush, president of the new owner of the Robb & Stucky brand, Robb & Stucky International, confirmed the purchase, but declined to comment on the company’s fu-ture plans.

This purchase isn’t the first time Robb & Stucky International has taken steps to re-claim former Robb & Stucky locations. The new company’s first store location was the former Robb & Stucky retail building in Fort Myers. It plans to open a 60,000-square-foot newly built store in Naples early next year.

DEEDS/MORTGAGESThe 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.

CHARLOTTE COUNTYNone

COLLIER COUNTYFTC Naples LLC sold to Southern Holdings 3 LLC,

$49,923,000, office, 999 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Naples, 4745216.

Larus Properties LLC sold to Production Avenue Properties LLC, $1,075,000, warehouse or dis-tribution terminal, 3511 Plover Ave. in White Lake Corporate Park, 4745382.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTYPC Retail LLC sold to Excel Pavilion Crossing LLC,

$13,061,361.26, community shopping center, 3799 S. U.S. Highway 301, 2012352133.

Linda Schalck and Mallory Italiano Dillion as co-personal representative of the Estate of Anthony S. Italiano Sr. deceased, Anthony S. Italiano Sr. 1990 Revocable Trust, Anthony Cos. LLC, Anthony Distributors Inc. and Caesar Street LLC sold to Crestline Acquisitions Group LLC, $9,500,000, vacant commercial, 1.13 acres, 200 S. Caesar St., 0.86 acres, 302 S. Caesar Ave., 1.06 acres, 502 S. Caesar St., 0.12 acres, 536 Channelside Drive, 0.12 acres, 544 Channelside Drive, 0.12 acres, 546 Channelside Drive, and park-ing lot, 1.55 acre, 1005 Cumberland Ave., Tampa, 2012338739.

Woolbright Bloomingdale LLC sold to LSREF2 Gator LLC, $7,752,961.30, community shopping center, 121 E. Bloomingdale Ave., Brandon and vacant commercial land, 2012351609.

Haire Properties LLP and Mary Haire sold to Ferman Premier Finance LLC, $3,000,000, Mortgage: $5,220,888.30, SunTrust Bank, auto dealership, 11001 N. Florida Ave., Tampa, 2012349317.

A. Richard and Susan Nernberg sold to 5537 Sheldon LLC, $2,950,000, Mortgage: $1,800,000, Branch Banking & Trust Co., strip center, 5537 Sheldon Road, Tampa, 2012342205.

Cardel Homes US Limited Partnership sold to Meritage Homes of Florida Inc., $2,850,600, various lots, Basset Creek Estates, 2012337592.

Sutherlin Limited Liability Co. sold to Ferman Premier Finance LLC, $2,800,000, Mortgage: $2,822,513, SunTrust Bank, auto dealership, 302 W. Fletcher Ave., Tampa, 2012349337.

Grandview Mobile Home Park also known as Grandview Mobile Home Park LLP sold to Grandview Family Communities LLC, $2,400,000, Mortgage: $2,600,000, Glenn Pearson, mobile-home park, 16.8 acres, 5220 579th Highway, Seffner, 2012337031.

Everbank sold to Riverview Lakes Investments LLC, $2,231,000, single-family residential, 10201 S. U.S. 301 and plant nursery, 10323 S. U.S. 301,

Riverview and pasture land, 2012345678.

Taipan Raintree LLC sold to Prospect Tampa Townhomes LLC, $2,075,000, lots 1-74 and 76, 78 and 79, Raintree Townhomes, 2012342116.

Kenneth Lane Jr. as trustee of the Kenneth E. Lane Revocable Trust sold to 2700 MLK LLC, $1,798,912.61, Mortgage: $2,100,000, Symetra Life Insurance Co., multi-story office, 2700 W. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Tampa, 2012345284.

EV Causeway LLC sold to Wawa Inc., $1,595,000, lot 1, Causeway Commons, 2012347073.

Summerfra LLC sold to Cab & F3 Corp., $1,250,000, vacant commercial, 0.79 acres, on Summerlin Square Drive west of S. U.S. 301, 2012352007.

Randall Walter as successor trustee of the Barbara J. Walter Revocable Living Trust sold to Gulf Coast Chemical Corp., $1,200,000, Mortgage: $1,080,000, The Bank of Tampa, warehouse, 101 Wayne Place, Tampa, 2012349154.

Church of Scientology of Tampa Inc. sold to HCTA Professional Learning Center Inc., $1,200,000, churches, 3102 N. Habana Ave. and 2902 W. Aileen & Habana St., Tampa, 2012345609.

Monument Leasing Corp. sold to 7902 Anderson Road Crossing LLC, $1,065,000, warehouse, 7902 Anderson Road, Tampa, 2012348216.

KREA LLC sold to ARC KLPLCF001 LLC, $1,025,000, vacant commercial, 2615 James L. Redman Parkway, Plant City, 2012351345.

LEE COUNTYS&S Holdings of Southwest Florida LLC sold to

Odin Estates LLC, $8,300,000, grazing land, 14.64 acres, 12320 Old Rodeo Drive, and single-family residential, 5.67 acres, 12350 Old Rodeo Drive, Alva, 2012000208045.

Diamond Senior Living I LLC sold to Decathlon RE Heritage Park LLC, $6,005,603, Mortgage: $81,525,000, General Electric Capital Corp., Heritage Park Rehabilitation and Healthcare, 2826 Cleveland Ave., Fort Myers, 2012000218688.

MC Investment Properties LLC sold to American Residential Leasing Co. LLC, $5,607,000, various lots in SEC 33-44S-26E, Lehigh Acres, 2012000214221.

SLV Reflection Isles LLC sold to Lennar Homes LLC, $4,723,000, lots 36-39, 92-95, 98-101, 144, 187, 216-218, 220-231, 233, 239, 248, 251-254, 272, 273, 321-324, 326-330, 337, 370-381, 384-389, 393, 395, 397, 401, 402, 404-423 and 536-547 Reflection Isles, 2012000212480.

Hanson Hardscape Products LLC sold to Oldcastle APG South Inc., $3,900,000, light manufac-turing, 421 Leonard Blvd. N., Lehigh Acres, 2012000215118.

ACF 9-A Reflection Isles LLC sold to Lennar Homes LLC, $3,600,000, lots 434-535 and 548-612 Reflection Isles, 2012000210106.

BJR & FJR LLC sold to RW Alico Venture LLC, $3,395,000, Mortgage: $2,750,000, Montgomery Bank, vacant industrial, 16171 Lee Road, orna-mentals and miscellaneous agricultural, 16151 Lee Road, office 16121 Lee Road, units 107-111, Fort Myers, also known as lots 65 and 66, Formosa 129 Industrial Park and units 107-111, building 1, Alico Road Business Park industrial condominium, 2012000215566.

SunTrust Bank sold to Hanover Holdings Ltd., $3,200,000, Mortgage: $2,112,500, First National

Bank of the Gulf Coast, warehouse or distribution terminals, 14150 N. Cleveland Ave., North Fort Myers, 2012000208207.

SCB Holdings of Southwest Florida LLC sold to Odin Estates LLC, $3,200,000, grazing land, 106.76 acres, 12250 N. River Road, Alva, 2012000208038.

Yorktown Funding Inc., Chapter 11 debtor in bankruptcy case, sold to IAFM LLC, $2,244,000, vacant residential land, various lots, Lehigh Acres, 2012000213028.

Alico-Agri Ltd. sold to Alico East Fund LLC, $2,100,000, acreage not agricultural, 546.85 acres, 13501 Corkscrew Road, Estero and 552.12 acres, 12030 Alico Road, 613.81 acres, 13500 Alico Road and 692.72, 558.42 and 652.09 acre parcels with no address, Fort Myers, 2012000217086.

Cannon 5150 LLC sold to Seven West LLC, $2,090,500, auto sales or repair, 2265 Colonial Blvd., Fort Myers, 2012000209963.

Cypress Bend SWP LLC sold to WCI Communities LLC, $1,995,000, lots 6-16, 22-26 and 30-32 (Cypress Bend) Shadow Wood Preserve unit 10, 2012000210363.

CVS LLC sold to Feldhall LLC, $1,890,000, Mortgage: $1,512,000, Finemark National Bank & Trust, store, 14970 Captiva Drive, Captiva, 2012000218353.

Woodsedge Plaza 163 LLC sold to Gulf Coast Plaza LLC, $1,150,000, community shopping center, 28701 Trails Edge Blvd., Bonita Springs, 2012000217959.

MANATEE COUNTYHealth Care REIT Inc. sold to SNF Real Estate

Investors LLC dba SNF Real Estate Investors LLC, $9,160,000, Mortgage: $16,940,000, SunTrust Bank, sanitary convalescent homes, 8104 Tuttle Ave., Sarasota, 02439-0097.

SMR North 70 LLC sold to Lennar Homes LLC, $6,600,000, orchard grove or citrus land, 150.78 acres, 4810 Lorraine Road and 5895 Pope Road, Bradenton,

PASCO COUNTYCBH Properties Tampa I LLC sold to Henmi

Apartments Inc., $2,350,000, vacant commer-cial, in SEC 29-26S-19E also known as a portion of lots 1 and 2 Terra Bella Commercial Addition, 8758-1107.

PINELLAS COUNTYNone

SARASOTA COUNTYLT Ranch nka LT Partners LLLP sold to All

Saints Catholic Cemetery Inc., $2,896,700, open-use estate, 8990 State Road 72, Sarasota, 2012125350.

H&P Realty Group LLC sold to Bethkom Holdings LLC, $1,150,000, Mortgage: $950,000, Hancock Bank, downtown core, 1517 State St., Sarasota, 2012126873.

W. Howard Rooks sold to Jonross Inc., $1,000,000, real estate, 7093 and 7095 Manasota Key Road and a portion of Manasota Key Road, Englewood, 2012126762.74

955

Carl Lindell Jr., founder of LIN-DELL CAPITAL, LLC, has an-nounced the expansion of its loan portfolio to include a local entre-preneur with 51 rental homes and another with a fully leased medical center in Brandon.

Lindell said “The demand for a lender with over 40 years of lo-cal business experience continues to increase and presents us with unique lending opportunities.” “With our longtime presence in the Tampa Bay area, Lindell Capital has become a natural addition to the Lindell Family group of com-panies, which include Lindell In-vestments and Lindell Properties.”

Dennis Slater, Executive Vice President and CFO for Lindell, said “We expect continued economic growth in the Southwest Florida area. There is increasing opportu-nity to restart local area projects, creating an affordable end use, in both the commercial and residen-tial markets.”

“These two new loan requests were presented to us by local busi-ness entrepreneurs, with a sound business plan and a history of suc-cess, but were unable to secure traditional credit facilities. We ap-proved and funded the loans within thirty days.”

Slater added, “Our ability to close loans is attracting many local business owners, their CPAs and Advisors, with solid acquisition and business plans for review.”

Lindell ended his announce-ment with the simple statement, “If the request makes good business sense, we’ll consider the loan.”

Lindell Capital Increases Lending

PortfolioWith loans on Rental Homes and Brandon

Medical Center

LINDELL CAPITALEmail requests to:

[email protected]

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COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Transactions

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SARASOTA-MANATEE by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Robb & Stucky International buys Bacon’s building

CoStar7557 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota


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Phoenix REIT Cole Trust II buys new Sarasota Trader Joe’s buildingBUYER: Cole TR Sarasota FL LLC, PhoenixSELLER: CAP Sarasota LLCPROPERTY: 4101 S. Tamiami Trail, SarasotaPRICE: $7.23 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $3.95 million, February 2012LAW FIRM ON DEED: Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP, Greenville, S.C.

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: A trust of Cole Real Estate Investments has purchased the newly opened Trader Joe’s store building for $7.23 million.

The price equated to $411 per square foot.Earlier this year Centennial American

Properties purchased the former Rooms To Go retail store and renovated it to house the California specialty grocer.

The building and property was purchased by the real estate investment firm’s Cole Credit Property Trust III.

While the purchase is Cole’s first Trader Joe’s in Florida, it purchased another Trader Joe’s in Lexington, Ky., in July.

Cole says its commercial retail real es-tate investment strategy focuses primarily on owning single-tenant retail properties, leased long term to well-known, industry-leading tenants.

Cole is a sponsor of REITs designed to appeal to individual investors. At the end of August, its entities owned and managed more than 1,925 properties in 47 states.

Cocca Developmentbuys Mall Drive strip centerBUYER: Cocca Development Ltd., Youngstown, OhioSELLER: Michael and Marjorie CohnPROPERTY: 2635 Mall Drive, SarasotaPRICE: $825,000PREVIOUS PRICE: $395,000, February 1983TITLE FIRM ON DEED: Stewart Title Guaranty Co., Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Cocca Development Ltd. purchased a 9,600-square-foot retail strip center for $825,000.

The price equated to $86 per square foot.The center, which occupies a

21,601-square-foot site, currently houses Daisy’s Dancewear, Gourmet Pavilion, Heavenly Ham, French Affair and Hurri-cane Mike’s.

Barry Seidel of American Property Group of Sarasota Inc. handled the transaction.

“There was one vacant store left in case a user wanted to buy the building,” he says. “The price was very attractive for the buyer. When you add in the vacant store you’re probably looking at an 11% [purchase price payoff ratio based on income] cap. The guy that owned it wanted to retire. They were a cash buyer.”

Seidel was particularly familiar with the Ohio-based buyer. A company he owns sold Cocca Development its first Sarasota prop-erty, a 1,250-square-foot office building at 7330 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota in March for $152,500.

Cocca Development is a real estate devel-opment and management company. It also does build-to-suite commercial construc-tion through its affiliated construction com-pany V & R Construction. According to its website it has properties in 19 states. Calls to the company for comment were not re-turned prior to deadline.

CoStar2635-2647 Mall Drive, Sarasota

Medallion Homebuys Forest Glen landBUYER: B Squared LLC (principal: Carlos Beruff), BradentonSELLER: Whitney BankPROPERTY: 46900 State Road 64, Myakka CityPRICE: $900,000TITLE FIRM ON DEED: Sun Coast Title Co. LLC, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Bradenton-based Medallion Home purchased the 533.03-acre Forest Glen land for $900,000.

The price equated to $1,688 per acre.The property, located on the south side

of State Road 64 near the Hardee County line, included no residential entitlements and had no access to public sewer or water service. However, a portion of the property could be used for a fill dirt mine.

“This was a fantastic opportunity for something we could develop a long time down the road,” Pete Logan, vice president of Medallion Home, says. “Today it doesn’t mean a lot, but if the development economy and markets pick back up there will be a de-mand for fill. We may be able to use it our-selves at some point. It’s definitely a long-term play.”

Bill Eshenbaugh of Eshenbaugh Land Co. and Coldwell Banker Commercial, Saun-ders Real Estate of Lakeland handled the transaction.

Medallion Home recently acquired another 94 acres in Parrish known as Wildcat Preserve in a foreclosure auction for $800,100. The property, located at the northeast corner of Fort Hamer and Golf Course roads, will likely be de-veloped as a residential community sometime in the next several years based on demand.

The purchase entity B Squared LLC mortgaged the property to Ranch Mortgage LLC for $900,000.

— additional reporting by Pam Eubanks, correspondent

Life Care Centers of America buys senior health care facilityBUYER: SNF Real Estate Investors LLC dba SNF Real Estate Investors LLC (Life Care Centers of America Inc.), ClevelandSELLER: Health Care REIT Inc.PROPERTY: 8104 Tuttle Ave., SarasotaPRICE: $9.16 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $560,000, February 1999LAW FIRM ON DEED: Shuemaker Loop & Kendrick LLP, Toledo, Ohio

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Life Care Centers of America purchased the 58,250-square-foot Life Care Center of Sarasota facility an 8.59-acre property for $9.16 million.

The price equated to $157 per square foot.

Life Care Centers of America has been leasing and operating the center since it was initially constructed in May 2000. According to Leigh Atherton, director of public relations for Life Care Centers of America, the Life Care Center of Sarasota has been a good property for the senior-housing operator.

The facility provides both long-term and post-acute nursing care and rehabilitation services, including stroke and orthopedic rehab, a variety of therapies and wound management. The senior health care facil-ity also features a beauty/barber salon, gift shop, library, private dinning room and ice cream parlor.

Life Care operates more than 200 skilled nursing homes, assisted living, retirement, home care and Alzheimer’s centers in 28 states. Along the Gulf Coast, it also oper-ates Life Care centers in Estero, New Port Richey and Punta Gorda.

The purchase entity SNF Real Estate In-vestors LLC dba SNF Real Estate Investors LLC mortgaged the property to SunTrust Bank for $16.94 million.

Etc…• Absolute Window & Shutter Inc.

leased 2,167 square feet of office space

at 171 Center Road, Venice from Cox Family Ltd Partnership. Janet Lincoln and Janet Robinson of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT handled the transac-

tion.• Aslam, Brimm & Associates LLC

leased 3,000 square feet of office space at 151 Center Road, Venice from Cox

Family Ltd Partnership. Janet Lincoln and Janet Robinson of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT handled the transac-tion.


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COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LEE-COLLIER-CHARLOTTE by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Sarasota firms buy 72 Oasis Tower units

Oasis Towers

BUYER: Domus Group II LLC (Gravitas LLC and AR Group Investments II LLC), SarasotaSELLER: Oasis Associates LLCPROPERTY: 3000 Oasis Grand Blvd., units 402, 406, 407, 502, 503, 605, 705, 905, 1003, 1105, 1205, 1402, 1406, 1603, 1605, 1606, 1703, 1802, 1902, 1905, 2002, 2005, 2102, 2105, 2202, 2203, 2303, 2302, 2305, 2402, 2403, 2405, 2502, 2503, 2505, 2602, 2605, 2606, 2702, 2703, 2705, 2802-2806, 2903-2906, 3003-2007, lower penthouses 2-7, middle penthouse 2-7 and upper penthouses 3 and 5-7, Fort MyersPRICE: $10.66 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $12 million, December 2004 (includes additional property)LAW FIRM ON DEED: Greenberg Traurig PA, Miami

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Floridays Develop-ment Co. and the investor group Gravitas LLC purchased 72 condominium units in Oasis Tower I for $10.66 million.

The price equated to $148,107 per unit.Miami’s The Related Group completed

the 17-acre, two-tower high-rise condomini-um project The Oasis during the residential crash. The 32-story Oasis Tower I in down-town Fort Myers features a total of 200 con-dominiums.

The two Sarasota companies purchased the remaining unsold inventory of condos, which included 16 penthouse units.

“Our modus operandi is to make oppor-tunistic acquisitions,” says Angus Rogers, principal and founder of Floridays Develop-ment. “Over the last year or so this [proper-ty] has a good sales history that’s very com-pelling. The nice thing is for the amount of money we spent to buy these [condomini-ums] is literally half of what it would cost to build them. Fortunately, the original de-veloper that was involved in the project did a wonderful job and there aren’t the kind of issues that have haunted other projects.”

The new owners plan to gradually put

the units back up for sale based on market demand. Market America Realty and In-vestment Group of Fort Myers has been hired to handle marketing the units.

The business model is nearly identical to a project the partners are working on at the 5300 Lofts development in Atlanta. The Sarasota firms purchased 130 of the devel-opment’s 242 total units. They have sold off 124 of those units in 15 months, according to Rogers.

The joint purchase entity, Domus Group II LLC mortgaged the 72 Oasis units to Sea-side National Bank & Trust for $6 million and to the Randall A. Bono Revocable Liv-ing Trust for $5 million.

National Real Estate Solutionbuys Franklin Arms buildingsBUYER: NRES Franklin Arms Building LLC (princi-pal: Steven Puthuff), Saratoga, Calif.SELLER: FCB Franklin Arms LLCPROPERTY: 2310-2320 First Street, Fort MyersPRICE: $3.25 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $3.93 million, October 2004LAW FIRM ON DEED: Holland & Knight LLP, Miami

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: California’s National Real Estate Solution LLC purchased the two-building Franklin Arms property and a small vacant parcel for $3.25 million.

The price equated to $97 per square foot.The property features a three-story,

13,201-square-foot office building and an attached seven-story, 22-unit apartment building. The historic buildings were built in 1915 and more recently renovated in 2000 and 2002.

All but one of the apartment units was leased, according to Dan Lyons, vice presi-dent of sales and marketing for National Real Estate Solution, and most of the com-mercial space is rented. The main commer-


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cial tenants are the law firms of Phelan Hal-linan PLC and Roetzel & Andress.

“Part of our decision was the proposed new convention center,” Lyons says. “With the pier and all the work the city is doing in that area, we really feel like that is an area on its way up. What [the city] has in mind for the next five years is phenomenal.”

The property was purchased from an af-filiate of Florida Community Bank NA, which foreclosed on the buildings in June.

The new owner has hired David Malt of Malt Realty & Development to market the vacant commercial space. National Real Es-tate Solution also plans to improve the exte-rior of the buildings and gradually upgrade both the residential and commercial units.

The purchase entity NRES Franklin Arms Building LLC mortgaged the prop-erty to BRT RLOC LLC for two loans total-ing $2.65 million.

National Real Estate Solution already owns Fort Myers real estate at 5648-5650 Sixth Ave., 5502-5504 10th Ave., 5423-5425 Ninth Ave., 1729-1731 Maple Drive, 5635-5637 10th Ave., 5530-5532 Fifth Ave. and 5631-5633 10th Ave.

Commercial buildings, two homespurchased by Canadian investors BUYER: Summer Daze LP (Lance King and Sue Connelly-King), Peterborough, OntarioSELLER: Liberty Bank FSBPROPERTY: 1172-1174 and 1188-1190 Estero Blvd. and 221 and 231 Canal St., Fort Myers BeachPRICE: $1.25 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $2.6 million, $700,700 and $515,000, July 2005 and $500,000, October 2001ATTORNEY ON DEED: Charles R. Meador Jr., Fort Myers Beach

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Part-time Fort My-ers Beach residents Lance King and Sue Connelly-King purchased two commercial buildings on Estero Boulevard and two sin-gle-family homes on Canal Street for $1.25 million.

The price equated to $251 per square foot for just the commercial space.

The larger of the commercial buildings is 2,932 square foot and houses The Cigar Hut, Island Sol and an art gallery. The sec-ond commercial building is 2,040 square feet and contains Chillers, a restaurant and ice cream shop, and a gift shop store. The residential homes are currently vacant.

Paula Kiker of Lahaina Realty represent-ed the seller and Bob Beasley of RWB Real Estate Inc. represented the buyers.

“The only changes are going to be that they clean up the properties so they are looking good again,” Beasley says. “The two residential cottages need to be rehabbed and then they are going to put them back on the rental market. The commercial build-ings are just going to be fixed up; all the same tenants are going to remain in place.”

The Canadian investors liked the imme-diate income and the potential for future development based on the downtown com-mercial zoning, according to Beasley.

Broadway Medical Plazabought by local investorBUYER: Royal T Properties LLC (Donald Hatfield), Cape CoralSELLER: Broadway Plaza I LLC

PROPERTY: 3900 Broadway, Fort MyersPRICE: $900,000PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.59 million, February 1989TITLE AGENCY ON DEED: Wilkinson Title Agency Inc., Fort Myers

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Cape Coral real estate investor Donald Hatfield purchased the four-building Broadway Medical Plaza property for $900,000.

The price equated to $31 per square foot.The property is less than two miles from

both Lee Memorial Hospital and Hope Hospice.

The single-story buildings feature a total of 29,349 square feet of rentable space. The most notable tenants are Region Medical Center, Dr. Crandall and Associates and Fort Myers Women’s Health Center Inc.

The plaza was 70% occupied at the time of the sale. Those vacancies cover a 1,240-square-foot dental office space and a 8,050-square-foot space that could be sub-divided.

The purchase price equated to a payoff ra-tio based on current income (capitalization rate) of 11%.

Jim Tamblyn of Colliers International Florida represented the buyer and is mar-keting the vacant tenant space.

“The property did have some deferred maintenance, but it’s mainly cosmetic,” Tamblyn says. “It needs some landscaping work and for the buyer to scrape and reseal the parking lot. It also needs some roof-ing work. The buyer plans to spruce up the property.”

Etc…• Trader Tots leased 3,120 square feet

of retail space in Central Cape Business Park at 1480-1490 N.E. Pine Island Road, Cape Coral from JPMCC 2006- LDP6 Central Cape Office LLC. Bill Mankin of Colliers International Southwest Florida handled the transaction.

• FLGCENT 2180 Immokalee LLC purchased a 4,338-square-foot office con-dominium at 2180 Immokalee Road, Na-ples from Sanibel Captiva Community Bank for $615,000. Michael O’Mara of LandQwest Commercial represented the seller.

• Durable Ventures LLC purchased a 6,072-square-foot building at 11270 Palm Beach Blvd., Fort Myers from Florida Community Bank for $265,000. Jes-sica Nolan of Re/Max Realty Group rep-resented the seller and Boots Weathers of Weathers Real Estate represented the buyer.

• Palmetto Cape Coral-Skyline LLC purchased an acre commercial parcel on Skyline Boulevard at the intersection with Trafalgar Boulevard for $385,000. The buyer plans to build a 9,200-square-foot Dollar General store on the site. Hal Ar-kin of the Frye Commercial Team at Re/Max Realty Group of Fort Myers handled the transaction.

• Blandford Enterprises Inc. leased 4,674 square feet of retail space in Wig-gins Pass Crossings at 13510 Tamiami Trail N., Naples from Heritage Square Real Estate LLC. Bill Young and Biagio Bernardo of CRE Consultants handled the transaction.

BUYER: Mustique of Olde Naples LLC (princi-pals: Jordan Saper and Joe Belz), NaplesSELLER: Villas Encorvada LLCPROPERTY: 501, 515 and 555 Fourth Ave. S. and 361 Fifth St. S., NaplesPRICE: $2.4 millionPREVIOUS PRICE: $875,000, June 2005 and $1.31 million and $600,000, April 2005LAW FIRM ON DEED: Cheffy Passidomo, Naples

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: An investor group headed up by Jordan Saper and Joe Belz purchased four parcels total-ing a little over half an acre on Fourth Avenue and Fifth Street for $2.4 mil-lion.

The property features a collec-tion of small homes and a multifam-ily buildings that the new owners plan to demolish. Saper with Greenwich, Conn.-based debt and equity real es-tate financing firm PILOT Real Estate Group LLC and Belz, a Realtor broker associate with Downing-Frye Realty Inc. are the managers heading up the development of a cottage community on the site called Mustique of Olde Na-

ples. Designed by MHK Architecture and Planning, Emerge Design LLC, the project envisions a total of four multimillion dollar homes on site.

“We’re getting ready to do the de-molition there so we can start on the first two homes in the next two to four weeks,” Belz says. “Location-wise we’re a block off Fifth and five blocks to the beach. It’s a spectacular location.”

Clive Daniel Home has been hired to handle the interior selections and furnishings for one of the two spec buildings and eMERGE Design LLC is the landscape architectural firm. Naples-based custom homebuilder Waterside Builders will construct all of the buildings. As currently planned, one of two homes will feature a four-bedroom/4.5-bathroom floor plan and a second will be a three-bedroom/3.5-bathroom home with a den.

Construction on the first two homes is expected to take eight to 10 months.

The Belz Sells team with Downing-Frye Realty will be selling and market-ing the community.

Realtor, PILOT Real Estate execsbuy land for Mustique of Olde Naples

Mustique of Olde Naples rendering


Michael Thiel, CEO of Tampa-based IC Intracom, announced a restructuring in the consumer electronics company’s leader-ship, naming Don Barry to the newly cre-ated position of president.

According to the company, Barry is be-ing tasked with evolv-ing IC Intracom, as well as its Manhat-tan and Intellinet Network Solutions brands, to better meet the quick changing technology market-place.

Barry’s experience included sales and sales management posi-tions at SC Johnson Wax, 16 years at 3M in a variety of positions of increasing respon-sibility, including brand director and global key accounts director and managing direc-tor of 3M Consumer and Office Europe. In 2005, he became the senior vice president of sales, marketing and international business for Dorman Products, a supplier of auto-motive aftermarket replacement parts and hardware. In 2008, he was tapped to turn around OttLight Technologies, a private equity-backed consumer lighting company.

“IC Intracom has achieved a great deal during its 25 years in business, but the own-ers feel the company is capable of much more,” Barry says in a press release. I com-pletely agree; and as such my job will be to build upon the company’s achievements and help take things to the next level.”

Lazydays promotes CFOto interim CEO

Seffner-based Lazy Days RV Center Inc.’s chief financial officer Randy Lay has been promoted to interim CEO, succeeding John Horton. The firm’s board of directors has started a search for a permanent CEO.

Lay has been chief financial officer of Lazy Days RV Center since September 2007. The management firm credits him with handling a financial restructuring of the company. In addition to his financial responsibilities, he is responsible for managing Lazydays’ retail finance and insurance operations, human resources and purchasing functions.

He has held senior-level operating and financial positions throughout his 30-year career, including serving as the president and CEO of telecommunications services provider Universal Access Global Hold-ings and senior positions with Internation-al Specialty Products, United Technolo-gies and the Xerox Corp.

Valet Waste plans purchase of similar Texas company

Tampa-based doorstep waste and re-cycling collection company Valet Waste has announced plans to acquire Addison, Texas-based Zodiac Valet Trash. Upon completion of the transaction, the resulting Valet Waste is expected to be the first truly nationwide provider of doorstep trash col-lection.

“The combination presents a significant opportunity to jointly bring our products, services and geographic coverage to the next level,” Campbell Kerr, CEO of Zodiac Valet Trash, says in a press release. “Together, we will be a more attractive and exciting com-pany for our employees, and a more impact-ful partner for our customers.”

Seven Seas Water Corp.hires Air Products VP as CEO

Tampa water treatment services compa-ny Seven Seas Water Corp. hired Robert Dixon as the company’s CEO.

Most recently, Dixon was the senior vice president and general manager of the $4 billion merchant gases segment for Air Products and Chemicals Inc. and a mem-

ber of the corporate executive committee. He also managed all of Air Products’ major joint ventures around the world, represent-ing more than $2 billion in revenues.

He was previously president of Air Prod-ucts Asia, based in Singapore, where he was responsible for Air Products’ business throughout the Asian region.

“Bob was our lead-ing candidate because of his proven ability to lead top performing teams, his strong op-erational skills and his

financial acumen,” Douglas Brown, Seven Seas Water’s chairman, says in a press re-lease. “He has developed global and regional strategies for a multi-billion dollar organiza-tion and has invested in the operational ex-pertise required to successfully implement those strategies.”

Dixon succeeds Brown, who has been CEO since 2007, and will remain chairman on the board of directors.

Two condo association law firms join forces for Goede, Adamczyk & DeBoest

Attorneys John Goede, Mark Adamc-zyk and Richard DeBoest, II have com-bined their practices to create the new com-munity association focused law firm Goede, Adamczyk & DeBoest PLLC. DeBoest is co-founder and partner of the Fort Myers-based Condo & HOA Law Group PLLC and Goede and Adamczyk are co-founders and partners of Goede & Adamczyk of Na-ples and Miami.

Since 1963, DeBoest’s Condo & HOA Law Group PLLC has provided legal ser-vices to condominium and homeowner as-sociations. His father, Richard D. DeBoest Sr., drafted the first Declaration of Condo-

minium ever filed in Southwest Florida. The firm continues to represent some of the very earliest condominium associa-tions.

Goede & Adamczyk, PLLC also has a concentrated focus on condominium and homeowner association law. It repre-sents hundreds of community associations throughout the sate.

“By combining our legal staff in the new firm, we can enhance client service, adding Goede & Adamczyk’s real estate law, litiga-tion, estate planning and business law ex-pertise,” Goede says in a press release.

The legal teams will continue to work with their existing clients.

The new firm will operate from offices in Naples, Fort Myers and Miami.

McClain’s Old Florida Gourmetbuys Citra Products of Florida

Sarasota-based distributor McClain’s Old Florida Gourmet purchased the as-sets, product rights and intellectual prop-erty of Winter Haven-based Citra Products of Florida. The acquisition follows a distri-bution partnership McClain’s Old Florida Gourmet signed with Nancy “Nan” Nor-man, president of Citra Products in 2010.

Terms of the deal were not released.Citra’s first products were invented in

the early 1900s by Norman’s grandfather Charles Schiller, who was a citrus grower. After research and experimentation, the first Citra fruit gadget was created with the goal of making it easier to eat oranges and grapefruit. The Citra Sipper was taken to the 1933-1934 World’s Fair in Chicago and more than 50,000 were sold in Florida pri-or to World War II.

Citra products now include the Citra Sip-per, peeler knife, fruit spoon, sqeeter, Mr. Skinner and many more. The products are sold in many Florida grove stores, Lego-Land, fresh fruit markets and a number of other Florida locations.

McClain’s says it plans to maintain the “iconic integrity” of Citra and keep produc-tion of products in the United States. It also plans to expand distribution of the products throughout the country, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Citra Products of Florida’s products will continue to be produced from a facility in Tennessee.

IC Intracom management hires former 3M exec as president

CORPORATE REPORT by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Don Barry Robert Dixon

INDUSTRY UPDATE by Jim Jett | Contributor

Members of the Collier County Lodging and Tourism Alliance host-ed Jim Gibson, director of market-ing for the Seminole Casino in Im-mokalee, Sept. 26 in Naples. Gibson discussed the casino’s increased emphasis on hosting events such as hot-air ballooning and barbecue festivals to attract more people to the area.

Darren Robertshaw, vice president at Trianon Hotels, and James Gibson, director of marketing at Seminole Casino.

Ray Spera, vice president of finance at Seminole Casino, and John Comeau, player development executive at Seminole Casino.

Kelly Capolino, Realtor at Keating Associates Real Estate Profession-als, and Judith Svetaka, marketing director at Florida Marina Club.

Stephen Dorcy, general manager at Inn at Pelican Bay, and Sam Saad III, city council member at city of Naples.

Jennifer Thomas, group sales man-ager at Seminole Casino, and Steve McIntire, general manager of the Park Shore Resort.

Brandy Ollie, co-owner at Go Platinum Transportation, and Randy Smith, CEO at Naples Transportation & Tours.

Rick Medwedeff, general manager at Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort, and Thomas White, general manager at Hawthorn Suites.


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