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For those of you used to reading the enews brief Monday mornings, I apologize for the delay. Between my family celebrating the 4th early and transitioning with our webmaster moving, we are a day late.
It seems like it was only a few weeks ago that I was writing here about the liberties and freedoms we have as Americans thanks to those who give their lives for us. Well, that was Memorial Day. This week we celebrate again - with the Fourth of July. While this holiday is more like a birthday celebration, it should still serve as a reminder that we are blessed to live in this country. With all our problems and issues, we are in a far better position than much of the rest of the world. Have a safe and happy Fourth of July.
But while we are in the midst of celebrating, let us not forget that we earn that freedom, and ability to live as well as we do, because of our own efforts. There remain many issues facing the building industry that require us to be vigilant. It was nice to see that the Alachua County Commission may not be as determined about impact fees as we once all believed. Commissioners may be hearing the growing outcry from residents who are feeling overtaxed. There will be more discussion and debate later this month and in August. This is far from the time to relax on this issue. There is still much educating that needs to be done. Please visit www.fairimpactfees.org for updates on this vital issue.
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www.BuildingEdgeMagazine.com
Our July issue featuring a cover story on Kara Sutton & Sutton Family Homes, goes online this week. Our National Feature is on Baths: Fixtures, faucets, home spas, hardware, tile and countertops. This issue is now in production and was our largest July issue ever. Again, the support shown from our advertisers and Kara Sutton's professional partners was amazing. Thank you to everyone involved for allowing us to keep expanding the size of the publication.
Sales are now closed on our August issue. The cover story is on Ocala's Adams Homes. The National feature is Curb Appeal: Entry doors, brick and siding, roofing, lighting, landscaping, paving.
Sales are open on the September issue is a feature on The Palms, an exciting new downtown Gainesville condominium development being brought to you by Mitch Glaeser and Greg Trunnell. For more information, please contact us at (352) 372-3958 in Gainesville, or (352) 368-1707 in Ocala.
Coming up in October is Tommy Waters Custom Homes, Inc.
Our Summer 2007 issue of Commercial Building Edge will be online this week. The cover feature is on Gray Construction Services. The National Feature is on Green Building. Sales will open next week on the Fall 2007 issue, which will include a cover feature on Ocala's Ausley Construction www.ausleyconstruction.com. The Winter issue will feature Trunnell Construction on the cover.
Sales for the new Home Magazine are open.
Home: Living in the Heart of Florida, a new magazine from Advantage Publishing is open for sales. Taking the experience we have gained from Building Edge and Commercial Building Edge, we are very excited about this new endeavor which will showcase the best of living in our community. Home: Living in the Heart of Florida will be a general circulation publication available to everyone in the community. The early feedback is beyond anything we could have expected. The website is currently under development. With a distribution of over 30,000 copies, this will be the largest magazine in North Central Florida. For more information, please contact us at (352) 372-5854. The new website should be up and running by July 15th. While there is nothing to view now, I encourage you to bookmark the link, as we aim to make this the number one website for the North Central Florida Community. It is www.LivingInTheHeartOfFlorida.com |
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Home Builder Brings Jobs to Area Residents
A company in Worthington Springs wants to build the quality right into its homes.
This sounds like a great idea in and of itself, but as a business that provides housing to all of the southeast, Progressive Building Systems could have been located anywhere in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana or the Carolinas. Instead, Archie Smith, president of Progressive, said he wanted to bring jobs to local residents.
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Milking the Cash Cow
In the middle of a lively exchange about impact fees during last week's Alachua County Commission meeting, Mike Bylerly spilled the beans. Responding to Lee Pinkoson's concerns that proposed impact fee increases are too excessive, Byerly retorted: "The point is that somebody's got to pay." Infrastructure improvements "have to be built," Byerly continued. "We're just changing who pays and how." Actually, that's not exactly true. It is true that new growth should pay for itself is a well-worn rallying cry among those, Byerly included, who think the higher the impact fees the better. But it is also true that new development is just about the only thing that has been paying its way around here for the past several years.
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Hot Downtown Gainesville Properties Spur Development
A wave of new development in downtown Gainesville is underway as highly-anticipated urban projects move ahead in the areas between the city's core and the University of Florida campus. Developers are putting the finishing touches on several condominium projects including Jackson Square and Regent's Park II. Crews are breaking ground on projects like The Palms while the student-oriented apartments of Jefferson 2nd Ave., which will be able to house about 900 people, are beginning to take shape nearby.
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Thousands of Vested Lots in Southwest Marion Challenge Future Water Supply
Burt Eno left Orange County four years ago to escape sprawl. The farms that surrounded his five-acre homestead were being developed, taking over the green space that attracted Eno to the area in the first place. He complained to elected officials about increased traffic, about the county blindly opening the floodgates to uncontrolled growth, about dwindling natural resources, including water. By then Eno had already retired as a University of Central Florida engineering professor. He moved northwest to the city of Dunnellon, population: less than 2,000. But now Eno sees he didn't do his homework. The same kind of development he hoped to escape was on southwest Marion County's doorstep and knocking - loudly.
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Gainesville OKs Ecological Rules on Some Land
Gainesville city commissioners on Monday approved stricter environmental regulations on several east Gainesville parcels and considered imposing similar restrictions on about 790 acres in west Gainesville. The regulations increase the distance buildings must be set back from environmental features such as wetlands.
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Despite Objections, Board OKs Marion County Transportation Plan
A less than enthusiastic Ocala/Marion County Transportation Planning Organization board has approved the annual update of its five-year transportation improvement plan. The board must approve the plan, which is taken directly from the Florida Department of Transportation's local plan, on an annual basis to receive federal and state funding for road projects, TPO Executive Director Greg Slay said.
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MCBA Calendar of Events
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BANCF Calendar of Events
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Alabamans challenge constitutionality of Save Our Homes
Just days before Florida voters passed the Save Our Homes property-tax cap in 1992, Supreme Court Justice Ben Overton warned that the measure might be unconstitutional.
Overton described a scenario in which owners of identical condominiums in the same building could face different tax bills simply because one had lived there longer. Now, nearly 15 years later, a debate about the constitutionality of Save Our Homes has emerged again.
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State Website Sheds Light on Homeowners Policies
State regulators unveiled a website last week that should allow homeowners to compare rates on home policies in all 67 Florida counties. "'This will empower consumers,"' Gov. Charlie Crist said at a news conference in Tallahassee to launch www.ShopandCompareRates.com. The governor said the website's rate comparisons will make "'transparent and abundantly clear"' the costs for similar policies from different insurers.
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Tax Reform May Help Home Prices
Property tax reform in Florida could be the key to turning around the housing sector. At least it will be a good start, say those involved in real estate. Hopes of a quick turnaround intensified last week, with the release of May single-family home and condominium sales data by the Florida Association of Realtors.
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Treasure Coast Builders Association to Teach Green
The Treasure Coast Builders Association has formed the Green Building Council to help educate its members. With consumers and businesses becoming better acquainted with green building, due to its increased exposure, it is important that local builders stay on top of the "green" changes in the industry.
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Citizens Property Insurance Sees Growth Spurt
The policy count for Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run insurer, surpassed 1.3 million in May, and it's taking on new policies at an even faster pace this month.
Citizens' growth was part of the discussion at its monthly board of governors meeting in Jacksonville last week. The company, which has become the largest insurer of homes, condos, apartments and mobile homes in Florida, is seeing its biggest growth outside the state's risky coastal regions.Citizens has 1,305,726 policies, a gain of 20,624 in May. Nearly half -- 620,302 -- are in Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties.
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Home Sellers Cook Up Juicier Carrots
When the going gets tough, the tough get ... desperate. Given the worst housing slump in nearly two decades, home builders and condo developers are now jumping to pay your property taxes, homeowners insurance and even college tuition as incentives to buy a new home or condo.
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Brooklyn Projects Could Get $24M in Incentives
The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission will consider an allotment of more than $24 million in city funds and tax rebates for two massive residential, office and retail projects in Brooklyn at its meeting today. Miles Development Partners and Hallmark Partners Inc. separately plan developments that would bring up to 1,050 residences, 167,000 square feet of retail space, and almost 250,000 square feet of office space to cleared land along Riverside Avenue near the Acosta Bridge. The developers plan to spend more than $290 million to complete them.
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SEBC Less Than Two Weeks Away
The south's largest building industry trade show gets underway in just two weeks. The 2007 SEBC is the "right move" for every member of the home building, construction and remodeling industry. If you haven't already made plans to attend the Southeast Building Conference, it's not too late. Slated for July 11-15, SEBC has something for every member of the construction industry.
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Governor Crist Vetoes Energy Bill
A $62 million energy bill that lawmakers called landmark legislation would not have gone far enough to wean the state off fossil fuels and reduce global warming, Gov. Charlie Crist said in vetoing the bill last week. For the building industry, the bill would have enhanced energy conservation efforts within residential construction. The Florida Home Builders Association supported the passage of the energy bill, but only after negative industry-related language was removed. Even though the bill was vetoed, Florida's construction industry continues moving forward with enhanced energy efficiency efforts.
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Paulson: Housing Slump Likely Near End
The major slump in the housing market is nearing an end and should not have a significant impact on the overall economy, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said last week. We have had a major housing correction in this country," Paulson said in an interview with a small group of reporters at the Treasury Department. "I do believe we are at or near the bottom."
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Mortgage Rates Back Off Again
Mortgage rates eased slightly for the second week in a row after taking their biggest jump in four years two weeks ago, Freddie Mac said late last week. The government-sponsored loan buyer said the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan slipped to 6.67 percent for the week ending June 28, from 6.69 percent the previous week.
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Green Homes Could Find Niche in Down Market
Will green homes perk up the punch-drunk U.S. housing market? When there are more than 4-million unsold houses, builders and sellers cut prices or add value. Green homes that offer energy efficiency and power production follow the value path.
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Kitchen Face-lifts for the Frugal
You're longing to replace those dark oak cabinets, avocado appliances and worn countertops in your kitchen. But the $50,000 to $100,000 price of a high-end renovation and the thought of living on kung pao for three months during construction make you queasy. Plus, in today's buyer's market, a full-scale renovation doesn't return what it used to: in 2006, home sellers got only 80 percent of their kitchen remodeling costs back, according to the National Association of Realtors, down from 91 percent in 2005.
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Realtors Get Creative After the Boom
At the height of the real estate boom, phone calls flooded agencies, multiple offers came in for a single house, and agents closed deals at a frenzied pace. Selling real estate seemed like easy money. Not any more. The cooling of the market has changed the dynamic for the people closing the deals. Rookie agents -- many who jumped in only to make a quick buck -- have left for more alluring ventures. Agencies have cut back on spending or even closed offices. Those agents and agencies sticking out the slowing market have had to rethink how they sell their properties -- and themselves.
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Foundation Celebrates Banner Year
Thanks to the generous support of Florida Home Builders Foundation Million Dollar Founders, the Future Builders of America (FBA) is experiencing a banner year. More than 1,800 students are members of some 58 FBA Chapters throughout Florida, and the FBA Leadership Training Camp just completed its largest attended summer camp in the programs short four-year history.
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Allstate OKs Katrina Settlement
Allstate Insurance Co. has agreed to a mass settlement of claims by a group of Mississippi policyholders who sued the insurer over damage to their homes from Hurricane Katrina, a company spokesman and a lawyer for the homeowners said Monday. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and both sides refused to specify how many policyholders could participate in the settlement. However, a lawyer from the Scruggs Katrina Group, the legal team that negotiated the settlement with Allstate, said last month that it represents about 280 Allstate policyholders who sued the company.
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Open Doors, Closed Debate: Home Depot on Lot Once Eyed by Wal-Mart
When The Home Depot on NW 53rd Avenue opens its doors later this summer, it will be closing a contentious chapter in the history of planning in Gainesville. Gainesville city commissioners debated for years over the fate of the property that will now be split between the home improvement store and a nature park and which was twice rejected as the home of a new Wal-Mart Supercenter. But though the discussion over the supercenter revolved around ecological significance, the location of the headwaters of Hogtown Creek and the merits or issues of Wal-Mart, the final decision to allow a Home Depot was based on a simple, technical question: Does it meet the city's existing regulations?
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NW Project to Boast Walgreens, Eateries
A Palm Beach Gardens real estate company is developing five acres across from Hunter's Crossing in northwest Gainesville to include a new Walgreens and 13,200 square feet of retail and restaurant space. The development, on the east side of NW 43rd Street south of 53rd Avenue, will be called Hunter's Walk. In addition to a 15,000-square-foot Walgreens and the retail center, Campus USA Credit Union will move from the Publix-anchored Hunter's Crossing to a 4,600-square-foot building.
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Competitors Vie For Airport Development in Ocala
The people who operate Castro Properties in Ocala may have been the first to envision the property's full potential, but the company is no longer the only contestant in the race to develop the city's 800-acre airport complex. City officials said several other local developers have also expressed interest in the property.
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Strong Commercial Construction Continues
"Robust gains in public and private nonresidential construction spending overpowered the continuing slump in homebuilding in April," Ken Simonson, Chief Economist for The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), said last week. Simonson was commenting on the June 29 construction spending and GDP reports from the Commerce Department. "Total construction spending climbed 0.9 percent in May, seasonally adjusted, as a 2.5 percent uptick in nonresidential spending more than offset a decline of 0.8 percent in residential construction," Simonson noted.
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Senate Votes to Quit Rather Than Fight on Immigration Bill
"I don't know what's more broken, our political process or our borders," said Stephen E. Sandherr, chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) in response to the U.S. Senate's vote today not to proceed with a delicately balanced compromise bill, and instead will prepare for a week-long 4th of July recess.
Approximately 80 percent of Americans believe the immigration system is broken. While a few courageous senators took on the tough issues, opponents of the bill have done it a disservice. Instead of trying to pass legislation with workable solutions, the opponents have escalated their rhetoric and divided the country.
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Building a Smarter Building
Silicon Valley prides itself for being on the cutting edge of all things tech. For the most part, it is -- except when it comes to buildings. While there are standouts -- Adobe Systems' downtown San Jose, Calif., headquarters comes to mind -- most of the office buildings in the valley fail to take advantage of technological innovations that would make the real estate more valuable, more wired and more green.
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Workers' Rights Protected as Card Check Vote Fails
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) claimed victory last week for American workers after the ill-named "Employee Free Choice Act" (H.R. 800) failed to gain enough votes on a motion to proceed in the U.S. Senate. The bill, sponsored by Rep. George Miller, (D-Calif.), did not receive the 60-vote threshold necessary to begin debate.
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AGC of Greater Florida Calendar of Events
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| Current Issues |
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Residential July 2007
Commercial Summer 2007
HOME: Living in the Heart of Florida
Fall 2007
For more information,
Please contact
Scott Costello |
If you are interested in joining the BANCF and taking advantage of these great opportunities,
Please visit
www.bancf.com |
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