With Halloween on the horizon, I am going to bring you a tale this week of trick or treat. The treat is that we were able to see some great homes in the Parades in Alachua and Columbia counties and the Showcase in Marion County. This weekend was slower than last, with the biggest reason being the Gator game. It is amazing the drop off in traffic starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday. In talking with builders, Realtors and consumers, it seemed that the consumers coming through were specific in the houses they visited. In years past, it seemed that you made a weekend out of visiting all the homes and browsing. This year, it was apparent that with 53 homes in 31 neighborhoods, the consumer picked out certain homes that fit what they were looking for, and went there. There was tremendous feedback that there are serious buyers out there. Of course, I don't expect this positive news to make the Gainesville Sun, but it is an indicator that things are looking up.
The trick is the distressing news we heard regarding Alachua County's new way of trying to destroy momentum. It appears the county decided to try and confiscate Parade signs this weekend. We sincerely hope this is just the work of a few overzealous code-enforcement officers, and not a deliberate decision by county officials, but apparently, they were confiscating Parade sighs as quickly as they could. One of the code-happy officers was bragging that he personally pulled up 300 Parade signs. With all the illegal code activity that takes place around here, to be pulling up Parade signs is either a stroke of pure stupidity, or another example of what has fast become this county's obvious anti-growth attitude. What better way to harass the building industry than pulling up Parade signs.
For us, it is another sign that things have to change around here for the good of the entire community.
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www.BuildingEdgeMagazine.com
Our October issue is online, and has arrived in the mail. It features Isaac Construction in Lake City. The National Feature is on Weathering the Elements: HVAC, insulation, house wrap, anti-mold products, siding and brick, roofing, pest control . Our Edge Spotlight this month is on Griffis Tile & Flooring.
We are in production on the November issue, which will feature Demetri Homes of Ocala. The National Feature will be on Green Building: engineered wood/stone, heating/cooling alternatives, sustainable building materials, increasing IAQ (indoor air quality), plastic piping.
We will close out the year in December with GC Construction of Gainesville. The National Feature will be on Construction Technology. This is also going to be the Parade Wrap-Up issue, covering Alachua, Marion and Columbia counties. For more information, please contact us at (352) 372-3958 in Gainesville, or (352) 368-1707 in Ocala.
We kick start the new year with Allen Stine and All America Homes. Our National Feature will be on Home Technology.
Our Summer 2007 issue of Commercial Building Edge is now available. The cover feature is on Gray Construction Services. The National Feature is on Green Building.
Our Fall 2007 Commercial issue is in production. This issue should start arriving in about two weeks and will be in next weeks enews brief. The cover story is a feature on Ocala's Ausley Construction . The Winter issue will feature Trunnell Construction on the cover.
HOME™: Living in the Heart of Florida Resource Guide
The feedback on our newest magazine, Home™: Living in the Heart of Florida has been phenomenal. We have been busy the last few weeks restocking at all our distribution locations. Distribution is now over 250 locations, and should cross 300 this week. If you would like to have copies available at your place of business or model home, please let us know. The redesign of our website, www.LivingInTheHeartOfFlorida.com is almost complete. The pdf of the Premiere issue is now online. If the feedback we are hearing is a good indicator, we have launched what could be the best consumer magazine our area has seen. |
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New High-Tech Center Discussed
Gainesville and higher education officials began investigating options for funding a new downtown research and development center last Monday with a presentation by a group that has financed similar projects in Atlanta. About 30 officials from Gainesville, the University of Florida and Santa Fe Community College joined developers to hear about the financing model used by The University Financing Foundation, or TUFF, a group based in Atlanta that has funded similar projects for other universities.
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State Budget Cuts Imperil LSCC Mission
A 5-percent tuition increase is still a bargain considering the quality education students get at Lake-Sumter and other community colleges statewide, said LSCC President Charles Mojock. Additionally, the Legislature should give more money to community colleges because their graduates get good-paying jobs that help the state economy, Mojock said at Monday's meeting of the of the Daily Commercial's editorial board.
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Impact Fees Ordinance Approved by Columbia County
Columbia County Commissioners on Thursday adopted the proposed County Comprehensive Impact Fee Ordinance and the Educational Facilities Impact Fee requested by the Columbia County School Board. The initial Educational Facilities Impact fee is $1,500 collected on new single family, site-built homes and mobile homes. The impact fee for attached, multi-family units is $705. The $1,500 impact fee will increase by $500 each year for the next four years, raising the impact fee to $3,500 in year five.
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City's Tour to Help Promote Use of Solar-Electric Systems
After years of cloudy prospects, solar power's future is starting to look bright. A dozen customers of Gainesville Regional Utilities received rebates this year to install solar-electric systems. Some of the homes will be featured in today's Gainesville Solar Tour, including a home designed to rely exclusively on solar energy that could be a model for others in the community. In addition, GRU is helping fund a solar project over the parking lot of a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in northwest Gainesville. Utility officials say they hope the high-profile project will lead more people to consider solar power for their homes.
http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20071021/NEWS/710210310/1002/NEWS
Picture That
As new residential developments go up all across town, the ability to see what a home will look like, before the foundation is poured, is a novel concept. That concept can be found in Lake City. Stormy 3D Design Production creates 3D renderings of homes and commercial properties, president and chief executive Robert Morgan said. The renderings are called photorealistic images, because they look so life-like it's hard to tell they have been computer generated, he said.
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Central Florida Told to Look Elsewhere for Water
More than a dozen water utility officials were packed last Monday around a map of the Ocklawaha River like hungry relatives around a Thanksgiving dinner. They met at Marion County's planning department to decide how to divvy up about 90 million gallons of water per day from the northerly flowing river. But unlike last month, when representatives from several counties met to discuss the river's fate, there were some conspicuous absences.
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Ewers Re-Elected as Mayor of Ocala
Mayor Randy Ewers retained his seat Tuesday, defeating political newcomer David Clark. Ewers, who won with 63 percent of vote, said he looks forward to his second two-year term, during which he hopes to streamline the Ocala Police Department to better protect the community. An advocate for economic development, Ewers also said he is especially focused on the airport complex and creating an industrial park.
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Alachua-Marion Water Coalition May Be On Tap
Marion County soon may be part of a new North Central Florida partnership on the looming issue of future drinking water supplies. During a September workshop, commissioners asked staff to look for regional partners who shared Marion's concerns about the St. Johns River Water Management District's proposals for future water supplies, including the potential pumping of surface water from the Ocklawaha River.
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GRU Gets Sludge Permit
Alachua County planning commissioners gave their support late Wednesday to a permit allowing Gainesville Regional Utilities to continue spreading sludge on a farm in a southwest corner of the county. In a contentious meeting, the Planning Commission voted 4-1 to recommend approval of a special-exception permit for the sludge operation. County commissioners are expected to consider the permit Nov. 13 for final approval.
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MCBIA Calendar of Events
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BANCF Calendar of Events
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Biotech Research Companies Urge More State Aid
Leaders of three major research institutes urged the state today not to turn off the spigot of incentives for another year or two as other organizations look at moving to Florida."If the state wants to diversify, this is what they have to do," said Richard Lerner, president of the Scripps Research Institute. "Nobody is going to move without incentives. There has to be a driving force to get them." Lerner joined John Reed, president of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, and Richard Houghten, president of the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, today at the 10th annual BioFlorida conference at the Hyatt Regency Bonaventure in Weston.
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$11B Tax-Cut Plan for Naught?
Florida House leaders floated yet another property-tax plan Friday, offering resident homeowners sharply higher tax breaks and providing a tax cap for businesses and second homes. In an e-mail to members, the Republican leadership said this plan would cut property taxes by $11 billion over four years and shrugged off pressure from senators and Gov. Charlie Crist to stick to the tax-cutting script they'd agreed to earlier this month.
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State Regulators Subpoena Property Insurers' Records
Florida's insurance regulators are demanding answers from insurers on why the rate decreases promised to homeowners on their property insurance haven't materialized. The Office of Insurance Regulation issued subpoenas for the Allstate insurance companies operating in Florida, focusing on documents related to reinsurance activity and communications with modeling firms, rating agencies and trade associations.
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State's Minimum Wage to Increase 12 Cents Starting January
Florida's minimum wage will increase 12 cents an hour next year. The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation says the $6.79 rate will start January 1. It is based on an annual consumer price adjustment. For workers whose tips are counted as part of their wage, the minimum will go to $3.77 an hour, plus the worker's tips. That is up from $3.65 an hour set for this year.
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Chambers Reviewing Impact Fee Proposals in Indian River County
If Indian River County's proposed impact fee increases go into effect next year, new home buyers could face substantially higher impact fees. But a group of local business and community leaders hope to be able to offer county officials a better solution next month.
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Impact Fee Cut Proposed
Commissioners in Plant City are considering a new incentive program for residential homebuilders to help energize a stagnant housing market. Their plan would use reserves from the city's general fund to pay for increases in transportation impact fees so developers do not have to.
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Post-Katrina Strategy Paying Off for Allstate
When a series of killer hurricanes walloped the Gulf Coast in 2005, costing Allstate a record quarterly loss of $1.55 billion, the company tried to make sure its bottom line would never be hit so hard again. The nation's largest publicly traded personal-lines insurer pulled back aggressively from areas susceptible to expensive storms. It did not renew many homeowners' policies. It dramatically increased its own insurance, or reinsurance.
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NAHB To Hold Construction Forecast Conference
The National Association of Home Builders will be hosting its semiannual Construction Forecast Conference at the National Housing Center on Wednesday, Oct. 24. Questions about the inventory of unsold new homes, tighter lending standards, local housing markets and more will be answered at the event. It will feature a series of panel discussions on the economic and housing outlook for the remainder of 2007 and beyond. Featured speakers include highly regarded economists and industry experts.
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Builders Oppose Attempts to Federalize the State Building Code Process
The National Association of Home Builders told Congress that its members are encouraging greater energy efficiency in housing throughout the U.S. and strongly believe that a voluntary, market-driven approach is the best way to address the nation's residential energy concerns. In one testimony, a home builder said that Congress should be promoting voluntary energy efficiency programs, extending tax incentives for highly efficient new home construction and protecting housing affordability from arbitrary building code increases when adopting new energy policy.
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Lead-Safe Remodeling Reduces Risks, NAHB Tells Congress
Appearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Mike Nagel, 2007 chairman of the National Association of Home Builders Remodelers, testified on the effectiveness of lead-safe renovation and repair practices used by professional remodelers to reduce lead levels in older homes. Research confirms that lead-safe remodeling and renovation improves lead levels in older homes, and that new hazards are created when typical remodeling and renovation activities are undertaken by trained professionals.
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Innovative Skylights Help Reduce Energy Usage
After years spent watching his electricity bills climb skyward, entrepreneur Bill Wygal finally joined the green movement. As the owner of five Ace Hardware stores in North Carolina, Wygal last year found a way to reduce the amount of energy used in two of his locations by at least a third. His bright idea was to employ mechanized skylights that attract the sun's rays from dawn to dusk with solar-powered rotating mirrors to illuminate the interiors of his stores.
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Treasury Chief Aims to Steady Credit Markets
Two months ago, when credit markets around the world were freezing up in panic over failed mortgages, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said that he was confident investors would work things out for themselves. Paulson says he still holds that view, but he and other top Treasury officials are still prodding and pushing Wall Street firms and the mortgage industry to come up with solutions. The plan announced involves no money from taxpayers, and it was negotiated primarily between the banks themselves. The goal is to stabilize the battered markets for mortgages and housing while avoiding a government bailout that might encourage investors to take even bigger risks in the future.
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Three Major Banks Offer Plan to Calm Debts in Housing
The biggest banks in the U.S., with active encouragement from the Treasury Department, unveiled a plan to keep the housing-related debt crisis from worsening. The plan calls for banks to create a new financing vehicle to try to restore confidence and reduce the risk of a market meltdown by propping up an important part of the debt markets. But the banks hope to take minimal risk and avoid actually investing any of their own money.
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A Good Mega-Mansion is Hard to Find
This year, the country's priciest properties include William Randolph Hearst's $165 million Beverly Hills, Calif., mansion; a $135 million Aspen, Colo., ranch; and a $125 million Versailles-inspired estate in Beverly Hills, Calif. There has been great price acceleration in the top-flight market because a good mega-mansion has been hard to find. In addition, the financial muscle of flush buyers allows for quite a bit of upward price flexibility.
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Ocala Council OKs Development Standards for Airport
The Ocala International Airport complex - dubbed a diamond in the rough by city officials - is one step closer to becoming the economic gem they've envisioned. On Tuesday, the City Council approved standards for the development of the 800-acre complex, finalized updates to the airport's 20-year projection plan and granted funding for a long awaited control tower.
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Yancey: Marion Schools Can't Catch Up to Growth
For Marion County schools to catch up to the county's need for more facilities, the county would have to stop growing for the next three years, Superintendent Jim Yancey said Wednesday. Yancey addressed the government affairs committee of the Ocala/Marion County Chamber of Commerce on the state of Marion schools.
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San Francisco Undergoing Makeover
San Francisco is undergoing a $1 billion development that emphasizes building up instead of out, the denser the better and stresses trains and buses over cars. The proposed Transbay Transit Center with its possible 1,200-foot tower, elevated public park the length of fields and room for high-speed trains someday linking California's major cities, will be a "symbolic expression of environmental values". A national coalition working to slow sprawl are embarking on long-term developments aimed at getting commuters out of cars and encouraging mass transit to cut pollution and traffic congestion.
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Commercial Construction Boom Expected to Continue
Despite the virtual halt in new home construction nationwide, commercial property construction is expected to remain healthy well into next year. "It has been one of the pockets of strength in the U.S. economy," said Sara Johnson, an economist for the economic research firm Global Insight. "Non-residential construction has been cushioning the decline in the housing markets and been a major source of strength for the economy."
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Sales Tax Eyed for Lake County Schools
A proposal to boost school impact fees on new homes to pay for school construction will go to Lake County commissioners, but at lower rates than those recommended by a school board consultant. County commissioners will have the final say on the impact fees, and no date is set for that hearing.
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AGC of Greater Florida Calendar of Events
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Residential October 2007
Commercial Summer 2007
HOME: Living in the Heart of Florida
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