This week's intro is not business related. In this holiday season, we all have things we are praying for...business to pick up, clients to pay their bills, deadlines to be met. I ask that in your prayers, you include a special prayer for Lane Hevel, the director of marketing at Gainesville Today magazine. Lane is Gainesville Today. He has been there through multiple owners, multiple sizes of the publication. Lane suffered a serious head injury after a fall a little over a week ago. Those who know Lane know that he is a fighter, and he is fighting for his life. Please take a moment and say a prayer for Lane and Terry. |
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www.BuildingEdgeMagazine.com
The December issue of Building Edge is online at our recently redesigned website, www.buildingedgemagazine.com. The cover story is on GC Construction of Gainesville. The National Feature is on Construction Technology. The hard copy should arrive this week.
Our January 2008 issue is in production. The cover story is on Allen Stine and All America Homes. Our National Feature will be on Home Technology.
February we return to Lake City and feature Sparks Construction. The National Feature will be on Surfaces & Finishes: Countertops, floorcoverings, walls & ceilings. Advertising and editorial deadline is December 29th.
Our Fall 2007 Commercial issue is online at our recently designed Commercial site: www.buildingedgemagazine.com/commercial. Ocala's Ausley Construction , one of the premiere commercial builders in North Central Florida is on the cover.
We are closing this week on our Winter issue, featuring Trunnell Construction on the cover. If you would like to participate before we close, please call us today.
The Spring 2008 issue of Commercial Building Edge will open in a few weeks, with Paul Stentiford and Stentiford Construction Services on the cover. Please call us for details.
HOME™: Living in the Heart of Florida:
Our winter issue is now in production. The cover story will be a feature on Sister Hazel'sAndrew Copeland. Drew exemplifies everything we want for this magazine. He is a North Central Florida native, has chosen to raise his family here, and gives so much back to the community. While we know it is going to be hard to top our first issue, early indications are the next issue is even better. Obviously, you the reader will be the ultimate judge of that. Distribution is now at about 300 locations, and requests for subscriptions have come in from 14 states. It is nice to see that The Heart of Florida is as popular as ever, and I am humbled that we have been chosen by so many, so quickly to be the vehicle to deliver the news on the area. To be featured in this magazine, advertise or just interested in receiving the magazine, please email us at info@advantagepublishinginc.com or call us at 352-372-5854. If you have not seen our first issue, please visit our website at www.livingintheheartofflorida.com |
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Court Case Makes Future Uncertain for University Corners
Last April, demolition was finally completed to make way for high-rise condos on the northwest corner of West University Avenue and 13th Street. So where are they? The construction of University Corners was dependent on $98 million from a city tax incentive program called into constitutional question by a Florida Supreme Court case in September.
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Road Set to End Before it Arrives
Gainesville will soon have a road to nowhere - or more precisely, a road that falls short of its intended destination. Construction is scheduled to start next summer on a new entrance road to the Gainesville Regional Airport. But the airport has obtained just $1.4 million of the project's nearly $3.6 million price tag.
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Gainesville Plans for Future at Retreat
Gainesville city commissioners outlined a series of new plans for the coming year that could change fundamental aspects of city processes and responsibilities during a daylong retreat Monday.
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Lake Weir High Will Get Face-Lift, New Cafeteria
It was 1974 when Lake Weir High School opened the doors to its modern, round design featuring burnt-orange carpet and circular hallways. Located on Maricamp Road southeast of Ocala, the school has seen better days. Three decades of use has left the school in dire need of a face-lift.
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Alachua County Will Study Alternative Route
An alternative route to keep through-traffic out of the Brytan town center will be studied by the Alachua County Commission to try to salve anger over the rerouting of SW 75th Street south of Archer Road through the new development. The unanimous decision came after a 3-hour meeting Tuesday night that isn't what residents wanted but may be a relatively cheap fix for the county.
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New Recreation Authority Proposed
The creation of an independent taxing authority to raise money solely for recreation will get further study from the Alachua County Commission, following a discussion Tuesday in which advocates pleaded for a long-term solution to the shortage of parks and programs. Various officials with the county, the cities and recreation groups said the dedicated tax for recreation would stabilize funding that is too often cut from budgets.
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Marion County Approves New 44th Avenue Segments
Construction on separate segments of a new north/south roadway west of Interstate 75 will start in six months under two agreements the Marion County Commission approved Tuesday.
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Children Design New Play Area for Park
Red and green monkey bars, a rocket and slides were just a few things children in Belleview said would make up their dream playground. Dakota Carpenter wanted to see a pool, along with an excavation pit at the playground. On Thursday, seven children participated in the design phase for a $100,000 interactive playground to be built at the city-operated Cherokee Park a few blocks west of U.S. 441. KaBoom, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group, in partnership with The Home Depot plans to install the playground Feb. 13. It's a part of KaBoom's plan to build 1,000 playgrounds around the country over a two-year period. Florida is home to 67 of those playgrounds, with another set to go up in Miami by year's end.
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MCBIA Calendar of Events Click Here>
BANCF Calendar of Events
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Home Deals Lure Foreign Investors
Thanks to a weak dollar, Americans have grown used to seeing Europeans on shopping sprees in the States, grabbing up cheap Levis, cheap iPods, and enough cheap luggage to carry it all home.
But now Europeans are buying something else as well: houses. And the state most likely to benefit? Florida. "European buyers are taking advantage of the correction in the real estate market, a lot of inventory to choose from, and also the good interest rates they can still find," said Mark Semeraro, a Realtor in Naples. "They see this as a half-price sale for them."
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Florida Group Reveals Almost 75 Energy-Saving Ideas
The Florida Energy Commission on Monday wrapped up a year of crafting a blueprint for how the state can continue to power its homes, businesses and cars, all without causing a climate disaster. But one nagging question remained after the panel went home: When will the changes start to show up on utility bills or reduce the threat of global warming?
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Builders Appeal to Baby Boomers with 'Active Adult' Communities
Peter Stegner, a fit white-haired man with a gift for chatter, is jogging down a tranquil road, listening to an iPod loaded with tunes by James Brown and the Beach Boys. After he runs 3 or 4 miles, he'll be off to happy hour: One day it's on his enclosed balcony overlooking the Potomac River, the next at an Italian bistro in his gated neighborhood. It's beer in the summer, a Scotch in chillier times.
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Home Buyers and Builders Share Load
At Tison's Landing on Jacksonville's Northside, no one has poured slab for the first home. But an eye-catching clubhouse and recreation center, visible from Yellow Bluff Road, already stand at the subdivision's entrance. The financing comes from the Tison's Landing Community Development District, a form of local government that has exploded in use across Northeast Florida.
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Property Tax Portability Rewards Longtime Residents
Cynthia Pelton's timing was terrific. The retired fundraiser from New York City paid $225,252 for a house in the gated Ponte Vecchio development west of Boynton Beach in early 2003 as South Florida's housing market was flourishing. Her three-bedroom home with arched doorways and Roman columns on a quiet cul-de-sac quickly soared above $300,000 in market value, but she pays taxes as if it's worth much less.
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Managers Say Calm Returns to State Fund
Local governments withdrew about $560 million of their money from Florida's state-run investment pool Friday, but the beleaguered fund's managers were pleased that figure was about half the amount from a day before. BlackRock Inc. officials said some calm appeared to be returning a day after the fund reopened from a freeze. BlackRock was hired to restore order to the biggest fund of this kind in the country. The fund invests cash for cities, school boards and other local governments. It had been shut down for a week after governments and others shrank the pool from more than $25 billion to about $14 billion in two weeks. The run was caused by fears over the safety of some mortgage-related securities in the fund.
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Growth Demands New Unit, FPL Says
Florida Power & Light Co. will have to build a third power-generating unit at its new West County Energy Center by 2011 in order to keep up with the number of people moving to the state, the utility's president said Thursday. That's at least three years earlier than it had planned. The utility provides power to 4.5 million homes and businesses. The company is on track to add about 85,000 residential and business customers a year - 13,000 in Palm Beach County - for the next several years, FPL spokeswoman Pat Davis said.
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Federal Reserve Seems Poised to Lower Interest Rates
A lot has changed since the Federal Reserve hinted two months ago that it might be finished cutting interest rates for a while. Credit has become harder to obtain, Wall Street has convulsed again and the housing slump has intensified. As a result, policymakers at the central bank now appear to have changed their minds about the need to drop interest rates again. The Fed had cut rates twice this year and officials suggested in October that might be enough to help the economy survive the credit and housing stress. Then the problems snowballed, leading Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to signal that one more cut might be needed. Analysts expect the Fed to trim its key rate, now at 4.5 percent, by one-quarter of a percentage point at the meeting Tuesday. Some even speculate about the possibility of a half-point cut.
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Federal Reserve Seems Poised to Lower Interest Rates
A lot has changed since the Federal Reserve hinted two months ago that it might be finished cutting interest rates for a while. Credit has become harder to obtain, Wall Street has convulsed again and the housing slump has intensified. As a result, policymakers at the central bank now appear to have changed their minds about the need to drop interest rates again. The Fed had cut rates twice this year and officials suggested in October that might be enough to help the economy survive the credit and housing stress. Then the problems snowballed, leading Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to signal that one more cut might be needed. Analysts expect the Fed to trim its key rate, now at 4.5 percent, by one-quarter of a percentage point at the meeting Tuesday. Some even speculate about the possibility of a half-point cut.
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Remodeling Activity Rises Slightly in the Third Quarter
Remodeling activity held up well during the third quarter of 2007, according to the National Association of Home Builder's Remodeling Market Index. The current market conditions indicator increased slightly to 46.2 from 44.8 in the second quarter. And the future expectations measure comes in at 43.3, down just slightly from 44.6. The remodeling market is expected to end the year in pretty good shape.
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Subprime Plan Could Help 1.2 Million
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced on Thursday details of a plan to freeze interest rates on hundreds of thousands of subprime mortgages, hours after new data showed a record number of homeowners went into foreclosure in the third quarter. None of them will be eligible for financial relief under the proposal. The plan won't help borrowers with prime ARM loans, but the deal is designed to help 1.2 million who have subprime ARMs that would reset to higher rates starting next year through mid-2010.
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Bush Plans to Ease Foreclosures Supported by Home Builders
A plan put forth by President Bush to limit foreclosures by working with key mortgage lenders and investment firms to freeze interest rates for five years on certain subprime mortgages is supported by the National Association of Home Builders. They applaud the action and urge Congress to follow up quickly on pending legislation that would provide additional help in easing the credit crunch and restoring confidence in the marketplace.
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New York Officials Push for Affordability
Officials from seven counties in southern New York State want to give a total of $87.5 million to local towns and villages as an incentive to build more housing affordable to young professionals-who by many calculations are leaving Long Island and other counties at high rates. The law, if enacted, would give cash to local governments based on the number of affordable homes or units built over the next five years. It would also reimburse local schools for taking on any extra students introduced by new affordable development, and provide zero-interest infrastructure loans for improvements like road paving or sewer expansion.
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Rates on 30-Year Mortgages Fall Below 6%
Rates on 30-year mortgages fell sharply again this week, dropping below 6% to the lowest level in more than two years. The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.96%. That was down from 6.10% last week and was the lowest rate since Sept. 29, 2005, when they averaged 5.91%. Analysts attributed the decline to worries about what a severe slump in housing and a lingering credit crunch could do to consumer confidence in the overall economy.
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Banking on Rentals
Despite a faltering real estate market, Gainesville's skyline is still dotted with cranes. Towering over lots where concrete blocks and wooden frames are beginning to rise, the massive equipment is perhaps the most visible sign that, as homeowners are panicking, developers are banking on rentals, most of them oriented to University of Florida and Santa Fe Community College students.
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Fairfield Inn by Marriott is Certifiably Green
When visitors stay overnight, your household gobbles more water for showers and more electricity to power the guests' indispensable gizmos and gadgets. Now imagine the resource drain that hits at a 97-room hotel like the Fairfield Inn by Marriott at State Road 200 and Interstate 75.
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FMI Sees No Downturn in 2008 Nonresidential Construction
Construction management consultants FMI Dec. 5 asserted that nonresidential building will "remain strong" in 2008, growing at an anticipated rate of 5 percent throughout the year. According to FMI's "Construction Outlook: Fourth Quarter 2007," the rate of growth in nonresidential construction in 2008 will be slower than the "booming" growth rate in 2007, but the sector is not expected to experience a downturn in 2008 and will likely continue expanding in 2009 as well.
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Foreign Real Estate Investment Increases
Foreign investment in Florida's commercial real estate market has increased more than 50 percent since 2004 and those in the area commercial real estate industry say international investors are having an impact in Marion County.
http://www.ocala.com/article/20071203/NEWS/212030325/1001/NEWS01
Tavares to Raze Outlook
Parking is already a problem downtown. Parking might be a little harder to find for the next several weeks, but after it's all over, the parking issue may be a problem of the past. Lake County closed Maud Street from Texas to Sinclair avenues Friday to prepare for the demolition of six buildings - including the former Beef O'Brady's restaurant - next week. Construction on a 1,500-space parking garage and a two-story building to house the tax collector and property appraiser offices begins after the demolition is complete.
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AGC of Greater Florida Calendar of Events
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Residential December 2007
Commercial Fall 2007
HOME: Living in the Heart of Florida
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