Newsletter 50
Dear friends,
This month is the peak of season, with throngs of people visiting the Suncoast to enjoy our beaches, restaurants, spring training, sporting events or arts and entertainment. Also throw in the spring breakers, who are busy partying and making new friends along the way.
This is a time to practice patience, as we wait for tables at restaurants, circle the newly expanded parking at Siesta Beach (hoping for that cherished spot) or sit in traffic for much longer than we are accustomed to. We do appreciate our visitors, and we know that, in a month or so, the traffic will be lighter and we can consider going for dinner at our normal time. We are happy to share our little piece of paradise with our friends from the north. We also take comfort knowing that our seasonal friends will be back. We are happy to help with their homes and properties on the Suncoast while they enjoy their northern residences.
We are an accredited member of the National Home Watch Association (NWHA). Our bonded and insured services offer peace of mind to our clients. We take great pride in maintaining and enhancing their homes in paradise. The greatest compliment we can receive is a referral.
We can help make your dreams come true. Visit our website for more information on our services and how we can help: Suncoast Home Concierge
Here’s some recent Suncoast area news:
MORE TOURISM RECORDS: Florida welcomed 105 million visitors last year, making 2015 the fifth consecutive year where tourism records were broken. The new record exceeded the previous high of 98.5 million in 2014 by 6.6%, according to Visit Florida, the state’s tourism agency. The average number of trade-related jobs in 2015 also was a record high, with 1,199,200 people employed in the tourism industry, up 4.7% compared with the same period last year. Here are some additional details: Domestic visitors: 89.8 million, up 8%. Overseas visitors: 11.2 million. Canadian visitors: 4 million. Passengers boarding planes at 18 Florida airports: 74.3 million, up 8.2%. For more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click on the link: Tourism Records Shattered
BUYERS LURED BY RENTAL PROPERTIES: As real estate investors hunt for profits, the once-sluggish multi-family market has taken off in Southwest Florida. Buyers have invested more than $355 million in the past year to buy more than a dozen apartment complexes in the region, as sellers cash out on the growing demand and tight supply of rental housing. Investors from New York to Los Angeles have swooped in to cut deals for large apartment communities, a move that can often mean upgrades but also higher rents for tenants. “Sellers are selling because the market is robust right now” said Ian Black, a commercial real estate broker in Sarasota. “Of all the investment sectors, it is one of the hottest.” The wave of sales of existing complexes, some of them decades old, comes as developers are building or have plans for more than 1,000 new rental housing units in the city of Sarasota. There’s more on this story here: Rental Boom
NEW VIEW FOR SIESTA BEACH: The best things about the new buildings on Siesta Beach might be that people will see right through them. The new entrance to Siesta frames a classic view of clear skies, blue water and white sand. “We wanted to bring the beach into your initial perception”, said Jerry Sparkman of Sweet Sparkman Architects. “You don’t come to the beach for the architecture, you come for the beach”. Old-timers will recognize a historic beach pavilion that dates back to the 1950’s. Newcomers will admire sleek concrete-and-glass shapes. The recent opening ceremony marked the end of a $21.5 million improvement project for the popular public beach that took two years to complete. The beach remained open the whole time, but there was often noise, dust and traffic from the construction. For more on this story and for some pictures, please click here: Siesta Project Completed
REBUILDING TURTLE BEACH: Work has begun on the massive beach restoration project on south Siesta Key. New Jersey-based Weeks Marine will dredge some 690,000 cubic yards of sand from an offshore site about nine miles away and load it onto two barges. The company then plans to pump that sand from the barges, through an underwater pipe and onto the shoreline. It will also add about 1.1 acres of dune vegetation to protect more than two miles of fragile beaches from the steady threat of erosion. The project stretches from the Sanderling Beach Club to Palmer Point Park. All work must cease by May 1, when sea turtles begin their nesting season under the watchful eye of Mote Marine Laboratory, which dispatches scientists and volunteers to monitor turtle activity throughout the season. Follow the jump for more: Turtle Beach Restoration
RINGLING GRADS CONTRIBUTE TO ACADEMY AWARDS WINNER: The Academy Awards were held across the country in California, but some of the winners were trained in Sarasota County. Thirteen Ringling College of Art & Design graduates worked with Pixar Studios on the film “Inside Out”, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. “We are proud and impressed with the continual achievements of our graduates.” said Jim McCampbell, Ringling College Computer Animation department head in a news release. “We applaud their recognition by the Academy and congratulate them and Pixar on the worldwide acknowledgement ‘Inside Out’ has received.” There’s more here: Ringling Accolades
Thanks for reading our newsletter and please let us know if you have any questions. Feel free to forward to your friends.