Newsletter 76

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST:

IRMA’S DAMAGE CLAIMS GROWING

Claims for damage caused by Hurricane Irma in Florida have blown past the $6 billion mark. More than 853,000 property owners have filed claims for insured losses from Irma, which smashed through Florida on September 10, according to a recent report from the state Office of Insurance Regulation. They include 25,446 holders of residential and commercial properties in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties who had submitted claims to insurers as of the end of November, OIR said. More than 75% of local claims have been closed, and 9,120 of them were not paid. That could be due to a number of reasons, such as claims for damage not covered by the policy, deductibles that were higher than the damage or fraudulent claims. To read more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: Irma Claims Top $6 Billion

MARKET FOR HIGH-END RESIDENCES ROBUST

One segment of the Florida real estate market always excels at stirring the imagination with stunning images. Luxury residences – be they Palm Beach estates, Miami Beach penthouses or Naples mansions – capture attention. Sarasota also belongs on the list of places with millionaire homeowners, and the high-end housing market here is on a hot streak. Home and condominium buyers keep pumping millions into purchases in the region, many in cash deals. As of the end of last month, a total of 355 luxury properties – typically defined as residences listed for $1 million or more – changed hands in Sarasota County, a 26% increase over the same time frame in 2016, according to Coldwell Banker’s Monthly Action Report. Please click here for more: The Lap of Luxury

JAMMED UP

State engineers are pitching several traditional improvements to address traffic congestion along the barrier islands in Manatee and Sarasota counties. But the Florida Department of Transportation also is toying with a selection of more ambitious and outside-the-box ideas to help alleviate a basis tenet of the problem – that there are only a handful of bridges providing vehicle access to the islands. The initial recommendations of the officially titled, $675,000 Barrier Island Traffic Study were presented to the public for feedback for the first time recently at an FDOT workshop at the Longboat Island Chapel. The recommendations include road improvements such as upgrades to the draw-bridges linking the keys and the mainland that cause delays when they’re open, and the transition of some intersections from traffic signals to roundabouts. Improvements to intersections on the mainland are also proposed. There’s more on this story here: Traffic Congestion Ideas

TEAM TO WORK WITH HOMELESS

A team to enforce Sarasota County’s new prohibition on outdoor lodging, designated to push homeless individuals to services, will cost more than $600,000 this year, according to Sheriff’s Office estimates. The price includes two deputies, two mental health professionals and one sergeant, and all of their necessary equipment to form a unit specifically trained to interact with the homeless and, ultimately, enforce the rule against lodging outdoors that will take effect in March. Sarasota County approved the outdoor lodging prohibition last month in conjunction with $466,000 in funding for a homeless services system and Salvation Army shelter beds. Please follow the jump for more on this story: Homeless Team

A FIGHT OVER SHIFTING SANDS

Outgoing Longboat Key Town Manager Dave Bullock predicts one of the major clashes facing coastal government agencies in the coming years will be over an increasingly rare resource – high-quality beach sand. As more areas along both Florida coasts look to rebuild eroding beaches, there will be fewer offshore options for sand nearby, increasingly expensive onshore options and more intense competition between neighboring governments over finite quantities of both, he predicts. The only way to stop the problem is to fundamental change what Bullock argues is a broken, “parochial” system for planning, funding and executing beach renourishment projects around the state. There’s more on this story here: Shifting Sands

‘THE BAY’ MASTER PLAN DUE JULY 2018

A new vision for the city-owned bayfront in the heart of downtown Sarasota will be delivered to, and ideally approved by, city officials as soon as mid-July 2018, according to the groups spearheading the project. The ambitious timeline could complete the project after nearly two decades and an array of plans from the city and numerous civic groups most recently brought together under the Bayfront 20:20 umbrella. Now called simply The Bay, the project turned a corner over the past two months when Boston-area planning firm Sasaki and former Kimley-Horn & Associates executive Bill Waddill were hired to lead the master plan process to transform the 42-acre city-owned area around the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall into a public arts and cultural district. Please click here for more: The Bay Master Plan

ASOLO REP LAUNCHES 5 YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN

Muriel O’Neil enjoyed attending the theater and supporting her favorite arts organizations. Before her death in 2013, she did so quietly. But with major gifts from her estate to two arts organizations – and more expected to follow – her name will be remembered. In June, the Players Center for Performing Arts received a $1 million gift from the Muriel O’Neil Fund of the Performing Arts at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County toward the construction of the theater troupe’s new arts complex in Lakewood Ranch. And last month, Asolo Repertory Theater announced it will receive $700,000 from the fund, which will help the company launch a new five-year “Staging the Future” strategic plan and a capital campaign to expand its production facilities. Producing Artistic Director Michael Edwards said the campaign will allow the “theater to reach the next level of a world-class operation.” If you’d like to read more, click here: Asolo Rep 5-Year Plan

FEELING THE PINCH

During season, Gerard Jesse can typically serve stone crabs to his guests at the Seafood Shack in Cortez every day. But he’s really feeling the pinch this year, and he’s not the only one. In the two months since stone crab season began October 15, Jesse, the executive chef at the Seafood Shack, has only been able to add the Florida delicacy to his menu about three times. Traps throughout Florida are coming up empty or with so few crabs that they are pricing themselves off restaurant plates. “Right now, some of the fishermen are setting 700 traps and bringing in like 12 pounds of crab,” he says. “There’s something wrong in the environment”. If you’re interested in reading more, please click here: Stone Crab Shortages