Newsletter 113

NEWS FROM THE SUNCOAST …..

CHILL IN THE FORECAST FOR WINTER TOURISM

Even though tourism in Sarasota and Manatee counties is showing signs of recovering at a more favorable rate than many other parts of the country, the upcoming winter tourism season will still be significantly affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Collections of the tourist development tax, a 5% levy on short term vacation rentals within each county, have trended upwards in both counties in recent months. More tourist tax revenue has been collected in both Sarasota and Manatee in July, August and September than was collected in those same three months last year. Still, hotels, event spaces, restaurants and businesses that rely on a steady influx of tourists are suffering and looking ahead to a winter season that will probably not be nearly as busy as usual. To read more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please click here: Winter Tourism Chill

AREA HOME MARKET STRONG

Despite a tightening stock of homes on the market, home sales surged 38% last month in the Sarasota Manatee region. Local buyers closed on 1,695 existing single-family homes in October, 465 more than one year earlier and 108 ahead of September, according to a report last week from the Florida Realtors trade group. Home sales in the two-county region are now 5.0% ahead of year-ago levels, a show of resilience from the real estate market after several months of plunging sales early in the coronavirus pandemic. “The October numbers help us realize just how crazy our market has been over the past several months,” said David Clapp, president of the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee. For more on this story, please click here: Home Market Strong

HOME PRICES SURGE

Home prices surged in Southwest Florida, outpacing state and national gains. Prices in the Sarasota-Manatee region jumped 6.95% over the year in September, topping the increases of 5.9% in Florida and 6.7% throughout the U.S., according to a report recently released from real estate database CoreLogic. That marks one of the rare times in 2020 that local price gains have exceeded the statewide and national averages. The U.S. increase was the fastest annual acceleration since May 2014. Record low mortgage rates are enticing buyers to the market. And the tight inventory of homes for sale has intensified upward pressure on home price appreciation as consumers compete for the limited number of homes on the market. There’s more on this story here: Prices Surge

SRQ PASSENGER TRAFFIC DOWN

Passenger traffic at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport last month hit 69% of what is was last year in October. The airport said recently that 110,883 passengers traveled through the airport compared to 160,327 in October 2019. Year-to-date passenger traffic is down 35% compared to last year, with 1,011,677 passengers using the airport so far in 2020. The passenger traffic count is likely to grow again in November, when new and returning service is scheduled to begin. Please follow the jump for more on this story: SRQ Traffic

STATUE WILL REMAIN ON BAYFRONT

Sarasota’s three-story smooching sailor statue will remain on the Bayfront and will move just a few hundred feet south of its present site. After a tense two-hour public hearing earlier this week, commissioners voted 4-1 to accept the staff’s proposal to move the 26-foot-tall “Unconditional Surrender” sculpture to the area between O’Leary’s Tiki Bar and Grill and Marina Jack. The sculpture has to be moved to make room for a planned roundabout on Gulfstream Avenue and U.S. 41. While initial cost estimates are hazy, the city is expecting to fork over at least $65,000 to the Seward Johnson Atelier firm to move the sculpture, plus an additional “quarantine charge” once the moving crew returns to New Jersey from Florida. Construction of the sculpture’s foundation alone could cost the city $20,000. There’s more on this story here: Statue Stays on Bayfront

EXPOSED TO RED TIDE? YOU CAN HELP RESEARCH

Researcher Michael Mullan may be one of the few Floridians who’s eager for another red tide. It’s not that he’s hoping for environmental devastation and human misery, but each bloom adds more data to the picture he and researchers at Sarasota’s Roskamp Institute are piecing together. And to bring their ongoing study into sharper focus, the nonprofit is seeking volunteers from Southwest Florida. Roskamp has studied the causes and potential cures for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and Gulf War Illness. Their goal is to understand the neurological effects of brevetoxins, said Mullan, Roskamp’s executive director. They’re the harmful compounds produced by Karenia brevis, the saltwater algae responsible for red tide. In large numbers, the microorganisms give the surrounding water a red tint, lending the common name. Please click here for more: Red Tide Research

DISCOVERING FLORIDA’S DRIVE IN MOVIE THEATERS

As many of us remain cautious about in-person gatherings amid the pandemic, we often find ourselves relying on modern technology for entertainment alternatives: Zoom happy hours, livestream concerts, movies and TV shows on streaming services. Yet there’s one increasingly popular option that’s downright retro: the drive-in theater. When traditional theaters shut down in the early months of the pandemic, drive-ins became the essentially the only way to see films on the big screen. Rooftop Cinema Club opened The Drive-In at Armature Works in Tampa, proving successful enough that programming was recently extended. Sarasota-Manatee has hosted drive-in screenings at venues like The Mall at University Town Center and a Bradenton Walmart, the latter as part of a national tour by the chain. Click here for more: Drive-In Movie Theaters

MALL AT UNIVERSITY TOWN CENTER SUES SAKS

The owner of the Mall at University Town Center is suing anchor tenant Saks Fifth Avenue for seven months of back rent. In a lawsuit filed October 22 in Sarasota County, the mall, under the name TB Mall at UTC LLC, alleges that as of October 7, the department store chain owes the mall $445,436.25 in past due rent. That’s about seven months of payments, beginning in April, court documents show. This isn’t the first time this year that Saks has been sued for back rent. Harbor Shops, a luxury shopping center in Miami, sued Saks on August 17 for alleged $1.2 million in unpaid rent and is seeking to evict the department store. A Saks Fifth Avenue spokesperson said that the company looks forward to continuing to serve customers in Sarasota. There’s more here: UTC Sues Saks

LAKELAND’S BELOVED SWANS FIND NEW HOMES

The buyers traveled from all over Florida, with crates and carriers, to bring their feathered guests home. The buyers, the new caretakers for some of the beloved swans of Lakeland, smiled as they cradled the long-necked birds. The city last month held a public lottery and sold 36 mute white swans, divided evenly between males and females, to ease overcrowding at Lake Morton, their longtime home in the city. Lakeland’s swan population, at Lake Morton and another city lake, had soared to 86 since Queen Elizabeth II donated a pair in 1957. One Lakeland resident, whose husband was stationed with the Air Force in England, had missed seeing the swans in the lake where their population had been wiped out by 1953. She wrote to Queen Elizabeth, asking if she would donate a pair from her royal flock. The queen agreed, and on February 7, 1957, a breeding pair of mute swans arrived in Lakeland. Please follow the link for more on this story: Swans Find New Homes

LBK ESTATE FETCHES $10.5M

After several price cuts and four years on the market, a Longboat Key residence sold this month for $10.5 million. Villa del Sogno, Italian for “villa of dreams”, sits on three lots totaling 1.35 acres on the Gulf of Mexico in the private Regent Court enclave of the Longboat Key Club. The property fetched just over half if its initial listing price, according to data from the Multiple Listing Service. But listing agent Louis Wery of Premier Southeby’s International Realty said the sale reflects the ongoing demand for waterfront homes in the region. If you’d like to read more, please click here: LBK Estate