Newsletter 47

GROWTH DRIVING FLORIDA’S FORTUNES : At last count, Florida is growing by 986 people per day! It’s a trend that will edge upward to more than 1,000 a day this year, providing cash flow not just for home builders but for most facets of the state’s economy. In the twelve months that ended in June, the state’s population rose by 360,000, states Hank Fishkind of the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp. “You see it clearly in construction activity, but it affects demand for all goods and services produced in the state” he said. Florida added more people than California for the first time in nearly a decade during 2015, the Census Bureau reported as last year was coming to an end. Please click here for more, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Florida growth

ANTICIPATING ANOTHER RECORD SEASON: Two-thousand fifteen was another year for Southwest Florida’s tourism record books. Even with some of the financial turmoil internationally, the region’s tourism promoters expect that trend to continue during 2016. The weak Canadian loonie hasn’t kept snowbirds from the Great White North from flying south for the winter. A new flight from Frankfurt out of Tampa International Airport is expected to draw more Germans. Florida may see a dip in Brazilian visitors because that nation’s currency is worse off than the loonie, but Southwest Florida isn’t a hotspot for Brazilians, said Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota County. Sarasota County for the first time welcomed more than one million visitors who stayed in paid lodging. There’s more on this story here: Diversification

RECORD HEAT, AND NOW THE THE COOL: It shouldn’t be a surprise to see the locals breaking out their flannels, turtlenecks and heavy sweaters, even though the start to 2016 hasn’t been extraordinarily cool. After all, high temperatures in the 60’s seem downright chilly after a month where the days were often 20 degrees above normal. The National Weather Service confirmed what most people talked about for the last month and much of last year: record-breaking heat. December was the warmest on record for Sarasota-Bradenton and many other areas of Florida, capping off a year that was also record-breaking for the heat. The average temperature in December was 72.8 degrees, a whopping 9.3 degrees above normal. that helped make 2015 the warmest on record, at 75.2 degrees, 2.3 degrees higher than normal. Click here to read more: Weather Extremes

GOOD NEWS FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES: Mote Marine Laboratory is reporting that 2015 was a record-breaking season for sea turtle nests from Longboat Key to Venice. The Sarasota-based research organization said that there were 2,475 nests in the region, which surpassed the previous 2012 record by six nests. Mote has coordinated conservation of endangered sea turtles along 35 miles of Sarasota County beaches for the past 34 years. The organization said that it takes 20 years for hatchlings from the long-lived species to return to the nests. There’s more here: Sea Turtle Nests

A GOOD DAY FOR THE BEACH? CHECK YOUR PHONE: It just got easier to check out beach conditions on your smartphone, thanks to Mote Marine Laboratory’s upgraded mobile beach reporting website and a team of volunteers who contribute real-time updates to the site. According to visit beaches.org, the you can check the water temperature and beach conditions at your favorite beach. A beachgoer can visit the site and search by beach name, city or county for condition reports at 27 of Florida’s Gulf Coast Beaches. The site was originally launched in 2006 but has recently been enhanced. Follow the jump for more: Beach Conditions on your Smartphone

LAKEWOOD RANCH IN TOP 10: Two national real estate firms have ranked Lakewood Ranch as one of the top-selling master-planned communities in the nation. Lakewood Ranch was competing with some well-known master-planned communities in Florida, Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas and South Carolina. Officials with Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc., Lakewood Ranch’s developer, said the community had 28,000 visitors at its information centers and models last year, which translated into 535 new home sales. That was up 13% from 2-14. Click here for more on this story: Lakewood Ranch