LWR Commercial Real Estate
News
RBC Bank to host food drive in Lakewood Ranch
Dec 9th
LAKEWOOD RANCH — RBC Bank is partnering with the Food Bank of Manatee to host a holiday open house and gift market extravaganza.
Local business vendors will be present at the Dec. 11 event for holiday shopping, and RBC Bank will accept donations to give to the Food Bank of Manatee.
The holiday open house will be held from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 11 at 9105 Town Center Pkwy., Lakewood Ranch.
Insurance agency opens in Lakewood Ranch
Dec 9th
LAKEWOOD RANCH — Adams Insurance and Consulting Inc. has opened in Lakewood Ranch.
Owners Steve Adams and Diane Gonzalez-Adams have been in the insurance business for more than 30 years each. Adams worked in Lloyd’s and the London market before his 2005 move to New York City, where Gonzalez-Adams was a broker specializing in commercial lines.
The couple moved to Florida in 2008.
The independent insurance agency is at 6151 Lake Osprey Drive. Its phone number is 373-1313 and Web site is www.adamsiac.com.
Hampton Inn opens in LWR
Dec 9th
LAKEWOOD RANCH — The Hampton Inn & Suites at 8565 Cooper Creek Blvd. opened Wednesday.
The four-story, 102-room hotel is owned and operated by Buffalo Lodging Associates. The hotel is at the intersection of University Parkway and Cooper Creek Boulevard near Benderson Development’s retail properties.
Community Bank of Manatee names president
Dec 9th
Friday, December 4, 2009
From the Tampa Bay Business Journal
Bob Critchfield has joined Community Bank of Manatee as president.
Critchfield last served as senior vice president of Citizens Banking Corp., where he oversaw the bank’s small-business strategy across 170 branches, a release said. Citizens, a Detroit, Mich.-based bank, now is part of Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: CRBC) in Flint, Mich.
Community Bank of Manatee recently closed a $15 million capital investment transaction. An investor group led by Marcel Lima, an international investor, and Trevor Burgess, a former managing director at Morgan Stanley, invested $11.5 million to acquire a controlling interest in the bank, while existing board members and shareholders raised another $3.5 million, the release said.
The investment propelled Community Bank of Manatee into the “well capitalized” bank category, William Sedgeman Jr., the bank’s chairman and chief executive, said in the release.
Community Bank of Manatee, headquartered in Lakewood Ranch, has about $252 million in assets and five offices in Manatee and Hillsborough counties.
About Community Bank of Manatee
- 6000 State Road 70 E
- Bradenton, FL 34203
- 1 941 756 0099
- communitybanknow.com
Annual Revenue: $1,750,000
Community Bank is a full service commercial bank offering small business and family-friendly banking services in Manatee and Hillsborough County, Florida since 1995. The bank has grown to over $200 Million in assets and operates five full-service branches.
Community Bank of Manatee Executives
BofA sells $460M of CMBS, A Good Sign for the Market?
Dec 8th
Last month marked the first new issuance of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) since mid-2008, when Developers Diversified Realty Corp. tapped the Federal Reserve’s Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) to sell $400 million in debt backed by 28 retail shopping centers and underwritten by Goldman Sachs.
That’s all it took to spark renewed interest in the previously stagnant secondary market for commercial real estate. Last week, Bank of America priced the second new CMBS deal – and this one traded without government backing, yet another hopeful sign for the securitization world.
BofA’s $460 million offering was backed by a single, fixed-rate loan to hedge fund manager Fortress Investment Group LLC, and secured by 44 office and industrial properties in Florida, as well as a railway corridor.
Investor demand has been strong for these initial transactions, but the Wall Street Journal explained that Bank of America’s offering was ineligible for TALF funding, and although it sold, the paper said BofA had to sweeten the deal for investors and offer better-than-expected returns.
The loan-to-value ratios of the underlying portfolio averaged 50 percent, and according to Reuters, the triple-A-rated $350 million portion of the CMBS sold at yields equivalent to a risk-free, interest rate swap benchmark plus 2.25 percentage points. Earlier, Bank of America pitched a premium of 1.9 percentage points to 2.1 percentage points, Reuters said, but wound up getting 0.15 point more.
Tony Butler, managing director of RAIT Securities, a commercial lender and broker dealer, told the Journal that the first deal to be pushed through without TALF should be labeled a success. “The deal had some challenging aspects to it, but the fact is they were able to do it,” Butler said.
Last week, DSNews.com reported that Inland Western Real Estate Trust Inc. is also readying a new-issue CMBS, which is being underwritten by JPMorgan Securities Inc., and secured by a portfolio of 55 retail properties.
Lakewood Ranch Company Bids $61M for Development Lots
Dec 8th
Starwood Land Ventures, a Bradenton-based real estate development and investment firm, has made a $61 million stalking-horse bid for 5,499 home lots and 36 finished model homes owned in Florida by bankrupt homebuilder TOUSA.
Hollywood-based TOUSA has been working through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy since January 2008. Its Florida projects were mostly under the Engle Homes brand.
According to bidding procedures proposed in a bankruptcy court motion, the Starwood bid serves as the floor bid for an auction to be held at 10 a.m., Jan. 22, at TOUSA’s bankruptcy law firm, Berger Singerman, in Miami.
Lazard Freres, a financial advisory and asset management firm, is handling the auction.
Florida Economy Still Lagging
Dec 4th
Although the Southeast, including Florida, is still struggling with weak job and real estate markets, the national economy is improving, the Federal Reserve said.
BY JIM WYSS
jwyss@miamiherald.com
The national economy is perking up, even as Florida and the Southeast continue to struggle with a weak job market, depressed lending and a gloomy commercial real estate sector, the government said Wednesday.
The economic snapshot was provided in the Beige Book — a compilation of economic anecdotes from the nation’s 12 Federal Reserve districts.
While the report found that in eight out of the 12 districts “economic conditions have generally improved,” four others — including the Atlanta District, which serves Florida — reported mixed economic news.
The bright spots in the Southeast: “The majority of retailers described activity as exceeding their modest expectations,” and new and used home sales were seen as improving, particularly in the lower-priced category.
Otherwise, the report painted a picture of continued weakness.
Manufacturers said orders were down, car sales have slipped since the days of the “cash for clunkers” program and “commercial real estate conditions were widely characterized as weak and, in many cases, deteriorating further,” the report found.
Of particular concern for Florida’s business community, banks said they were maintaining tight lending standards as they focus on repairing their balance sheets.
“Some financial contacts commented that increased lending was not anticipated given the current economic environment,” the report found.
The Beige Book is produced eight times a year, usually a few weeks before the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meets to set monetary policy. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has suggested the government will keep interest rates low to spur the economic recovery.
Tim Geithner on CNBC Warning that Deficit Will Grow Through 2010
Dec 3rd
As if the economy did not have enough weighing it down, the federal deficit is being cheerfully added onto.
Retail Numbers not Creating Any Cheer in Manatee County
Dec 3rd
According to Retail Forward, sales-weighted same-store sales excluding Walmart increased 0.9 percent in November for the approximately 31 retailers that reported numbers. (A pdf with each retailer’s results can be downloaded here.) Frank Badillo, senior economist at Retail Forward, said in a statement, “Shoppers continue to give signs that they are ready to loosen the grip on their spending plans, but at the same time remain very cautious and deal-focused in their spending.”
ICSC’s tally of 32 retailers is that same-store sales fell 0.3 percent in November in comparison with last year after rising in both September and October. Here are ICSC’s results going back to 1993. According to its report, “These data suggested that the holiday season got off to a weak start in November for retailers–though the tail-end of the month saw relatively strong sales for electronics and online spending, but that seemed to be at the expense of some in-store performance and apparel demand, in particular.”
SMR Sells Lakewood Ranch Realty (Residential)
Dec 1st
LWR Realty Sold to Prudential
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 2009
For more information contact:
Candice McElyea
(941)757-1546
LAKEWOOD RANCH REALTY BEING SOLD
LOCAL COMPANY TO PURCHASE LAKEWOOD RANCH REALTY
Schroeder- Manatee Ranch, Inc. (SMR) is selling its residential realty company to Palms Real Estate Solutions, LLC. As part of a long term business plan, SMR has decided to focus on its core businesses of real estate investment, agriculture, mining and commercial operations. “The sale of Lakewood Ranch Realty will allow our agents to enjoy all of the benefits that Palms Real Estate Solutions can provide,” said Milt Flinn, president of Lakewood Ranch Communities.
Palms Real Estate Solutions is a full-service real estate company that provides management services to other real estate companies. Those services include the back office functions of accounting, marketing, training, support staff, real estate solutions, mortgage, title, relocation and international services. The company will also provide the back office resources to Prudential Palms Realty in Sarasota. “Because of their size,” said Flinn, “our agents will gain more resources and technology to work with, and we know this is the best thing for our Realtors.”
Palms Real Estate Solutions CEO Helen Sosso also purchased the right to use the name “Lakewood Ranch Realty” for residential sales purposes. Sosso has more than 30 years experience in the real estate field and was the past president of the Sarasota Association of Realtors in 2008. “We are excited for the opportunity to increase our market share to 27 percent in the beautiful community of Lakewood Ranch,” said Sosso, “and will finalize the details of the sale in the coming weeks.”
SMR will continue growing its commercial operations with the addition of new agents to Lakewood Ranch Commercial Realty to expand its commercial business outside the boundaries of Lakewood Ranch.
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Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Inc. (SMR) is one of southwest Florida’s most successful land management and agri-businesses, continuing the 100-year tradition of delivering a variety of products on the 28,000-acre property in Manatee and Sarasota counties. www.smrranch.com
