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SRQ DAILY Jul 20, 2015

Monday Business Edition

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Monday Business Edition

"Land is the fuel that runs the homebuilding business."

- Michael Storey, Neal Communities
 

[Employment ]  Unemployment Rate Comparison
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This data shows a comparison of the unemployment rates of the United States, Florida and Sarasota County. The unemployment rates followed a relatively similar pattern on the county, state and national level. The three levels saw a steep increase in rates from 2007 to 2010, which aligns with the 2007 financial crisis timeline. In 2010, the unemployment rates began to decrease again, but had yet to reach the rates they were at before the increase in 2007.  

[Fashion]  From Cache to Panache
Jacob Ogles, jacob.ogles@srqme.com

Darci Jacob sent nearly two decades doing profitable business for Caché. She opened the fashion company’s location at Westfield Southgate, and she was there when the store was among the Opening Day tenants for The Mall at University Town Center. So she wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself when every Caché location in the nation shut down in May. But then she was approached by a former district manager, Clara Schneider, with an irresistible proposal, a chance to open her own fashion boutique. 

Panache will open at a space in Downtown Sarasota on Oct. 1, on Main Street in a space between Encore! and PJ’s. After years in retail working for such companies as Caché, Brooks Fashion Stores and Jones New York, Jacob will run her own shop, with Schneider, who runs the boutique Em’s on Fifth in Mount Dora, acting as silent but “not-so-silent” partner. “This is something I have wanted to do since I was 12 years old,” Jacob said. “It’s time.” In many ways, the timing has proved serendipitous. Jacob has a child who will graduate school next year and is happy living in Southwest Florida with her husband but remains uninterested in retiring just yet. 

The store will likely be similar to Caché both in the market owners are trying to reach and the sort of inventory carried on racks. But Jacob also has embarked on new set of tasks she didn’t do when working at Caché, like developing new relationships with vendors. 

She remains confident, largely because she was able to run profitable stores for almost her whole run at Caché. She led the Southgate store to profitable years all but two years, and those two were at the peak of the Great Recession in 2007 and 2008. (The UTC store was closed before finishing its first year of business). She will rely heavily on the employee base left unemployed by Caché’s closing. She already has snagged Jackie O’Brien and Gladys Avizanno, the other members of the team that originally opened the Southgate Caché, to join her team at Panache, and will open her store with 6-10 employees, a group also heavily populated by ex-Caché workers.

Hopefully, a loyal base of customers will also follow Jacob back into the store. “I want to maintain the customer service our customers were provided at Caché,” she said. “Even though that was a corporation, we treated it like a boutique as far as customer service. We always made sure our clients left happy, and we built relationships with 100 percent of our clients. We wanted it to be a place where everybody knew everybody, and that’s what we want to do here.”

Pictured: Darci Jacob poses between Jackie O’Brien and Gladys Avizanno at the Caché location at The Mall at University Town Center before the store's May closing. 

[Homebuilding]  Michael Storey, Neal Communities
Jacob Ogles, jacob.ogles@srqme.com

Neal Communities announced strong sales in the second quarter, with 89 homes sold in June alone. The Lakewood Ranch-based homebuilder set a new record for itself with 563 homes sold in the first six months of the year, ahead of pace for its publicly-state goal of selling 1,000 homes in 2015. We spoke with company President Michael Storey about the conditions leading to the hot streak, and about long the good times for builders will last.

The housing bust still feels like yesterday, but your sales indicate the market for new homes may be stronger than ever. Why is the market hot right now? You have to remember our core buyer is a buyer looking to retire to Florida. That is the strongest buying demographic in country right now. People entering retirement are the most likely to buy in any market in the country. Our market is less job-centric, so an issue like wage growth isn’t as important here. Now our communities are attractive to other groups—we really serve most of the buyer segment—but the strongest for us is what we call OPALs, Older People with Active Lifestyles.

What price range is performing strongest right now for Neal? Anything under $400,000 is doing well. The strongest market is still mid-200s, and really the price is moving up to between $250,000 and $300,000. That product is doing well.

Neal performed well even through the recession and remains a market leader here. How has the company held onto its position? We have a 45-year brand in the marketplace. We are the local hometown builder and that gives us a lot of credibility with the buying public. And we control a lot of land and a lot of lots. Land is the fuel that runs the homebuilding business, and we have the ability to expand.

Where are we in the boom-bust cycle? I’ve been doing this for 35 years, and I’m 0-for-35 in predicting what the next cycle is going to be or when it’s going to be. In our business we plan for rising markets and react to down markets; that’s about all can do. But my opinion is we are certainly not at the peak, and the market has a ways to go. We are probably in the middle innings, but I’m not sure if this is the third inning or sixth inning. 

[Exec Moves]  Lamb Joins RE/MAX

Realtor Rick Lamb joined the Osprey office of RE/MAX Platinum Realty. Lamb specializes in Sarasota and Manatee county waterfront properties that are not on the Gulf of Mexico.  Lamb has 30 years of experience in real estate-related fields, from RE/MAX franchise sales for the Tampa to Naples region, to land acquisition for international developers. Lamb was an agent with RE/MAX Properties, a predecessor of RE/MAX Alliance Group, and recruiting manager for Century 21 Beggins Enterprises, both in Sarasota. Prior to joining RE/MAX Platinum Realty, he was in charge of new business development for Waterfront 7 Realty on Longboat Key.  

RE/MAX Platinum Realty

[Recognition]  Venice Regional Heart Program Honored

Venice Regional Bayfront Health has been named one of the nation’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics, the only hospital with a heart program on Florida’s West coast to receive the honor. The study, now in its 16th year, singled out 50 hospitals that achieved superior clinical outcomes in this critical area of hospital care.  As is the case with the 100 Top Hospital study published annually by Truven Health, the rigorous processes used to calculate and measure hospital service lines leverage industry leading, risk-adjusted methodologies developed and maintained by Truven Health scientists over many years and are regarded as the leading program for evaluating leadership impact in a hospital, as well as in evaluating quality indicators and efficiencies.  

Truven Health Analytics

SRQ Media Group

SRQ DAILY is produced by SRQ | The Magazine. Note: The views and opinions expressed in the Saturday Perspectives Edition and in the Letters department of SRQ DAILY are those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement by SRQ Media. Senior Editor Jacob Ogles edits the Saturday Perspective Edition, Letters and Guest Contributor columns.In the CocoTele department, SRQ DAILY is providing excerpts from news releases as a public service. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by SRQ DAILY. The views expressed by individuals are their own and their appearance in this section does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. For rates on SRQ DAILY banner advertising and sponsored content opportunities, please contact Ashley Ryan Cannon at 941-365-7702 x211 or via email

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