Coffee Talk (Sara/Mana)

Coffee Talk (Sara/Mana)

Where did Pelican go?

With Hurricane Wilma still dominating the news in early November, few people probably noticed an announcement on Nov. 4 that Stark Bank Group of Fort Dodge, Iowa, plans to buy Naples-based Pelican Financial Group for about $31 million in cash.

The news comes on the heels of an action by the Comptroller of the Currency in September to force Pelican to increase its capital requirements, among other regulatory issues.

Stark is the holding company for First American Bank, which operates 16 branches throughout Iowa and reported assets in excess of $1 billion. Pelican Financial is the holding company for Pelican National Bank, which has six branches stretching from Naples to Sarasota and reported $204 million in assets.

The deal calls for Pelican shareholders to receive $6 per share in cash, though it's subject to certain adjustments based on merger costs. That's more than Pelican's $4.95-per-share closing price on November 3 but less than the 52-week high of $7.40 per share. The deal also calls for Stark to buy $4 million of a newly created series of Pelican convertible preferred stock. The acquisition is scheduled to be completed early next year.

Slower Christmas for Ranch's Main Street

Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc. and Casto Lifestyle Properties were hoping to have open some of the shops in Main Street at Lakewood Ranch this past week, but construction and approvals have delayed the opening through at least the middle of December. Permitting delays have hit at least one of the major anchors of the 170,000-square-foot retail town center located on the banks of Lake Uihlein. Epicurean Life planned to open a Morton's Gourmet Market and a new Fred's Restaurant in the new center, but permits for just the Fred's have taken four months.

"We don't even have the Morton's permits yet," says Eddie Morton, who operates Morton's. "We hired West Coast Construction Services to do all the pre-inspections and to file the plans. We submitted them the first of July. We just got the ones for Fred's. We're hoping we'll get the rest this week, but we thought that last week. Other tenants that were in before us still haven't got their's."

However, John Swart, president of Lakewood Ranch Realty, defended Manatee County's efforts to process the approvals. He argues that because the overall scope of the project was so large, approvals in some cases have just have taken longer than originally expected.

"This is a very arduous process," Swart says. "The first date was really just a guess. Obviously timing was a concern because we wanted to get everyone open by the holidays, but this is just a very complicated lengthy process."

Swart expects that 15 of the stores will be open for the new mid-December soft opening, but he plans to make arraignments to have elements in place through the holidays to show the public what Main Street will eventually look like.

Development of the Fred's location is expected to take 6 months while the Morton's will require about 100 days to construct.

Construction inflation

Ken Simonson, the chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America, is worried about the cost of building materials.

While consumer prices, excluding energy and food, are staying in line despite bad weather and rising interest rates, Simonson says construction supplies such as concrete and wallboard have spiked in the past year.

The price hikes, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, have Simonson forecasting supply shortages for nonresidential builders through the end of this year and into 2006.

"Many construction inputs are going through the proverbial roof," Simonson says in an AGC news release.

The price of concrete has gone up 10% over the past 12 months, and that is one of the smaller increases.

"Lumber and plywood prices have fallen, and steel prices are mixed," says Simonson. "However, the break on wood products benefits mainly single-family construction, not multifamily or nonresidential projects." Simonson says the Bush administration could alleviate some of the pressure on commercial contractors by suspending a federal duty on cement imported into this country from Mexico.

Small businesses unprepared

A study compiled by the International Profit Associates Small Business Research Board shows that nationwide, 79% of small businesses that responded to the survey did not have a disaster recovery plan. At the same time, an overwhelming majority of the study participants said that small businesses are the key to economic recovery after a major disaster.

Gregg Steinberg, president of International Profit Associates, the largest privately-held provider of management consulting and professional services to small and medium-size businesses in North America, called the results "unbelievably alarming," particularly since small business make up the majority of businesses in the United States. A total of 325 small business owners and senior managers participated in the voluntary poll.

Death and taxes

Manatee County has released a list of its top 10 taxpayers for the 2005 tax year. Just missing the cut-off was Inland Southeast with a total tax bill of $924,734.30, Simon Capital Partnership with $864,207.10 and the Peace River Electric Co-op at $632,870.44.

Manatee's Top Taxpayers Taxable Value Gross Tax

1. Tropicana Products Inc. $336,222,463 $6,847,946.38

2. Florida Power & Light Co. $300,018,955 $5,283,271.92

3. Gulfstream Natural Gas System LLC $136,115,107 $2,330,780.64

4. Verizon Florida Inc. $128,812,060 $2,297,529.45

5. Gulf Coast Factory Shops $71,828,830 $1,271,582.13

6. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. $64,800,051 $1,266,141.11

7. Brighthouse Networks $54,099,825 $989,099.61

8. Benderson Development $47,318,228 $978,192.53

9. Merion Management Inc. $47,375,796 $961,343.28

10. Manatee Memorial Hospital LP $44,736,896 $946,015.36