Corporate Report

Corporate Report

CORPORATE REPORT by Adam Hughes | Staff Writer

Tampa Bay area home prices buck trend to rise

Good news for the Tampa Bay area. Median home prices rose 15% in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area in June, unlike neighboring counties to the south that saw prices drop slightly, as sales faltered by as much as 48%, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

In pricey Naples, existing home prices fell 8% to $451,500 and Realtor home sales dipped 48%. Lee County, to Naples' north, saw its first year-over-year price decline in seven years, with a 5% drop to $268,000. Sales in Lee dropped 31%.

The biggest price increase was in the more affordable Tampa Bay area where prices jumped 15% to $239,600 from $208,700. Hillsborough-Pinellas-Pasco sales still declined 34%.

Punta Gorda, which also has had more moderate prices, saw an increase. The median home price there rose 3% to $222,300, while sales declined 34%. But the median condominium price jumped a whopping 90% to $350,000 from $184,300.

In the Sarasota-Bradenton area, prices declined by 3% to $326,800, but sales dropped 40% in June.

EXISTING HOME SALES

MSA June 2005 June 2006 Change

Fort Myers-Cape Coral 1,297 891 (31%)

Naples 528 274 (48%)

Punta Gorda 490 323 (34%)

Sarasota-Bradenton 1,276 762 (40%)

Tampa-St. Pete 5,230 3,442 (34%)

MEDIAN SALES PRICE OF HOMES

MSA June 2005 June 2006 Change

Fort Myers-Cape Coral $281,000 $268,000 (5%)

Naples $491,400 $451,500 (8%)

Punta Gorda $216,500 $222,300 3%

Sarasota-Bradenton $336,800 $326,800 (3%)

Tampa-St. Pete $208,700 $239,600 15%

EXISTING CONDO SALES

MSA June 2005 June 2006 Change

Fort Myers-Cape Coral 437 150 (66%)

Naples 109 57 (48%)

Punta Gorda 3 97 (97%)

Sarasota-Bradenton 566 297 (48%)

Tampa-St. Pete 1,307 695 (47%)

MEDIAN CONDO PRICES

MSA June 2005 June 2006 Change

Fort Myers-Cape Coral $250,000 $270,200 (7%)

Naples $505,400 $508,100 1%

Punta Gorda $184,300 $350,000 90%

Sarasota-Bradenton $258,100 $287,500 11%

Tampa-St. Pete $167,500 $172,100 3%

Sierra Club drops

Babcock suit

The Sierra Club resolved its administrative law challenge to the state's purchase of about 74,000 acres of Babcock Ranch in Lee and Charlotte counties for conservation. The environmental group reached a settlement with developer Syd Kitson for him to make revisions to his development plan for a city on the remaining 17,000 acres.

Among other concessions, Kitson, chairman and CEO of West Palm Beach-based Kitson & Partners, agreed to move some of his planned development to the south side of the ranch property to reduce sprawl, while at the same time increasing a planned wildlife corridor. In exchange, the Sierra Club backed off its push for a lower-density development. Kitson still plans to develop a city with about 19,000 residential units, along with associated commercial projects and schools.

The state is set to buy the conservation property for $310 million.

Naples HMA sells

three of its hospitals

Health Management Associates Inc. will sell three acute care hospitals to Shiloh Health Services Inc., a Nevada corporation. The purchase price was not released; the transaction is expected to be complete by Nov. 1.

Hospitals included in the deal are the 125-bed Southwest Regional Medical Center in Little Rock, Ark., the 103-bed Summit Medical Center in Van Buren, Ark., and the 76-bed Williamson Memorial Hospital in Williamson, W.Va.

New owner opens office

in M&I Bank Building

Triton Cos., a Detroit-based real estate development firm that purchased the former Gold Bank Plaza in downtown Sarasota earlier this year for $40 million, has opened an office in the building, which was recently renamed the M&I Bank Building.

The transaction, which closed in early April, is one of the largest in recent years in Sarasota and includes the 11-story, 125,000 square-foot office building, an eight-level, 625-space parking garage and two vacant parcels.

Two Tampa companies merge,

allowing a move to the public sector

Tampa-based Cast-Crete Corp. plans to go public after its merger with EarthFirst Technologies Inc., also of Tampa. The new company will assume the Cast-Crete name. After the 60-to-1 reverse stock split, total shares outstanding will be about 15 million.

Cast-Crete Corp. makes concrete lintels for building construction and parking space bumpers. EarthFirst develops and commercializes unusual technologies to make alternative fuel energy sources in ecologically friendly ways.

DeSoto County and Willis A. Smith

begin first Hospice for TideWell

Sarasota-based Willis A. Smith Construction Inc. broke ground on the first hospice in DeSoto County for TideWell Hospice. Willis A. Smith will build The Hospice House, a 10,350-square-foot facility with a 5,600-square-foot administrative center. The anticipated number of patients served annually through the Hospice House is 314. The opening is planned for September of 2007. 

Spanish language Yellow Pages

covers Sarasota to Naples

HYP Network's Directorio en Espanol launched the first edition of its new SunCoast Directory covering Sarasota, Charlotte, Collier, Lee and Manatee counties. In the past, Directorio en Espanol's Tampa Bay edition had a separate section covering the Sarasota/Bradenton area.