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By Chris Eversole T here’s a silver lining to a cloud that has hung over Gainesville Regional Airport the past three years. Silver Airways’ decision to move its maintenance facility to Gainesville, bringing up to 100 jobs—many of them transfers— removes the shortfall of income due to the short-lived stay of Eclipse Aviation. In April, Silver will begin leasing the 61,000-square-foot, $11.2 million maintenance building that the Gainesville-Alachua County Regional Airport Authority built for Eclipse, a manufacturer of innovative lightweight jets designed to be used as air taxis. Eclipse’s departure three years ago, precipitated by its bankruptcy, left the airport strapped with mortgage payments on the building—which have totaled more than $1 million. Now, Silver will cover most of the mortgage payments as well as contribute to the airport’s finances in other ways, like providing connecting flights to United Airlines, and infusing the local economy with salary dollars and purchases from local businesses. Airport CEO Allan Penksa calls landing Silver a “blessing,” noting that not many businesses need a massive building at an airport. “I could count on one hand the number of hot prospects we had.” The $485,000 yearly cost of the vacant building drained the airport’s budget. Penksa cut costs, raised some fees and tapped reserves to cover the shortfall. But still, he says, “Our situation wasn’t sustainable.” If Silver hadn’t arrived and economic conditions had worsened, the airport would have needed to request that the Federal Aviation Administration authorize the use of “passenger facility fees” for emergency debt relief, Penska says. “This is allowed under the law, but it never has been done anywhere before,” he says. “The airlines are reluctant to open the door to this mechanism.” SILVER SEEMS SOLID Silver operates more than 100 daily trips from 29 airports in Florida, the Bahamas, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Silver, which continues to have its corporate office in Fort Lauderdale, is the successor of Gulfstream International Airlines, which went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010. Chicago- based Victory Park Capital Group bought Gulfstream in late 2010, paying less than $30 million, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported. Inside Why the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens Remains a Success After 35 Years 12 Newberry Baseball Park Meets Unexpected Conflict with Hotel Group 21 Reserveage Organics Combines Local Science with International Beauty 24 Understanding Your Commercial Lease 25 By Chris Eversole I f the expert opinions at the recent University of Florida Bergstrom Center Real Estate Forum are any indication, Gainesville’s tastes in housing are shifting away from larger, more expensive homes requiring long commutes toward smaller homes, apartments and condos that are more convenient for getting to work, shopping and entertainment. Just how pronounced this shift is and how fast it’s occurring is a matter of opinion. Several developers are betting heavily on “new urbanism,” a movement being touted nationally that’s based on people living, working and playing in compact communities resembling historic towns. The Alachua County Commission has encouraged this trend by adopting policies regarding “transit-oriented development,” with densities more than three times those of Town of Tioga or Haile Village Center and some buildings up to six stories tall. The new urbanism flag-wavers include Mike Warren of AMJ Inc., who built upscale townhouses costing up to $400,000 each between downtown and the Duck Pond—in a project called Regents Park—between 2002 and 2007, prior to the housing bust. “We looked at the East Coast, from Savannah to Boston, for a model,” Warren says. “There wasn’t anything like it in Gainesville. “This is a market that was totally underserved. It’s made up of people who are used to living in a quality space in an urban setting. They like being near the Duck Pond, but they don’t want an older home.” AMJ sold all but five of the 46 units, and it’s renting the ones that didn’t sell. Among the Regents Park owners are Dan Boccabella, senior director of product management for software company SumTotal Systems, and his wife, Robyn LeBoeuf, a faculty member in UF’s marketing department. Boccabella loves living downtown, and he’s done so for more than a dozen years. He moved from the Seagle Building to a 2,300-square-foot condo in Regents Park. “If I want to do something once I’m home, all I have to do is walk,” he says. Among the Boccabellas’ neighbors in Regents Park are Rebecca Nagy, director of the Harn Museum of Art, and Joe Alba, chairman of UF’s marketing department. NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA MARCH 2012 (continued on page 9) (continued on page 14) Members of the Chamber of Commerce receive a free subscription to The Business Report. Compact Development, Convenient Lifestyle Gaining Favor Multi-family housing and smaller homes are targeting families and young professionals, but experts differ on the extent of the trend. Silver Airways CEO Darrell Richardson discusses the company’s plans at a welcoming ceremony held at the building it will use for its maintenance center. Chris Eversole New Company Helps Rescue Airport from Financial Pinch The arrival of Silver Airways to Gainesville fills one formerly expensive—and unsustainable—void.
Transcript
By Chris Eversole
There’s a silver lining to a cloud that has hung over Gainesville Regional Airport the
past three years.Silver Airways’ decision to move its
maintenance facility to Gainesville, bringing up to 100 jobs—many of them transfers—removes the shortfall of income due to the short-lived stay of Eclipse Aviation.
In April, Silver will begin leasing the 61,000-square-foot, $11.2 million maintenance building that the Gainesville-Alachua County Regional Airport Authority built for Eclipse, a manufacturer of innovative lightweight jets
designed to be used as air taxis. Eclipse’s departure three years ago, precipitated by its bankruptcy, left the airport strapped with mortgage payments on the building—which have totaled more than $1 million.
Now, Silver will cover most of the mortgage payments as well as contribute to the airport’s finances in other ways, like providing connecting flights to United Airlines, and infusing the local economy with salary dollars and purchases from local businesses.
Airport CEO Allan Penksa calls landing Silver a “blessing,” noting that not many businesses need a massive building at an airport. “I could count on one hand the number of hot prospects we had.”
The $485,000 yearly cost of the vacant building drained the airport’s budget. Penksa cut costs, raised some fees and tapped reserves to cover the shortfall. But still, he says, “Our situation wasn’t sustainable.”
If Silver hadn’t arrived and economic conditions had worsened, the airport would have needed to request that the Federal Aviation Administration authorize the use of
“passenger facility fees” for emergency debt relief, Penska says. “This is allowed under the law, but it never has been done anywhere before,” he says. “The airlines are reluctant to open the door to this mechanism.”
SILVER SEEMS SOLIDSilver operates more than 100 daily trips
from 29 airports in Florida, the Bahamas, Ohio,
New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.Silver, which continues to have its corporate
office in Fort Lauderdale, is the successor of Gulfstream International Airlines, which went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010. Chicago-based Victory Park Capital Group bought Gulfstream in late 2010, paying less than $30 million, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
InsideWhy the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens Remains a Success After 35 Years
12Newberry Baseball Park Meets Unexpected Conflict with Hotel Group
21Reserveage Organics Combines Local Science with International Beauty
24Understanding Your Commercial Lease
25
By Chris Eversole
If the expert opinions at the recent University of Florida Bergstrom Center
Real Estate Forum are any indication, Gainesville’s tastes in housing are shifting away from larger, more expensive homes requiring long commutes toward smaller homes, apartments and condos that are more convenient for getting to work, shopping and entertainment.
Just how pronounced this shift is and how fast it’s occurring is a matter of opinion. Several developers are betting heavily on “new urbanism,” a movement being touted nationally that’s based on people living, working and playing in compact communities resembling historic towns.
The Alachua County Commission has encouraged this trend by adopting policies regarding “transit-oriented development,” with densities more than three times those of Town of Tioga or Haile Village Center and some buildings up to six stories tall.
The new urbanism flag-wavers include Mike Warren of AMJ Inc., who built upscale townhouses costing up to $400,000 each between downtown and the Duck Pond—in a project called Regents Park—between 2002 and 2007, prior to the housing bust.
“We looked at the East Coast, from Savannah to Boston, for a model,” Warren says. “There wasn’t anything like it in Gainesville.
“This is a market that was totally underserved. It’s made up of people who are used to living in a quality space in an urban setting. They like being near the Duck Pond,
but they don’t want an older home.”AMJ sold all but five of the 46 units, and it’s
renting the ones that didn’t sell.Among the Regents Park owners are
Dan Boccabella, senior director of product management for software company SumTotal Systems, and his wife, Robyn LeBoeuf, a faculty member in UF’s marketing department.
Boccabella loves living downtown, and he’s done so for more than a dozen years. He moved from the Seagle Building to a 2,300-square-foot condo in Regents Park.
“If I want to do something once I’m home, all I have to do is walk,” he says.
Among the Boccabellas’ neighbors in Regents Park are Rebecca Nagy, director of the Harn Museum of Art, and Joe Alba, chairman of UF’s marketing department.
N O R T H C E N T R A L F L O R I D A
MARCH 2012
(continued on page 9)
(continued on page 14)
Members of the Chamber of Commerce receive a free subscription to The Business Report.
Compact Development, Convenient Lifestyle Gaining FavorMulti-family housing and smaller homes are targeting families and young professionals, but experts differ on the extent of the trend.
Silver Airways CEO Darrell Richardson discusses the company’s plans at a welcoming ceremony held at the building it will use for its maintenance center.
Chris Eversole
New Company Helps Rescue Airport from Financial PinchThe arrival of Silver Airways to Gainesville fills one formerly expensive—and unsustainable—void.
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Contributing ColumnistsHeather van BloklandPhilip GeistSeth LaneJim Meisenheimer John Spence
PhotographersChris EversoleDavid Keith Studios
Copyright 2012 by Broad Beach Media.
20In the News
12Success Story
N O R T H C E N T R A L F L O R I D A
Davi
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tudi
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The NorTh CeNTral FlorIDa BusINess reporT MARCH 201266
I recently read a book entirely on a tablet for the first time, while (guiltily) neglecting the paper edition that arrived days later. It got me thinking: In a time when “success” often means merely
staying afloat, what can we learn from the book industry—perhaps in a greater state of flux than any other industry?
You’ve certainly read the headlines. Bookstores are folding, undercut by literary agents and Internet behemoths enticing authors to self-publish. Book publishers are being nailed by e-readers that are eliminating the need for more profitable printed books. Some publishing houses are just giving up.
I recently sat down with an old colleague who works in book publishing, who shared some examples of how the more tenacious and innovative among them are reinventing themselves to keep the pages turning—and the doors open. Their techniques just might have value for your business as well.
Embrace change rather than resist it. Seeing where the market is heading, 180-year-old publishing house Baker & Taylor is building relationships with the makers of smart phones and e-readers. The goal? To place Baker & Taylor book content on new devices when they’re shipped. This not only opens up a whole new universe of customers for the publishing house; it gives readers a taste of Baker & Taylor’s good books, which could turn them into customers for life.
Anticipate where tomorrow’s fire will occur, rather than fixate on today’s. When facing a crisis, most of us look for the immediate solution. (The old “revenue is down/run a sale” mindset.) But you can’t simply respond to current problems; you have to figure what’s coming next. That’s what prompted Barnes & Noble to create the Nook e-reader. B&N anticipated it would lose the e-book edge if it simply stayed with print books or generated electronic books and sold them through Amazon. So it evolved into an electronics manufacturer.
Wayne Gretsky promoted the importance of this type of anticipation when talking about what made him such a great hockey player. “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been,” Gretsky said.
Squeeze every possible dollar out of everything you create. Realizing that the old profit model will never return, smart publishers are slicing and dicing new and existing books so they can sell the same content in dozens of ways to appeal to multiple consumers.
Rethink customer interaction. For hundreds of years, book publishing was a one-off business: You printed a book, sold it to some anonymous customer, then moved on to the next book and next nameless customer. Now, with e-books and publishing websites, publishers can nurture
relationships with customers that begin before a book is sold and extend far after the sale.
At the recent Digital Book World conference in New York City, one publisher said his company is creating online communities for upcoming books and posting excerpts while the authors are still writing to get avid readers excited.
Another publisher spoke of her company’s use of Internet links in e-books. The links take readers to websites that offer related material for free, as well as opportunities to buy other books. As this publisher said, “Don’t think of an e-book as the end of the sale; think of it as the beginning of engagement.”
Use technology to bolster existing strengths. Publishing houses have always done a good job promoting top authors through books tours, interviews and ads. But now, they’re going a step further. Harper Collins, for example is creating smart phone apps for top authors like Elmore Leonard, and using the apps to extend each author’s brand.
As the folks in the Innovation Gainesville movement have been preaching for two years, our area’s future success is predicated on innovation. But innovation isn’t simply a matter of inventing something new. It’s also a matter of adapting what’s old. If small business owners embrace that, like smart book publishers, we can continue to be successful as the world speeds up around us.
( Editor’s Viewpoint )by Maghan McDowellReinvention as the Truest Form of Innovation
Do you have an idea for a column based on your business expertise?
Have something to say?
Submit your columns, ideas, feedback and business questions to [email protected].
Please note that submissions will be considered for publication as space allows.
www.gainesvillebizreport.com 7
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Several years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman at the Aspen Institute, where he was giving a lecture on globalization.
One of the qualities I admire most about Friedman is that he is a journalist who does his homework.
He doesn’t write from theory alone; he gets on a plane and gets his boots on the ground to find out what is happening firsthand. He might spend several years and log hundreds of thousands of miles to deeply understand the topic on which he is focused.
For this reason, I listen carefully when he has something to say. Recently, Friedman wrote a commentary on the future of America’s economy in which he emphatically stated that the merger of globalization and new information technologies would create “ecosystems” of innovation that would become the driver of our country’s return to greatness.
In the column, Friedman wrote, “the best of these ecosystems will be cities and towns that combine a university, an educated populace, a dynamic business community and the fastest broadband connections on earth. These will be the job factories of the future.”
My friends, he is talking about Gainesville—and he is talking directly to you. As business leaders in this community we have the opportunity—no, the obligation—to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that Gainesville is clearly recognized
as one of the nation’s premiere “innovation ecosystems.” So how do we do that? Here are a few ideas.
START WITH YOU. Work hard to create a culture of invention, innovation and creativity within your organization. Whether you run a restaurant, a manufacturing facility, a professional services firm or a retail shop, find ways to encourage everyone that works for you to think like an entrepreneur (or an “intrapreneur”) by constantly looking for ways to improve, grow and accelerate innovation throughout your business.
BUILD A NETWORK OF INNOVATION. Become a fanatic not just for meeting but for truly collaborating with fellow business people across our community. Embrace the idea of “co-opitition,” rather than competition, and share your best ideas with other businesses in town to help them improve. And when you meet cool, innovative people, introduce them to everyone else you know to get them connected and sharing their best ideas, too.
GET INVOLVED IN THE STARTUP COMMUNITY. Gainesville has more business incubators per capita than any other city in the United States. These include the amazing new Innovation Hub at the University of Florida, Santa Fe’s Center for Innovation and Economic Development (CIED), the Gainesville Technology Enterprise Center (GTEC), the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator and more. Right now there are dozens of highly innovative small businesses being planted and they need all the help, guidance and support our business community can give them.
You could be a mentor and offer your expertise and experience, or allow one of the startups to use some of your
equipment or people. Perhaps you could offer some financial support, even at the micro-finance level. The key is this: There is no way we can have a vibrant and growing entrepreneurial community unless we get everyone involved in helping and supporting our local startups.
STOP THINKING LIKE A SMALL TOWN. This one is especially near and dear to my heart. I travel all over the world, working with businesses of every conceivable size and focus, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that Gainesville is one of the most impressive and exciting communities for business innovation in the world. We have everything Thomas Friedman was talking about: A top-tier university, one of the nation’s leading community colleges, a highly educated populace, a dynamic business community, incredible sporting events, world-class arts and leisure activities and strong community activism in one of the most beautiful places to live in the country.
Gainesville is in a truly unique position to stand up and be counted as one of a handful of elite communities that could be considered as an international hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. What is holding us back? Nothing but ourselves.
by John Spence
( Building Business )
John Spence is the author of Awesomely Simple – Essential Business Strategies for Turning Ideas into Action. He is an award-wining professional speaker and corporate trainer, and has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Business Thought Leaders in America and also as one of the most admired Small Business Experts in the nation.
JOB FACTORIES OF T H E F U T U R E
Embrace the idea of “co-opitition,” rather than competition, and share your best ideas with other businesses.
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V ictory Park finances small and medium-sized companies, and its portfolio includes the Fuller Brush Company, Giordan’s restaurants, pharmaceutical company Unigene Laboratories
and Ascent Aviation Services Corp. Victory Park raised $480 million from a broad group of institutional investors, endowments and foundations in November, according to the company’s website.
With Victory Park’s backing, Silver is upgrading its fleet, adding six Saab 340BPlus turboprops to its 19 Beechcraft 1900D aircraft. The turbo-prop Saabs are a big step up. They carry 34 passengers, compared to the 19 that the Beechcraft carry, and they feature a noise-cancellation system that makes them as quiet as a large jet aircraft.
Silver needed a new maintenance center because the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is planning to tear down its present maintenance hangar for a runway expansion, says Silver CEO Darrell Richardson.
Gainesville was competing with other suitors for Silver from South Florida as well as Ocala. With that in mind, Penksa negotiated a lease rate of about $6 per square foot, with an escalator to keep up with inflation in the sixth year and beyond.
Silver will also pick up costs that the airport has been covering, including $44,000 annually for insurance, utilities and building maintenance.
Penksa figures additional passengers coming to the airport for Silver’s flights may increase the airport’s revenue from rental car companies by 7 percent and from parking by 7 percent.
The bottom line: By the sixth year of its lease, Silver’s rent, combined with other fees it pays, is expected to cover the mortgage payments on the building.
Silver’s Richardson says Gainesville was a perfect fit for Silver. “This was the easiest decision I’ve made in my 40 years in aviation,” Richardson says. “There were a lot of cities competing for our business. We fell in love with Gainesville, and here we are.”
HOLDING STEADY IN TURBULENT TIMESWhile airport and community leaders welcomed Silver with
great fanfare, including a rousing ovation at the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Toast to Business, Penksa maintains his usual even temperament in discussing the newcomer’s impact.
“It takes a lot of pressure off, but we don’t know what the future holds,” Penska says.
Penksa is being realistic about the uncertainties of regional airports in a day when aviation is struggling due to reduced travel and a drop-off in the number of private pilots. “The industry hasn’t hit bottom yet,” Penksa says. “Aviation is always volatile.”
One uncertainty is if American Airlines will maintain its service, which is made up of two flights each way daily between Gainesville and Miami. American and its parent company, AMR Corp., filed for bankruptcy protection in November, and it has cut 13,000 jobs, which is 15 percent of their workforce.
Despite the financial woes, American Eagle, the subsidiary that flies to Gainesville, increased passengers overall by 10 percent over the past year, USA Today reports. American’s Gainesville flights are 80 percent full, Penksa says.
In light of the industry woes, the Gainesville airport’s accomplishments since Penksa, who was the deputy executive director and chief operations officer before becoming CEO in early 2007, are impressive. They include:
The $7.1 million remodeling of the airport, completed in • 2008, spruced up the terminal in addition to expanding the waiting area and adding a new food service area. Federal grants covered 95 percent of the remodeling.
The addition of American service, which began in October • 2010. (continued on next page)
“This was the easiest decision I’ve made in my 40 years in aviation. There were a lot of cities competing for our business.”
—Silver Airways CEO Darrell Richardson
( Cover Story )
(continued from cover)
Money from Airlines Only Portion of Operating Budget
The decision to construct an $11 million building for Eclipse Aviation was controversial.
Former Gainesville Regional Airport CEO Rick Crider and most Gainesville-Alachua County Airport Authority members were enthusiastic about the potential benefits of bringing Eclipse to town, based on the salesmanship of the company’s executives, which included former Microsoft executive Vern Raburn, and reports that Microsoft founder Bill Gates had invested heavily in Eclipse.
Raburn touted his plans to develop an air taxi service based on Eclipse’s cutting-edge six-passenger jets, originally targeted to cost about $1 million each.
Airport Authority Mark Goldstein was not sold on Eclipse. Goldstein, a former city commissioner and mayor and a frequent critic of what he regards as government waste, saw the move as too speculative, with the airport assuming all the risk of constructing the building.
“Eclipse didn’t have any skin in the game,” he says. “It was the worst possible deal.”
Goldstein recalls taking heat for his criticism of the deal, with most people involved wowed by the Eclipse team.
Eclipse’s viability was far from certain at the time the airport authority approved its building, which was financed equally by a Florida Department of Transportation grant and a bank loan. Eclipse didn’t receive provisional Federal Aviation Administration certification of its planes until late July 2006, three months after the groundbreaking for the Gainesville airport building.
Eclipse had one problem after another, including the prices of its planes more than doubling and a congressional inquiry into whether the Federal Aviation Administration’s certification of the Eclipse jet had been flawed.
Several past and present FAA employees testified before the House Aviation Committee that their managers pressured them to not look more than an inch deep during the certification process, according to the AvWeb website.
The ribbon-cutting for the Eclipse building at the airport occurred in June 2007. Trouble was little more than a year away. DayJet, the air taxi service based on Eclipe’s planes, stopped operating in Gainesville in September 2008, and Eclipse’s employees didn’t receive paychecks due them Nov. 13, 2008, according to airport authority minutes.
The airport is fortunate that Silver Airways is taking over the building built for Eclipse, Goldstein says. “We’re lucky to find a tenant,” he says. “The building was an expensive white elephant.”
Gainesville wasn’t alone in losing its gamble on Eclipse, which was headquartered in Albuquerque. The New Mexico State Investment Council invested $19 million in the company, reported television station KRQE.
Current Airport CEO Allan Penksa, then the second in command, wasn’t in a position to influence the Eclipse deal that his boss was negotiating, but he was able to recommend the type of building that was constructed.
Penksa insisted the building be adaptable to other aviation companies than Eclipse, with a ceiling clearance of 24 feet. Eclipse wanted a ceiling clearance of 16 feet because its planes were relatively short. “The final ceiling height works well for Silver,” Penksa says.
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Expansion of Delta Airlines’ daily flights from six to seven.• The planned installation of 290 kilowatts of solar panels • this summer as part of GRU’s feed-in tariff program.
Air Method Corp., a company that operates medical • helicopters across the United States, opened a repair facility at the airport in 2009.
Progress continues, with the first phase of a $1.1 million federally funded airport entrance road nearing completion. The road will provide access to 34 acres of land that’s planned for business use.
In addition, work on a $2.1 million rental car washing and fueling center, which will improve efficiency for the rental car companies, is under way.
On the horizon is a $1.7 million improvement to the front of the airport, which will include replacing the original windows from 1979 with energy efficient ones, upgraded lighting and sidewalk and landscaping improvements.
SMALL BUDGET MAKES BIG IMPACTThe Eclipse building debt that the airport has been covering
represents 12 percent of the airport’s $4.3 million yearly operating budget. Silver’s rent will relieve pressure to raise charges to airlines and will allow the airport to build up reserves, Penksa says.
But the amount of a ticket that goes to the airport makes up only part of the airport’s revenue. Airlines-related revenue accounts for just 31 percent of total airport revenue. Parking fees are a close second, at 26 percent. They’re followed by revenue from rental car companies, at 21 percent. General aviation, which includes all private planes, makes up 17 percent of the revenue.
The airport’s operation provides the foundation for an array of economic activity. “We’re like the mall operator,” Penksa says. “We maintain our facilities, and businesses rent space from us.”
Employment numbers show the tenants’ impact. The airport authority itself employs only 31 of the 297 full-time and part-
time employees working at the airport. The University Air Center employs 59 people and provides many services that aren’t associated with passenger air service, including charter service, a pilot school, airplane rentals and airplane fueling. With Silver’s addition of about 100 employees, total jobs at the airport will increase by one-third.
A 2010 Florida Department of Transportation study found the following:
The direct local economic impact of the airport, including • payroll and purchases of goods and services, was $67 million.
In addition, the indirect impact was $62 million. This • includes spending by visitors to the community, which the study estimates made up 44 percent of all passengers.
A multiplier effect from the direct and indirect economic • impact of the airport totals $102 million.
Taking everything into consideration, the total economic • impact is $231 million.
The airport, unlike some regional airports, operates without the help of any local tax dollars, Penksa notes. “The huge airports have large passenger volumes and are very self-sufficient, but we must work hard to live off of what we bring in,” Penksa says.
( Cover Story )JOBS AT GAINESVILLE REGIONAL AIRPORT
( I N C L U D E S F U L L - T I M E A N D P A R T- T I M E )
Silver Airways (projected) 100
University Air Service 59
Avis Car Rental and Budget Rent-A-Car 34
Gainesville-Alachua County Regional Airport Authority
35
Regional Elite (provides ground services for Delta and American)
31
Transportation Security Administration 26
Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rentals and Alamo Rent-A-Car
15
US Airways 13
Taxi drivers 12
Hertz 11
Tailwind Deli News and Gifts 10
Joint Gainesville Police Department/Alachua County Sheriff’s Department Aviation
9
RD Air Service, which operates charter flights
8
University Athletic Association 7
Gainesville Fire Rescue 6
FAA Air Traffic Control Tower 6
BY THE NUMBERSGAINESVILLE REGIONAL AIRPORT FLEW 360,000
PASSENGERS LAST YEAR IN 2011, AN INCREASE
FROM 324,000 IN 2010.
THE AIRPORT AND COMPANIES BASED THERE HAVE
APPROXIMATELY 300 PART-TIME AND FULL-TIME
EMPLOYEES.
SILVER AIRWAYS WILL BRING ABOUT 100 JOBS.
www.gainesvillebizreport.com 11
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Santa Fe College’s annual Alachua-Bradford County Women of Distinction and Woman of Promise awards
honor prominent women from within the college’s ser-vice area for the 25th year.
The event was created by the Women’s History Committee at SFC in 1987 shortly after the United States Congress designated March as Women’s History Month. Since the awards began, more than 100 women have been selected as Women of Distinction and Women of Promise.
This year, recipients include (left to right) Alena King Lawson, DeeJay Hellrung, Mary Wise, Sylvia Reddish, Jenna Stafford, Linda McGurn and Bennye Alligood.
Alena King Lawson currently serves on the Newberry City Commission and was the first and only black woman to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant for the GPD.
DeeJay Hellrung, an advocate for children’s health, is active in a variety of organizations, including March of Dimes, Children’s Home Society, Girl Scouts, Girls Place and the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation, among many others.
Mary Wise has coached the University of Florida’s volleyball team for more than 21 seasons. She is the “winningest” coach at Florida, including 19 SEC
championships, 12 tournament titles and seven Final Four matches. She is the honorary chair and fundraiser for PACE Center for Girls.
Sylvia Reddish, a successful businesswoman, operated an insurance agency for more than two decades. She is a charter member of Altrusa, is a breast cancer survivor and a Reach for Recovery volunteer, and is active in civic affairs.
Jenna Stafford is an Eastside High School student enrolled in Santa Fe’s High School Dual Enrollment program. She has been very active at Eastside and in the Gainesville community, including cooking dinner once a month at St. Francis House, volunteering full-time in the summer at Duval Elementary, and volunteering in after-school programs and with her church.
Linda McGurn is a redeveloper responsible for the rebirth of downtown Gainesville and is active in many community organizations. McGurn and her husband, Ken, reclaimed, restored and developed the Sun Center, Arlington Square Apartments, Star Garage and Union Street Station.
Bennye Alligood is the Associate Vice President for College and Community Relations at Santa Fe College.
She’s active in Altrusa, serves on the YMCA board and many other community endeavors. She has served the college for more than three decades.
This year’s awards celebration will be at the Fine Arts Hall on Thursday, March 15, at 4:30pm. For more information about the event, please contact Event Coordinator Cheryl Farrell at 352-395-5181.
SFC Honors Seven Women of Distinction
The NorTh CeNTral FlorIDa BusINess reporT MARCH 201212
For 35 years, local favorite Kanapaha Botanical Gardens has continued to thrive and be a destination for residents
and visitors. Located just off I-75 at the Archer Road exit, Kanapaha Botanical Gardens is the closest botanical garden to 1.5 million Floridians. The garden is comprised of 24 major collections visually accessible from a paved walkway, including the state’s largest public display of bamboos and the largest herb garden in the Southeast.
Kanapaha, which operates as a non-profit organization, continues to be an area success due to the work of its founder and director, Don Goodman, and the Kanapaha Botanical Garden team. Goodman recently retired from the director role, and his daughter, Alexis, has taken over the helm. Here we take a look back at what the Goodmans and their teams have done to make Kanapaha Botanical Gardens the treasured area destination it is today.
Why did you start Kanapaha Botanical Gardens? My wife and I purchased the land that is now Kanapaha
Botanical Gardens in the summer of 1977. We knew we wanted to start a garden and so we spent a lot of time driving around Florida for the ideal location. At the time, we were operating a plant nursery and noticed that patrons kept buying the same plants over and over after killing them for one reason or another. So, we started teaching gardening, and that instruction evolved to us teaching at what was then Santa Fe Community College. It was at Santa Fe where we thought of the idea of starting our own botanical garden here in Gainesville.
When we got the land in September of 1977, we entered into a 90-year lease for 30 acres. Later, we expanded our property to what is now 62 acres, all on the same long-term lease. We opened to the public in 1986, and today KBG is the second largest botanical gardens in the state of Florida [after Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens in Miami].
In the early years, we took assistance wherever we found it. Local developer Phil Emmer gave us 500 feet of chain-link fencing and a cargo trailer that we renovated into our first office. Alachua County provided a bit of seed money and the City of Gainesville gave us access to its brick repository, from which we mined, cleaned and transported antique bricks for use in our herb and bamboo gardens.
It was a good ten years before the venture was able to provide me with anything approaching a salary.
What has been the biggest surprise to you about running KBG?
How much has been accomplished. When you continually work five to seven days every week, month after month and
year after year, you don’t notice all the incremental changes taking place along the way. You don’t see the big successes that have taken place over a long period of time. However, when we take a step back to take stock of the big picture, it is amazing what we have managed to accomplish.
How has KBG changed over the years?KBG has always had three major milestones as measures of
success. In 1997, we achieved the first milestone by finishing construction on the dedicated, paved road and sign that mark KBG’s entrance. Prior to 1997, we had no direct throughway onto Archer Road.
The second milestone was achieved in 2002, when we built and opened a fully functioning modern entranceway and visitor’s center. The visitor’s center serves as the central point for the gardens and established a grounding and presence representative of the size and scope of the property.
Our last milestone is still to be achieved. We’d like to have direct signage on I-75 for visitors and travelers. However, this is an ongoing project for us, as federal statutes limit the postings on a highway sign to two, meaning two locations or venues can be labeled per highway exit sign. For the Gainesville Archer Road exit, that sign is already occupied with two notations, so there is no imminent ability for us to get space, although we will keep working on it.
Tell us about your typical patron. We have a good mix of patrons, both locally and from
other areas. KBG has over one thousand members, and memberships are typically renewed year after year. We attribute some of our repeat patronage to our friendly policies, like allowing visitors to bring their dogs to our garden and our annual events, which draw large crowds of first-time visitors as well as loyal patrons.
KBG is always welcoming to new members. Memberships are available for students, families, individuals and businesses. Membership benefits include unlimited entry to
the garden, reduced rates on special events as well as reduced rates at several other botanical gardens.
How large of a region do you serve?Out-of-town visitors and patrons come from everywhere
from Atlanta to throughout Florida. We distribute advertising brochures through three different distributors covering 400 locations from Atlanta to Tampa on I-75. We have flyers in all seven service plazas on the turnpike.
How has KBG remained financially successful?One word: Versatility. In the past, we have relied on donors
and grants to wholly support the operation, but we came to realize that any sort of public funding was too unreliable and often came with many strings attached. So we have managed to be fully self-supporting now for the past ten years. Not relying on grants or public funding has allowed us to remain immune to the cutbacks that several public and semi-public institutions have suffered over the last several years.
We have three full-time employees at 62 acres, compared to more than 30 at Sarasota’s 15-acre Marie Selby Botanical Garden.
However, the economy has affected us just like everyone else, and versatility has come into play now more than ever. KBG is answering that need by launching several fundraising campaigns. Attendance remains strong and has actually increased at the garden, and we are hopeful that the added effort will more than suffice for the gardens’ financial needs.
What is the one tool or resource you find you cannot live without?
Volunteers! When we started, we never knew how devoted our volunteers would be to our cause or how much they’d be needed. With our volunteers, we are able to stretch our budget to be double what it is alone. We work off of a $500k annual advertising budget. We get twenty percent of our revenues from the Spring Garden Festival and the Winter Bamboo Sale. Also, we get rental income from weddings and other functions and this has increased recently. With our volunteers, we operate like it is a million dollars and we just couldn’t do it without them.
What keeps you up at night?As a non-profit, finances are always on the mind. Mostly
though, I try not to waste my time worrying about things. You could say I like to “leave the window open and listen to the weeds grow.”
( Success Story )
“Not relying on grants or public funding has allowed us to remain immune to the cutbacks that several public and semi-public institutions have suffered over the last several years.”
Don Goodman passes the torch of KBG and recounts its successes
By Heather van Blokland
David Keith Studios
Don Goodman taught part-time at what was then Santa Fe Community College and worked as an environmental consultant before Kanapaha Botanical Gardens really took off.
a LegacyCelebrating
www.gainesvillebizreport.com 13
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( Success Story )How do you choose when and how to grow or change the garden, and what steps do you take?
We have a very lean staff, so we are not very structured about growth in general. Change comes from the suggestions and ideas of the staff and volunteers. As an example, this year we are getting more publicity through various publications about what we are doing, when our events are and trying new and innovative ways to get the word out about us, like online and print media.
What do you look for in employees/volunteers and what is their average tenure?
We are very lucky here to be in Gainesville and have the resources and talent of the University of Florida. We get so many volunteers and staff trained in horticulture from the school, and KBG is a natural fit for these skills. We look for these credentials in any candidate as well as their long-term view and willingness to be part of the KBG family. We like to keep the continuity and seek commitment from our team. Our longest employee has been with us eleven years, which is remarkable given the four-year time frame of most UF/Gainesville residents.
What advice would you offer someone who wanted to start something like Kanapaha Botanical Gardens?
Three basic things: First, visit other gardens before you start and do so with your eyes open. Second, be committed for the long-term. Financial sacrifices are required up front, and there is not a quick return. Lastly and most importantly, look at the feasibility for a botanical garden in the demographics of the town in which you’d like to establish a presence. In Kanapaha’s case, we are not part of a metropolitan area like many other successful botanical
gardens, and we have to work to keep patronage strong.
What is your long-term vision for KBG?
We have one major infrastructure deficiency still and that is a need for a conservatory. It will be a major greenhouse with climate control to possibly house tropical plants and a year-round tropical rainforest. We are looking to feature color and plants that are in bloom 365 days a year. We are still looking for funding sources for the conservatory and to establish a timeline for it.
What’s next for Kanapaha?Well, I am retiring and my
daughter, Alexis, is taking over as director. She has been acting director for two months now, and I could not be more proud. When we started this thing over 30 years ago, I never thought about it not being forever. Seeing your own daughter do her own thing and show her passion for this work has been an amazing experience for a father.
What’s your personal measure of success?I believe that people are basically good and do the right
thing. I measure success based on the feedback I get from visitors and patrons of KBG. I take affirmations of Kanapaha as a mark that we provide value.
In the world of business, success is usually measured in financial terms, but that is not the foundation of our claim to success. While it is true that we now generate adequate
revenue to maintain a level of sustained functions, we have succeeded in giving substance to a dream, and it is difficult to imagine what greater success one could desire.
The Spring Garden Festival at KBG, March 24 and 25, features 200 booths offering plants, landscape displays, garden accessories, arts and crafts, educational exhibits and foods. A walk-through butterfly conservatory, children’s activities area, live entertainment and auctions are also featured. Admission is $8 for adults.
Don Goodman has retired and transferred the director’s reigns of the KBG to daughter Alexis.
David Keith Studios
The NorTh CeNTral FlorIDa BusINess reporT MARCH 201214
From time to time, Boccabella has considered buying a single-family home, but he prefers the conveniences of living downtown over a new suburban home west of I-75
and the energy efficiency and reliability of new construction over a historic Duck Pond home. “My only complaint is that we only have a one-car garage,” he says.
AMJ also built OakGate, a 32-unit townhouse development in the 2900 block of Northwest Sixth Street. OakGate, priced at less than $200,000 per unit, hit the market in 2007, when mortgages were tightening up, and only three units sold, leading Warren to convert the remaining units to rentals.
Rent is $975 for a two-bedroom unit and $1,100 for a three-bedroom. “We had intended OakGate to be for police officers, nurses and teachers,” Warren says. “It’s pretty much who we thought it would be, but they’re renting. It’s cheaper to rent than own.”
Although both Regents Park and OakGate are full, neither project has been very profitable, and Warren has held off on completing the additional 64 units he had planned for OakGate, he says.
Like OakGate, most condo communities built between 2006 and 2008 have become primarily rental communities, says Aaron Bosshardt, CEO of Bosshardt Property Management.
“If you built condos with a target price near $200,000, you’re not making money with rents of $700 to $900,” he says. “Still, most investment groups are sticking with their properties, refinancing them if they can, and fighting to break even.
“It’s not like Orlando and other parts of Florida where investors are walking away.”
PROPOSED COMMUNITIES FOCUS ON CONVENIENCEWhile Warren focused on in-fill—building in developed
areas—other developers are focused on all-new construction—and in a big way.
Among them is Svein Dyrkolbotn, who’s set to begin construction this spring on what amounts to a new town—Celebration Pointe. It has the potential for 2,225 residential units consisting of condos, apartments, hotels and independent and assisted-living facilities. It also can include up to 896,000 square feet of nonresidential space devoted to retail, office and civic uses. One hundred of the 225 acres in Celebration Pointe
would be placed in conservation.The project is located north of Archer Road and between I-75
and Lake Kanapaha.Dyrkolbotn is counting on young professionals. “They’re
looking for a place that’s eco-friendly and where they can get a latte in the morning, walk to work, then hit the gym, grab a bite to eat and have a drink with friends later in an upscale, urban environment,” he says. “They don’t want to worry about yard maintenance and the responsibility of home ownership.”
Celebration Pointe also targets Baby Boomers and retirees. “They may want to be able to take off for the Carolinas or Europe and have a maintenance-free home waiting when they come back,” Dyrkolbotn says.
Two adjacent developments north of Santa Fe College will make an even bigger impact than Celebration Pointe.
Springhills, planned for 2,500 residential units and one million square feet of commercial and office space, is owned by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT). Santa Fe Village, owned by Santa Fe HealthCare, has a potential for 1,400 residential lots and 690,000 square feet of retail and office space.
“There’s a growing and strong segment interested in a convenient lifestyle,” says PREIT’s John Dionis.
Newberry Village, located between Fort Clarke Boulevard and I-75, is planned for 900 residential units and 690,000 square feet of retail and office space. It’s being created by Coral Gables-based New Urban Works Development.
SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES REMAIN POPULARWhile some developers are focused on new urbanism,
real estate broker Betsy Pepine says the vast majority of her customers still want single-family homes, albeit ones that are somewhat smaller and less expensive than what customers
wanted five or more years ago. And while more and more families are living in apartments, often it’s only out of necessity, Pepine says.
“I’m not seeing the interest in new urbanism in my own business,” says Pepine, who presented information she compiled at the Bergstrom Center Real Estate Forum, which was hosted by Beau Beery, president of Coldwell Banker Commercial M.M. Parrish Realtors.
Some people, she says, choose an apartment because they can’t get a mortgage due to tightened lending standards, while others choose an apartment temporarily. For example, she says, “their home from where they’ve moved is still on the market, and they’re waiting for it to sell.”
Bosshardt Property Management is seeing a strong market for single-family home rentals, Bosshardt says. The company raised rents for its single-family homes by 5 percent last year and 5 percent again this year, he says.
The company has seen the number of units it manages double over the past three years, reaching 759, Bosshardt says.
“Owners are renting out property for a variety of reason,” Bosshardt says. “Some have moved, others bought it for their kids while they were in college, and others bought a bigger home.
“If you’ve got a low interest rate, it makes more sense to rent a property out than sell it for a low price,” he says.
The company that screens renters for Bosshardt doesn’t rule out renters who have gone through a foreclosure or a short sale, Bosshardt says. “They realize that people have made a mistake, and they put much of their weight on the applicants’ debt-to-income ratio.”
MARKET’S PROBLEMS BENEFIT BUYERSHow you look at the Gainesville area’s real estate market
depends on your point of view. For homeowners, the bad news is that about 40 percent of
all homes in the Gainesville area are “underwater,” meaning the owner owes more than the home is worth, Pepine says. While the number is high, the Gainesville area’s percentage of underwater property is below the statewide average of 45 percent, Pepine says.
The large number of “distressed” sales—those that have been
“The only people who are selling are people who have to sell, with the exception of some people who are moving up to a larger home
and are taking advantage of values out there.—Real estate broker Betsy Pepine
( Cover Story )
(continued from cover)COMPACT AND TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT KEYCelebration Pointe will feature a lifestyle that reflects the trend toward “new urbanism.”
www.gainesvillebizreport.com 15
foreclosed or were a short sale—account for 26 percent of all sales, an increase from 15 percent a year ago.
Low property values are keeping many potential sellers on the sidelines, Pepine says. “The only people who are selling are people who have to sell, with the exception of some people who are moving up to a larger home and are taking advantage of values out there.”
For buyers who can get mortgages, opportunity abounds, Pepine says, with 75 percent of all home sales being less than $200,000.
SOME HOMES BEING BUILT
Some builders, like Robinshore Inc., are constructing new homes—albeit more affordable ones. Their homes are going for 30 percent less than a comparably sized home did several years ago, while the quality has increased, says President Adam Bolton, who was another speaker at the forum.
Some of the homes Robinshore is bringing on the market sell for $150,000, and while some homes are smaller, they have many amenities. “Granite countertops are standard, and the homes are more energy efficient,” Bolton says. “Our homes are absolute values. I feel the buyers have gotten a steal every time we sell one.”
Robinshore bought many of the lots it’s using at reasonable prices 10 to 12 years ago, Bolton says.
Among the subdivisions in which it has homes are Longleaf Village on Archer Road past Haile Plantation, Ellis Park on Northwest 23rd Avenue at 98th Street and Westchester on Northwest 43rd Street before U.S. 441.
Most of Robinshore’s lots are exempt from what Bolton considers overly rigorous development standards the county put in place in recent years, including a requirement of 20 percent open space in a subdivision. “We were very careful as well as a little lucky regarding where and when we bought land,” Bolton says.
He’s pleased with demand for his homes. “Well-paid people moving in and out have bolstered us. Gainesville is a great place to live and work.”
TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENTS FAVOREDIn recent years, the Alachua County Commission has adopted
regulations encouraging “transit-oriented developments” such as Celebration Pointe, Springhills, Santa Fe Village and Newberry Village as a way to reduce traffic and the need for additional roads.
A key to TODs is developing a bus rapid transit system, a system using small buses running frequently and—at least to some extent—using dedicated lanes that will move faster during rush hour than commuters in cars.
Both proponents and skeptics of TODs and bus rapid transit admit the concept is bold.
As part of his development agreement, Dyrkolbotn will help pay his share of the cost of the bus rapid transit system. In addition, the county commission has agreed to use part of the increased property taxes from the development to fund bus rapid transit.
Although Dyrkolbotn can begin building before the bus rapid transit is implemented, his agreement with the county calls for the bus rapid transit system to go into operation after he’s built about 500 residential units.
Meanwhile, he’s working on partnerships needed to begin construction. He’s walking a fine line in talking to companies interested in putting stores, restaurants, clinics and offices in Celebration Pointe.
“We want to have a true community in which residents can walk or bike to the grocery store, restaurants and other businesses that meet their needs, but we also want to go for
people who don’t live in Celebration Pointe,” he says. “We want to be both a destination and a community.”
Although all the developers of transit-oriented developments will be required to pay their share of the cost of bus rapid transit, funding is not in place for those parts of the system not covered by developers.
Bolton of Robinshore, who’s an Alachua County planning commissioner, says the emphasis on compact development is part of a national movement where planners are using regulatory changes to attempt to modify how and where people live.
“There should be a choice for consumers to decide if a compact, dense development is right for them,” Bolton says. “Private developers are being left with very little choice as to whether that style of development is right for their projects or the marketplace.”
Over the past three months, only one item was brought before the Alachua County Planning Commission. “I think there would be more activity in a less highly regulated environment,” he says.
Dan Boccabella and Robyn LeBoeuf enjoy their 2,300-square-foot condo in Regents Park.
( Cover Story )
“Our homes are absolute values.I feel the buyers have gotten a steal every time we sell one.”—Robinshore President Adam Bolton
The NorTh CeNTral FlorIDa BusINess reporT MARCH 201216
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Agriculture and an urban lifestyle can prosper side-by-side. At least, that was the theme at a recent
project presentation from University of Florida students. The projects were created to illustrate potential development of Plum Creek’s vast landholdings in eastern Alachua County.
Created as part of Plum Creek’s Envision Alachua process, the 12 projects created by 39 students from the College of Design, Construction and Planning translated agri-urbanism into a wide array of proposals, including:
Hydroponic gardens grown on a tall • tower that would serve as a community landmark;An operation to “mine” • phosphorous from Newnan’s Lake, much of which comes from the heavy phosphorous content in the area’s soil, for use as fertilizer;A bridge across Newnan’s Lake • that would include devices to filter out the phosphorous as well as improving access from east Alachua County to Gainesville;Sunflower farming and a factory to • produce sunflower oil and other products.
Todd Powell, Plum Creek’s Florida director of real estate development, welcomed the students’ creativity. “We were very pleased to see how the students were able to take an academic exercise and develop some truly innovative concepts,” he says. “A few of these ideas may very well work their way into our community designs—and there’s no doubt that the work of the students will influence us as we continue through the planning process.”
Pierce Jones, director of the Program for Resource Efficient Communities in UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, also spoke at the meeting, which was held at the Curtis M. Phillips Center. Jones said that communities of the future need to be more compact to preserve natural resources and to keep homeownership affordable.
The community of Restoration that’s being planned in Volusia County illustrates the benefits of compact development, Jones says. The land upon which Restoration will stand
was originally planned as a typical suburban development in 2006. Under pressure to be more sustainable, the developer shrunk the community’s footprint, reducing the cost of roads from a projected $383 million to $238 million and potentially saving a billion gallon of landscape irrigation water a year, Jones says.
The new community of Prairie Crossing, Ill., features a 100-acre organic garden, Jones notes. He cited an article in the Wall Street Journal that quoted Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute: “Agriculture is the new golf.”
According to Jones, there is great possibility for adding more innovative agriculture to eastern Alachua County, where the area’s farmers already are producing blueberries, pecans, strawberries and organically grown produce.
Jones also said that an example of the type of job training that the Envision Alachua Task Force foresees is already taking place at Eastside High School’s Culinary Arts program.
Daniel Iacofano, a principal in the Berkeley-based MIG, Inc.—and the facilitator for Envision Alachua—applauds the projects as showing the unique possibilities for the more than
17,000 acres of Plum Creek land that’s part of the Envision Alachua process.
“This work will help create the job factories of the future that we need to spur on,” he says.
UF STUDENTS PUSH POSSIBILITIES FOR PLUM CREEK LANDby Chris Eversole
“There’s no doubt that the work of the students will influence us as we continue through the planning process.”—Plum Creek Florida director of real estate development Todd Powell
( In the News )
NEW
SCh
ris E
vers
ole
Brittany Dunlap, a master’s student in landscape architecture, discusses her team’s project with Alejandro Torres, a master’s student in building construction.
www.gainesvillebizreport.com 17
NEWS BRIEFS( In the News )
NEW
S
STATE OF THE CITY TOUTS STRONG ECONOMY
The state of Gainesville’s economy is strong, said Mayor Craig Lowe at the 2012 State of the City Address on Jan. 24. According to the mayor, the city has seen improvement in job creation, economic development, energy, transportation and the environment. It is moving forward with projects in renewable energy and mass transit.
One of the city’s greatest examples of innovation in the past year is the Innovation Hub. The businesses there are thriving and hiring. According to Mayor Lowe, many of the business owners at the Hub say Gainesville is definitely the right place to start their business. Another move forward for Gainesville’s economy is the coming of Silver Airways’ maintenance facility to the city. The company will bring with it new jobs and will offer daily flights from the Gainesville Regional Airport (see cover story).
Mayor Lowe’s plans for this year include continuing the development of the downtown area and Innovation Square.
“While across the country, cities and businesses are struggling to make sense of this new situation,” Lowe said, “Gainesville’s uniquely collaborative approach is succeeding.”
—Alexandria Ugarte
UF’s CHREC Awarded PrizeThe National Science Foundation’s Center for High-
Performance Reconfigurable Computing (CHREC), headquartered at the University of Florida, was recently awarded the 2012 Alexander Schwarzkopf Prize for Technology Innovation for the research and development of Novo-G, the world’s most powerful reconfigurable supercomputer. The award recognizes those who have fostered collaboration between industry and universities.
“It’s the prototype for a whole new series of adaptive computing machines that industry leaders can build and develop for their own use,” said CHREC director Alan George, who is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UF, in a press release.
The award also recognizes the CHREC’s success in “pushing the relationship between academic research and industry as an NSF center,” according to the release. CHREC is one of about 50 such centers in the U.S.
UF to Receive Transportation FundsThe University of Florida was recently chosen as the
Regional University Transportation Center and will receive $3.5 million in federal funds for transportation research. UF will also receive an extra $3.5 million in non-federal funds from the state departments of transportation, transit agencies, local agencies and private firms.
The new project is known as Southeast Transportation Research, Innovation and Education Center (STRIDE), which has three main focus areas: Safety, livable communities and economic competitiveness.
UF is partnering up with other universities in the region, including Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, North Carolina State, University of North Carolina, Florida International University, University of Alabama Birmingham and Auburn University.
Jay Leno Benefits Fisher House Foundation
Jay Leno’s auctioned tractor sold for $535,000 at the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the Gainesville Fisher House Foundation will receive $235,000 of the proceeds.
The tractor, which Leno named “Lil Tug,” was sold to benefit America’s military and their families.
“We’re so grateful that Jay Leno supports the troops that serve our great nation and that he understands the importance of family,” said Patti Fabiani, Executive Director of the Gainesville Fisher House Foundation. “We couldn’t thank him enough.”
A home for military families staying at the Malcolm Randall VA Medical Center will be built with the proceeds.
The NorTh CeNTral FlorIDa BusINess reporT MARCH 201218
Transactions(All content comes from city, county and state official records.)
COMMERCIAL SALES5341 SW 91 TERRGainesville, FL 32608Sellers: Capital city Banking GroupList Agent: Craig McCallList Firm: Prudential Trend RealtySell Agent: Craig McCallSell Firm: Prudential Trend RealtyPrice: $170,000Buyer Name: Matt & John Thomas
2222 NW 40th TERRGainesville, FL 32606Seller: M & S BankList Agent: Michael RyalsList Firm: Bosshardt Realty Services LLCSell Agent: Eric LigmanSell Firm: Bosshardt Realty Services LLCPrice: $351,500Buyer: Studio 32 Orthodontics; LLC
COMMERCIAL LEASES1717 NE 9 ST, Gainesville, FL 32601Type: Lessors Name: Tatonka Capital CorporationList Agent: John Michael ObergpList Firm: Coldwell Banker/M. M. Parrish/Spring HillLease Terms: 125 monthsBuyer Name: Hoggetowne Middle School, Inc.
2233 NW 41 ST,Gainesville, FL 32606
Lessors Name: Steinberg; MiriamList Agent: Zana DupeeList Firm: Ashby; Hintze Assocs. Real Estate Inc. Lease Terms: 6 months
1405 NW 13 ST,Gainesville, FL 32605Type: RetailLessor Name: Old MM Building LLCList Agent: The Beery Rainsberger GroupList Firm: Coldwell Banker/M. M. Parrish/Spring HillLease Terms: 36 monthsBuyer Name: Kirk Kinsman
2420 NW 66th CTGainesville, FL 32653Type: List Agent: David FerroList Firm: Bosshardt Realty Services LLCBuyer Name: Little River WoodworkingLease Terms: 12 months
2604 NW 74th Pl.7731 W Newberry RD,Gainesville, FL 32606Type: List Agent: Richard PlaList Firm: Venture Realty of N Fl IncLease Terms: 12 months
3600 NW 43 ST,Gainesville, FL 32605Type: Lessor Name: Cameo Homes of Florida, Inc
List Agent: The BeeryRainsberger GrpList Firm: Coldwell Banker/M. M. Parrish/Spring HillBuyer Name: Sunstate Federal Credit UnionLease Terms: 12 months
ROTARY CLUB OF DOWNTOWN GAINESVILLEVilla EastEvery Wednesday, noon
KIWANIS CLUB OF GAINESVILLEParamount Plaza Hotel and SuitesEvery Wednesday, noon
GAINESVILLE AREA WOMEN’S NETWORKSweetwater Branch InnThird Wednesday of every month, 11:30am
www.gainesvillebizreport.com 19
NEWS BRIEFS$5 Millon Awarded to FloridaWorks The Department of Labor recently awarded $5 million to
FloridaWorks, which can be implemented during the next four years. The award allows for the creation of a new program in which FloridaWorks will partner with local businesses to provide on-the-job-training opportunities through a new Healthcare and Biomanufactoring Occupations Training Program.
HBOT encourages employers to hire and train regional talent for the employer’s specific needs, and the funding for this program comes from H1B visa fees collected from employers hiring foreign workers.
It is estimated that more than 200 jobs will be created, and the program requires employers to retain the employed after the HBOT-funded OJT period ends.
John Spence Named Thought LeaderTrust Across America recently named local executive
educator and professional speaker John Spence as one of the “Top 100 Thought Leaders” for a second consecutive year.
Trust Across America selects leaders with trustworthy business behavior from both the private and public sectors. Spence, a regular columnist for The Business Report, is sought after for his knowledge in strategic thinking, high-performance teams, advanced leadership development and delivering consistently superior customer service. He is the author of Awesomely Simple, and Excellence By Design. He also received the 2011 Small Business Influencers Honorable Mention.
Marketing Mud Non-Profit GrantFor the second consecutive year, Marketing Mud is awarding
a grant to a non-profit organization that has an impact in the local area and is in need.
Marketing Mud recently announced that Girls Place, Inc., will receive the 2012 Marketing Mud Cares Non-Profit Grant, which is $5,000 toward marketing and design assistance. Girls Place offers afterschool programs, athletics and summer day camps for young women.
Gainesville Boasts Best Fla. Commute TimeMore than 86 percent of commuters in Gainesville spend less
than 30 minutes driving to work every day, making Gainesville the city with the best commuting time in the state, according to a U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
City officials attributed the quick commute to an $18 million traffic-management system and the Gainesville Regional Transit System (RTS), which help traffic run smoothly.
Gainesville’s commute is listed as No. 19 out of 250 major cities in the United States, and it is No. 7 in the nation for bicycle commutes.
Donation Funds College of Medicine Research Center
Last month, the Toral Family Foundation donated $500,000 to the University of Florida College of Medicine to establish a research center and support a new term professorship. The foundation is a Florida nonprofit organization that supports efforts to help families affected by traumatic brain injuries.
Latha Ganti Stead, M.D. has been appointed the first Toral Family Foundation Professor in Traumatic Brain Injury. She is currently a professor and chief of clinical research for the department of emergency medicine.
Frank Toral, the founder of the Toral Family Foundation, said he hopes the donation encourages further contributions for traumatic brain injury research and the center at UF.
“Sometimes a disease or condition doesn’t get the attention it deserves,” Stead said, “until there is a champion for it.”
According to the Brain Injury Association of Florida Inc., about 210,000 people in the state have been disabled by traumatic brain injuries, and such injuries are also among the most common injuries received by U.S. soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.
—Alexandria Ugarte
Author Speaks on Women in STEM FieldsPhilosopher Carla Fehr, associate professor and Wolfe
Chair in Science and Technology Studies at the University of Waterloo, recently brought her insights to Gainesville to discuss recent research linking workplace diversity and scientific excellence. Her talk included thoughts on the underrepresentation of women in the workforce and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) discipline teaching positions.
Fehr spoke at the Millhopper Library Branch with a talk entitled “What Evolution Can’t Tell Us about Women’s Sex and Work” and at Ustler Hall at the University of Florida on “Ignorance, Women and Excellent Science.” Her lectures raised the issue of diversity in the workplace, and how unconscious prejudices can hinder beneficial change. A lack of diversity can limit new perspectives, she says, which can squash creativity and innovative ideas.
Fehr’s visit to Gainesville marks the fifth appearance in the UF Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere’s “Rehumanizing the University” series, which aims to reintroduce the liberal arts into discussions of important issues in our society and educational institutions. The next speaker in the series is Suzanne Marchand, a professor of history from Louisiana State University. She will be speaking at the Smathers Library at UF on Mar. 26.
—Kyle Edwards
( In the News )
NEW
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Local design and printing company neutral7 Design Group recently announced the
launch of its Community Building Partners initiative, which was created to recognize and honor local businesses that contribute to their vision of benefitting Gainesville’s local community and economy.
According to creative director Albert Coronel, the project was started to emphasize the importance of supporting the local community and fostering relationships between local businesses.
“The Community Builders project aims to encourage businesses with similar initiatives
to work together, while those who offer services can help support others who need them,” said Brittany Jones of neutral7.
The businesses recognized were selected based on the following five criteria:
Businesses that contribute to • community initiatives;Businesses that invest in Gainesville • by purchasing materials and services from local businesses;Businesses that are environmentally • friendly;Businesses that make Gainesville • unique;
Businesses that take a creative • initiative in investing and promoting Gainesville.
Two of the companies recently recognized were Avant Garde Salon and Contemporary Management Concepts.
“We hope to encourage other businesses to take the same initiatives to support our local economy,” Jones said. “The little things add up to make big differences in the growth of the local economy and community.” Look for other award recipients and details at neutral7.com/about/community-building-partners.
—Alexandria Ugarte
Neutral7 Announces Community Building Partners
Contemporary Management Concepts president Sonia Fox with neutral7’s Albert Coronel.
ON T
HE M
OVENPR’s “Nightly Business Report” recently
announced that Gainesville motivational speaker and broadcaster Lou Heckler will join the show to provide weekly commentaries on subjects like Job Context. Heckler will offer business-oriented but lighthearted commentary on the people side of business.
The Florida Museum of Natural History received two awards from the Southeastern Museums Conference—one for the traveling exhibit “Dugout Canoes: Padding through the Americas,” and one for the 2009-10 annual report. “Outside confirmation from the field provides a stamp of approval that other institutions around the country will recognize when the exhibit begins its tour,” said assistant director for exhibits Darcie MacMahon.
Richard Heipp was appointed director of the University of Florida’s School of Art + Art History starting July 1. Heipp has worked for UF for more than 30 years as a painting professor and served as interim director of this program for the past 15 months. “Richard has helped bridge UF’s research mission with the learning objectives of fine arts programs in the Gator Nation,” said Lucinda Lavelli, dean of the College of Fine Arts.
The Alachua County Public Schools Foundation announced Judy Boles as its executive director. Boles has more than 40 years of experience in educational organizations at the local, regional and state level, including former chair and present board member of the Endowment Board at Santa Fe College.
Gator Moving and Storage named John Reger as the new president. Reger has also served on the boards of local organizations and businesses.
BungoBox, an Orlando-based company that rents reusable plastic boxes as an alternative to cardboard boxes, will operate in the greater Gainesville area soon.
Front Street Commercial Real Estate Group was appointed as the exclusive broker to market Infusion Technology Center, a 150,000-square-foot office and the first private development in Innovation Square. Front Street also recently announced Seth Lane as its new director to expand its commercial brokerage operations. Lane has more than eight years of experience in real estate and is the vice chairman of the City of Gainesville Development Review Board and on the Gainesville Development Review Committee. He is also a member of the current Leadership Gainesville class.
The NorTh CeNTral FlorIDa BusINess reporT MARCH 201220
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T I P S F O R T U R N I N G I D E A S I N T O I N N O V A T I O N S by Rachel Sale
—R.S.
( In the News )
NEW
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If you’re developing a new product, getting the right feedback can make or break you, says Duane Bray, a University of Florida grad who was speaking with students at the College of Engineering.
He was invited by UF College of Engineering entrepreneur-in-residence David Whitney, who regularly brings in speakers through the Engineering Innovation Institute. Bray is a partner in IDEO, a New York-based design and innovation company.
“IDEO’s approach incorporates innovation, usability and culture,” says Erik Sander, the director of industry programs for the College of Engineering.
Bray’s talk, titled “Ideation: Turning Ideas into Innovations,” offered several valuable points for business owners, including the following:
Look through the consumer’s eyes—literally. Bray shared the story of how, by filming a patient’s personal experience, IDEO helped a hospital make a significant improvement in patient interactions. When the hospital staff watched the video, they were able to see the poor patient experience. “They talked about him in third person and never addressed him,” Bray said of the hospital staff.
The staff also didn’t notice the drab walls and ceilings. Three hours of footage opened the eyes of the hospital employees. As a solution, the hospital placed white boards in ER patient rooms. Staff would write their names and roles, and family could write notes or sketch pictures.
Look to other business models, or “analogous” situations, for solutions. Bray’s company was asked to help find a more efficient way for a hospital’s surgery team to perform surgery. They were inspired by a NASCAR pit crew to streamline the surgical duties. “Every person in the crew has designated jobs; only one person in the crew tells the driver when to go,” Bray said.
Use a sketch, rather than a full-scale model, when asking for feedback on an idea. “Customers believe you put in a lot of work and don’t want to ruin the model or hurt your feelings,” Bray explained. Instead of analyzing a full model, “you can ask people to mark up the sketch. They feel freer. Invite people to mark what they hate.” Don’t let failure or people’s negative feedback discourage you, either. “The more times you fail early on, the better you learn,” Bray said.
For smaller businesses, rather than hiring someone to evaluate your business, use a low-cost feedback loop. Bray recommends asking a close, honest friend or business associate to look over your plans or methods. They can give feedback and offer a clear perspective of problems that you might not have seen from inside the company.
Gainesville has a model like this in place through Innovation Gainesville, a project of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce. Business owners have the opportunity to give and receive feedback about their businesses and trade ideas that may benefit other area businesses. Ultimately, Bray emphasize, “get inside your customer’s head.
“People have needs that they can’t easily express; find these needs and answer them.”
This January, the vice mayor of Rzeszow, Poland, posed for a photo in front of a RTS
bus decorated with the slogan, “The Gator Nation is Everywhere.”
Judging by this meeting, Vice Mayor Marek Ustrobinski would agree with this statement. Ustrobinski was visiting Gainesville to learn about the city, specifically about Info Tech’s Appia software and the Regional Transit System (RTS).
Appia software was developed and is sold by Gainesville-based Info Tech, which partners with Enformatic (also local) to distribute the technology to European countries. Appia is designed to manage the life cycle of road construction administration, such as stadiums, roads and bridges, according to Enformatic president Margaret Andraka, who is from Poland and was integral in arranging the meeting.
Ustrobinski’s interest in the bus system was centered on fuel. Currently, Gainesville uses biodiesel fuel for all 110 buses. The town of Rzeszow is using compressed natural gas (CNG) for 100 of its buses, while 50 are using biodiesel and one is solar-powered, according to RTS marketing and communications supervisor Chip Skinner. Ustrobinski was impressed with how “simple and effective” the biodiesel system is.
Ustrobinski even approached Mayor Craig Lowe about forming a sister-city partnership, Andraka says, as the cities share similar demographics in university and city populations.
ENFORMATIC, INFO TECH PRODUCTS GLOBALLY USEFUL4
Chris
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www.gainesvillebizreport.com 21
Despite promises that a 16-field baseball park will mean revenue for local hotels, a lodging and restaurant group balks at tournament organizer’s attempt to set room rates.
The Nations Baseball Park in Newberry is set to open in late June, and although the $7 million complex will bring hundreds of youth baseball players and
their families to Alachua County, a hotel trade group is unhappy.
Lou Presutti, owner of the youth baseball organization that will be staging tournaments at the baseball fields, is taking the position that hotels must price all their rooms for baseball families at $99 per night, with $25 returned to his organization him as a “rebate.” But this has been met with resistance.
“We’re against fixing our prices,” says John Barli, vice president of the North Central Florida Chapter of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.
Presutti counters that he’s trying to protect participants from price-gouging caused by high demand that tournaments will create during normally slack periods of the year. “I’m making it as easy as possible for families to enjoy their time without the feeling they’re being taken advantage of as tourists,” he explains.
Presutti’s website, Nationspark.com, states, “all team members and families are required to stay in the same hotel room as players.” This will promote team camaraderie and communication with players and their families, Presutti says.
Barli says that setting a flat fee for hotel rooms is unfair because hotels vary widely in their cost of doing business and what they offer. “Since guests of all the properties are paying the bed tax, we believe all the hotels they should have a fair shot at the guests,” he says. “We’re paying the note [for the complex].”
The outcome of the conflict between the trade group and Prescutti is uncertain. Barli says that as far as he knows, no hotels have signed a contract with Prescutti. Presutti says he’s encouraged by his negotiations with individual hotels, and he’s confident about coming to terms with enough hotels to accommodate his needs.
Presutti operates Cooperstown Dream Park in the small New York state community that is home to the Baseball Hall of Fame. In Cooperstown, tournament participants stay in dormitories, and Presutti has no influence over area hotel rates that their parents pay.
He touted the economic benefit of the Newberry project
when he enticed the Alachua County Commission to devote a portion of the county’s tourist development tax to the project.
One cent of the tax goes to the complex, consisting of 16 youth baseball fields with artificial turf infields.The
( In the News )
NEW
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Hotel Group at Odds with Baseball Tournament Chief
Chris
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Work is progressing at Nations Baseball Park in Newberry, which is scheduled to open in late June.
(continued on next page)
by Chris Eversole
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county is using $625,000 a year from the tourist tax so Newberry can cover its 20-year bonds on the baseball complex.
Although the restaurant and lodging association opposes Presutti’s tactics, he isn’t violating state regulations regarding travel agents, says Sterling Ivey, the spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which regulates the agents. As long as Presutti isn’t collecting the money from the parents for the hotels and then paying the hotels in a lump sum, he’s operating within the law, Ivey says.
Presutti says the $25 will provide many benefits, including baseball hats and other clothing items going to family members, plus it will help avoid parking fees and admission charges.
Presutti bristles about the complaints, which he says one or two people are instigating. “A small group is trying to wreck something that’s wonderful,” he says.
Roland Loog, the county’s tourist development director, attended a meeting between the restaurant and lodging association and Presutti. He said that Presutti has a right to set the hotel rates he is willing for participants in his tournaments to pay.
“I told the hotels not to talk among themselves about a rate, because that would be price-fixing,” Loog says. “A buyer can fix a rate he wants, and an individual hotel can counter with what it wants.”
Presutti’s approach to lodging is unprecedented in Alachua County. The Jehovah’s Witness Annual Convention for North Florida and South Georgia, which
attracts about 6,500 people to Alachua County annually, does not set hotel rates, Loog says.
County Commissioner Lee Pinkoson, a champion of recreation, says that he’s still gathering information about Presutti’s approach but that he hasn’t found any grounds to oppose it. “I recognize that everyone has the opportunity to participate, that no hotel was excluded,” he says.
Presutti says he’s excited that the Newberry project is becoming a reality. “Nations Park has brought the public and private sector together to provide a joyful
and memorable experience of a week-long baseball experience and vacation—fulfilling their dream of playing ‘America’s Game’—baseball.”
The Newberry baseball complex is the first venture involving Prescutti outside of Cooperstown that has come to fruition. Plans for a $45 million, 50-diamond complex in Louisville fell apart a year ago when local officials and Presutti couldn’t reach an agreement on the project, according to insiderlouisville.com.
Presutti has postponed his plans for a privately owned, 25-diamond complex in Mooresville, N.C., until next year, the Statesville Record & Landmark reported.
( In the News )
NEW
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“A buyer can fix a rate he wants, and an individual hotel can counter with what it wants.” —Roland Loog, Alachua County tourist development director
Most of the funding for construction of the Nations Baseball Park in Newberry is coming from the Alachua County tourist development tax.
In 2010, the county commission increased the “bed tax”—money that tourists pay when staying in local hotels and bed and breakfasts by two percent, raising the total tax to five percent of the room rate.
The tax is now divided as follows:
1 percent goes to the City of Newberry for the mortgage on the baseball park.
1 percent goes to county capital projects, which have yet to be determined.
2 percent goes to promotional activities of the Visitors and Convention Bureau, including work of the Gainesville Sports Commission.
1 percent goes to grants that assist conferences and artistic and cultural groups.
www.gainesvillebizreport.com 23
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In the early stages of starting and running a business, entrepreneurs do it all, essentially being the chief operating officer, chief cook and chief bottle washer in their business.
As the chief operating officer, the COO is responsible for managing the company’s day-to-day operations and reporting to the chief executive officer.
While that is necessary during the early stages, at some point the business will grow to a size at which the entrepreneur must focus on future growth and sustainability rather than day-to-day operations. That is the point when the entrepreneur must move from “O,” as in COO, to “E,” as in CEO.
The common phrase used is, “Work on your business, not in your business.” In moving from “O” to “E,” entrepreneurs must delegate the day-to-day activities to other employees and focus on the issues and activities that will allow the business to grow.In Entrepreneur, small business expert Ray Silverstein writes:
The duties of the CEO are those that can’t be delegated to staff, and in fact, shouldn’t be delegated to staff, as they affect the profitability and sustainability of the business. As owner, the entrepreneur has an inherent interest in both of those; if there are other investors, the entrepreneur has a responsibility to protect their investment and maximize the return on investment.
All of this may sound reasonable, but before you can make the move from COO to CEO, how do you get your business to that point? Here are some basic actions and steps that will give your business a solid foundation from which you can launch it to the next level:
Develop an operational plan that can project and • track business performance by month. This will allow you to easily oversee where the business is versus where you want it to be in terms of orders, revenues, expenses and profits.
Create job descriptions and job requirements (in • terms of employee qualifications needed for the position) so that you will be able hire individuals who will not only be able to perform the job duties but also will excel at them.
Use the operational plan and the experience • and knowledge of the employees to develop and document the processes and procedures the business should follow to deliver its services.
Over a period of time, delegate the day-to-day • operating decisions to employees. This will give them an opportunity to accept responsibility and give you a chance to mentor them during the transition.
Compensate employees on the profitability of • the business in order to create a team that has the company’s best interest in mind at all times.
The final step in moving from “O” to “E” is for you to prepare yourself for the transition. Take some management courses. Join any CEO networks available from your local Small Business Development Center or Chamber of Commerce. Read some of the excellent books that describe how to be more effective as a CEO.
If you can make this transition in your business, it will be the most rewarding action you will have undertaken. It will enable you to move from having created yourself a job in your business that pays you a salary to building wealth in the form of equity in your business—equity that can be turned into wealth far in excess of any salary the business can pay you.
by Philip R. Geist
( Speaking of Business )
MOVING FROM O TO E
Philip Geist, PhD, is area director for the Small Business Development Center, which provides free, confidential counseling to entrepreneurs and small business owners. Call 352-334-7230 or visit sbdc.unf.edu for more information. This material was condensed from Dr. Geist’s blog at sbdc.unf.edu.
“What is the CEO’s main duty? Setting strategy and vision. The senior management team can help develop strategy. Investors can approve a business plan. But the CEO ultimately sets the direction… The CEO decides, sets budgets, forms partnerships and hires a team to steer the company accordingly.”
The NorTh CeNTral FlorIDa BusINess reporT MARCH 201224
( Made in Gainesville )
by Kevin Allen
It began with a glass of red wine, and an observation on how well the French aged.Three years later, Reserveage Organics, a Gainesville-
based beauty and nutrition supplement company, has grown to a $20 million dollar business. Its chief executive, Naomi Whittel, has seen her products offered in more than 2,500 stores and featured on the QVC shopping network and “The Dr. Oz. Show.”
“I found the industry to just open its arms up and grab on to everything that we’ve presented,” Whittel says.
RECESS ION REWAR DS INNOVAT IONWhittel’s company offers a range of products, from
a line of multivitamins to supplements created to aid concerns ranging from menopause to prostate health.
Reserveage was built around what is known as the “French Paradox.” That is, the French, noted for their wine-drinking habits, seemed to age better than their counterparts in the U.S. While visiting family in the south of France, Whittel and a cousin, a French doctor, talked about how the French were able to maintain their vitality well into old age.
About the same time, she heard that researchers, including some at the University of Florida, were looking at resveratrol, a molecule present in grapes used to make red wine. Animal studies suggested that resveratrol helped promote cardiovascular health and had a range of other benefits, including anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects.
“I felt that this is a great place to start this kind of a company,” says Whittel, who had moved to Gainesville with her husband and daughter a couple of years previously.
Whittel, who had owned a health food store in south Florida and had been involved in the beauty and nutrition supplement business for 15 years, decided she could use her previous experience and contacts to create and market a supplement based around the resveratrol extracted from grapes, and Reserveage was born.
Even though 2009 was perhaps not the best time to start a company, with the recession hitting full stride, Whittel felt she knew what to expect from her previous business ventures. She started with between $50,000 and $60,000 of her own money to set up operations, consulted with researchers in the U.S. and France, and contracted with a French vineyard to extract the resveratrol from its grapes. She worked directly with the raw material sources, rather than going through middlemen, to help ensure quality and affordability.
To her surprise, within three months, the company had become profitable and was one of the fastest-growing
companies in the supplement industry.Whittel says the recession may have worked to the
company’s advantage. “New companies aren’t necessarily launching, and innovation is not necessarily at its highest point,” she says. That, she adds, allows a nimble company with innovative products to prosper.
NEW RESEARCH , MOR E GROWTHThe company quickly gained attention in the beauty
and nutrition supplements industry, earning several awards from magazines like Better Nutrition and Taste for Life.
That growth rate continues to surprise even Whittel. It is ranked No. 1 in its brand, according to SPINS, a market research and consulting firm for the natural products industry. The company’s figures showed sales increased 41 percent from 2010 to 2011, taking in about $20 million, and it is on track to get to half that figure in the first month of 2012 alone.
Whittel says trying to keep up with the growth has been her biggest challenge, with so many moving pieces. She hopes to double her employees—from 75 to 150—by the end of the year.
One reason for that exceptional growth, according to Whittel, was the stress on innovation and closely working with researchers. “We’re always on the cutting edge with what’s new and exciting, and at the end of the day, that’s what the customer is looking for,” she says.
Whittel was also enthusiastic about the educational base she can draw on in a university town like Gainesville. “Gainesville’s been a very important part of our growth,” she says, stressing how educated and focused her employees are.
SUSTA INABLE EXPANS IONReserveage is using its close links with researchers to
expand its product line. It recently launched a supplement based on cocoa, following a Harvard professor’s research on the island-based Kuna tribe in Panama. The study found that the tribe members, who drank five cups of cocoa a day, had fewer cases of heart and dementia
problems than residents of mainland Panama.For 2012, Whittel plans to step up the company’s
emphasis on sustainability. It recently switched to using vegan-based capsules in its products. Reserveage also has contracted to pay 3 percent of the profits on the cocoa-based supplement to the Kuna tribe in the Harvard study.
“Our core mission,” she says, “is to provide life-changing products that are based on sustainable methods.”
Whittle is also determined to help other women succeed in the supplement business. She is part of an initiative called DAWN, or Developing and Advancing Women in Naturals, designed to help promote women’s success as industry executives. “Our industry focuses on the female purchaser, and yet less than 3 percent of women are at the executive level,” she says. “So we’re looking very hard to support that growth.”
The key to making a business work, Whittel stresses, is to capitalize on passion. “I don’t think business is that hard,” she says, “if you’re passionate, you’re focused and you have support around you.
“If you construct great systems, provide high-quality products and services, and you’re always thinking about who the consumer is, that leads to a successful business,” she stresses.
TURNING THE FRENCH PARADOX INTO A BOOMING BUSINESS
RESER VEAGE :
“I DON’T THINK BUSINESS IS THAT HARD IF YOU’RE
PASSIONATE, YOU’RE FOCUSED AND YOU HAVE SUPPORT.”
www.gainesvillebizreport.com 25
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I f you have spent some time looking for office space, you have certainly come across properties being advertised as Class A, Class B or Class
C. While this nomenclature is common, there is no industry standard or universally accepted set of measures used to classify an office property. While general parameters exist, classifying properties is still a subjective process based on the market, prop-erty owner and even the property’s listing broker. Here are a few rules of thumb:
CLASS A is considered to be new or in like-new condition. The property is well constructed, us-ing high-quality materials. The interior should have a contemporary look and have modern conveniences, such as easy access to high-speed communications. A Class A classification can also be predicated on location. Between the condition of the building and the property location, Class A space typically commands the highest rental rates in the market.
CLASS B should be in good condition with little need for major renovations or updates. When compared to Class A properties, Class B are typically a bit older, may have less amenities or upgrades or may be in a location with a slightly lower demand. Class B space is easily rented but commands a lower rental rate.
CLASS C space is typically characterized as being in need of significant interior or exterior updating or as having a functional obsolescence. This may include a site plan configuration that is no longer in demand or having interior infrastructure that does not support modern technology. Like the oth-er classifications, a poor or undesirable location may cause a property to be labeled as Class C.UN
DERS
TAND
ING
OFFI
CE C
LASS
IFIC
ATIO
NSUNDERSTANDINGI n commercial real estate, there are many ways a lease can be
structured. It is important when negotiating a lease, whether as a tenant or a landlord, that you consider the impact the lease structure
will have on your business. Since the needs of landlords and tenants vary widely, knowing
the various lease structures and how these could impact your business are vital to a successful landlord/tenant relationship.
Often, the landlord's motivation in securing a particular lease structure is instilling predictability and consistency for future budgeting, cash flow and profit management. A tenant may have much different motivation, such as keeping initial costs low, understanding future liabilities or not being tied to a long lease term.
Whatever your motivation, the following summary of typical lease types provides a good foundation of understanding.
GROSS LEASE: In a gross lease scenario, the tenant only pays rent. Expenses associated with the ownership and operation of the property, such as taxes, insurance and common area maintenance (CAM) are the responsibility of the landlord.
FULL SERVICE LEASE: In a full service lease, the landlord provides additional services such as utilities, janitorial, maintenance or security to the tenant. These services, as well as taxes, insurance and CAM, are provided to the tenant under the agreed-upon rental fee.
NET LEASE: In this scenario, the tenant pays rent plus a portion of building operating expenses. The operating expenses that are passed through to the tenant are based on actual cost, not esti-mated costs.
NET-NET LEASE (NN or Double Net Leases): This is similar to a net lease, but the tenant is responsible for additional expenses associ-
ated with owning a property, such as real estate taxes or insur-ance.
NET-NET-NET LEASE (NNN or Triple Net Lease): In a NNN lease, the tenant pays a base rental amount plus his or her proportion-ate share of the landlord's operating expenses. These expenses include real estate taxes, insurance, maintenance and repairs.
ABSOLUTE NNN LEASE: The tenant is responsible for base rent and all expenses associated with owning and maintaining the building being leased.
LAND LEASE OR GROUND LEASE: In this scenario, tenants are only leasing the property. The building constructed is the sole property and responsibility of the tenant. However, at the termination of the lease, all property, including improvements and buildings, become property of the landlord.
OTHER USEFUL TERMS: Escalator Clauses: A provision that increases the rent over the course of the lease term. Percentage Rent: The tenant pays either base rent plus additional rent based on an agreed-upon percentage of business income, or base rent is solely the agreed-upon percentage of business income.
by Seth Lane
Seth Lane practices in the area of brokerage, consulting and development with Front Street Commercial Real Estate Group. Front Street is invested, donating 10 percent of all revenues to charity. Call 352-505-3844 or visit www.frontstreet.net for more information.
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I am always looking for noteworthy selling success stories. Usually, I find these in newspaper and magazine articles. The one I’m about to share with you, however, landed in my email inbox.
One of my newsletter subscribers, Greg Bradshaw, sent me an email about his father Max, who is an extraordinary sales professional.
Max, 78, sold cookware for Rena Ware, a very prestigious cookware company. At the time, they employed more than 13,000 sales representatives. The Rena Ware Company had a Consistency Club, and to get into the club you would have to sell four sets of cookware in a week.
Max had heard about a sales representative who had sold four units for 12 consecutive weeks. “How in the world had he accomplished this?” he wondered.
Two more sales reps achieved the 12-week record, but then quit. Max decided to beat the 12-week goal. Once he got there, he decided there was no reason to stop. He also decided to continue in the Consistency Club for the rest of his career. He stayed in the Consistency Club for more than 17 years.
Greg sent me a clipping about his father and the four-unit Consistency Club. In the article, it showed Max at 833 weeks. The second place sales rep had 309.
So how did Max do it? How did he achieve this remarkable consistency and selling success?
In a way, it was fairly easy. He truly believed that in sales, nothing is impossible. What he did is something every sales professional can do—all he did was establish a goal. His goal was to be in the four-unit Consistency Club every week for the rest of his career.
Before he went on vacation, he would sell eight units to maintain his Consistency Club status.
So here’s what Max thinks about goal setting: “I stayed in the Consistency Club for more than 17 years.
Doing so, I not only provided for my family, but captured the respect of my peers and senior management. It also allowed me to win trips all over the world every year. Setting that goal was the best thing I ever did. We had a great life and without setting that goal, I would have never accomplished many things that accompany it. However, not only was I blessed beyond my wildest dreams, I even set a record that will probably stand forever.”
The Consistency Club isn’t for the faint of heart. It isn’t for the people who would rather whine than shine. Learning about Max reminded me of an Air Force quote: “The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.”
A lot of sales professionals will view what Max did as impossible. But why settle for less when you can be the best you can be every minute, every hour, every day, every week and every year?
And to Max, we salute you and your accomplishments. Thanks for reminding us that in sales, nothing is impossible.
$ ( Sales Strategies )
Jim Meisenheimer lives in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, and is a sales training consultant who has worked with more than 500 clients over the last two decades. He publishes the Start Selling More Newsletter (www.startsellingmore.com), which provides common-sense sales tips and selling strategies based on practical ideas that get immediate results.
IN SALES, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLEby Jim Meisenheimer
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