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Economic Yearbook 2007
SOUTHWEST: New Directions
A commercial boom.
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Innovators
? Discovery Technology International has granted Boston-based ESA Biosciences exclusive rights to market its BioStat device, which can detect free radicals like nitric oxide, hydrogen sulfide and superoxide. The company also manufactures equipment used by scientists to move lasers, mirrors or microprobes by the tiniest increments. President and founder Mark Broderick projects $70 million in sales growth by the end of 2011.
? Rain forest researcher and New College professor Meg Lowman is spearheading an effort to create a biological research station at Carlton Reserve, a county-owned wetland.
? An influx of Spanish speakers is fueling business for Nuevo Advertising Group, a fast-growing Sarasota-based company owned by Pedro Perez that specializes in Spanishlanguage marketing. Nuevo has created Spanish-language ad campaigns for numerous clients, including Waste Management, Bealls, Hooters and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
? The 2-year-old Industrial Biotechnology Corp. recently signed a five-year deal to provide 600,000 metric tons of ethanol annually for China-based Tianjin Zhongao Group.
? 3D Architectural Solutions, co-owned by Brian Zajac and Brian Smith, converts architectural renderings into photo- realistic computer animations, still renderings and smallscale models. The year-old firm's clients have included local developers and the FBI. "Locally, we've done a $9-million residence on Barefoot Beach, a spec home. The owner was selling the entire thing via the 3-D animation," says Zajac.
Sarasota County
TREND: Upscale retail projects. Benderson Development and Forbes Co. of Southfield, Mich., are preparing to build a mixed-use development called University Town Center on 272 acres at I-75 and University Parkway. With 1.7-million square feet of retail space, the development also will include 1,750 homes, a trolley system, three hotels and parks. Developers say it will generate $500 million in annual sales. "We're a growing economy, and that makes us more resilient to a lot of these external things like insurance and housing costs," says Kathy Baylis, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County.
