David Stern Foreclosure Firm Shutting Down
The prominent Florida lawyer accused of mishandling many foreclosure cases in that state is shutting down his foreclosure law practice at the end of the month, a regulatory filing shows. The decision by the lawyer, David Stern, was announced by DJSP Enterprises Inc, a company he once ran and which calls itself the main customer of the Law Offices of David J. Stern PA. DJSP said it expects to receive no further referrals from Stern. The company, whose businesses have included processing, servicing and title operations, has already laid off much of its workforce. [Source: Reuters]MUST-KNOW FLORIDIAN
Meet Carl Hiaasen. The best-selling author credited with inventing the Florida Noir mystery genre has won the 2011 Florida Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing from the Florida Humanities Council. More from the Miami Herald. |
Hospitality Looms Large in Tourism's Legislative Goals
A year ago, amid complaints from vacation-rental home owners in Southwest Florida, the state Legislature passed a law sparing the homes from being forced to install the fire-sprinkler systems required in conventional hotels.
This year, the Legislature is poised to go even further: Bills have been filed in both the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate that are designed to preempt any future efforts to regulate vacation homes as if they were hotels or motels.
Vacation-home regulation is one of a number of issues involving Florida's $60-billion-a-year tourism industry that will confront state lawmakers during the next two months as they convene for the state's annual legislative session, which opens Tuesday.
Hotels are lobbying for stiffer penalties for people who distribute pizza fliers on their properties. Restaurants want to make liquor permits easier to obtain. Convention-and-visitors bureaus are aiming to keep strict septic-tank standards in hopes of preserving places such as Silver Springs in Marion County and Wachulla Springs near Tallahassee as local attractions. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Struggling Shopping-Center Owner Rents Space to Himself
Harold Sherman, shopping-center owner, can be found most mornings at about 11 o'clock slicing pork roast and red bell peppers.
That's because he operates a small sandwich shop in Sherman's Plaza, the 18,000-square-foot strip center that he owns near West Oaks Mall in Ocoee.
Actually, he operates two businesses in his nine-store retail center: the Sandwich Shoppe, which he opened about a year ago, and Mr. Good Deals, a new enterprise that sells closeout merchandise at a discount.
Neither pulled-pork barbecue nor novelty T-shirts are among Sherman's business passions. But he opened his small plaza just as Central Florida and the rest of the country began slipping into recession, and his chosen specialty as a landlord — retail — is now expected to be the last piece of commercial real estate to recover as the economy slowly struggles back to life. So Sherman is trying to generate paying tenants anyway he can — even if he's the tenant.
"It wasn't my job of choice, but it's what I'm doing," he said.
Even so, he figures he can afford to keep the shopping center open for only another six months if nothing improves and his storefronts don't fill up.
[Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Four Companies Remain in Running for Hernando Beach Dredge
Four companies remain in the running to complete the Hernando Beach channel dredge as the Hernando County Commission begins to listen to their proposals and consider their prices, which range from $7.2 million to $12.8 million.
The bids were opened Monday at the start of the special County Commission meeting.
The county had hoped to get a better price than the last bid on the project by altering the permit to provide more flexibility. The previous low bid by a single bidder was $8.8 million by the Tampa-based firm BCPeabody. The county has approximately $4.5 million still available for the project, and officials have discussed various options to cover the rest of the cost. The county found the previous dredging firm, Orion Dredging Services, in breach of its contract. Orion has sued the county.
[Source: St. Petersburg Times]
Florida Keys: Recovery on the Horizon
For visitors longing for the laid-back Florida Keys ambiance, much of the charm is in small, eclectic lodgings with such alluring names as Rainbow Bend, Pines & Palms, Deer Run, Kona Kai and Lime Tree Bay.
"A lot of people come to the Keys for a certain Keys vacation in mind: to stay at a mom-and-pop," said Jodi Weinhofer, executive director of the Lodging Association of the Florida Keys. "They are places that don't exist in other locations and are a huge part of what makes the Keys special."
They also are places that have proven resilient through the past two years of global recession, a lingering cold spell during the 2010 high tourist season, the BP oil spill that kept visitors away in droves last summer and even ongoing sewer work along U.S. 1.
"We're here, but it has been a struggle," said Linda Adams, who with her husband Dave, are entering their 22nd year as owners of the Rock Reef Resort with 21 units in Key Largo.
Small property owners did what they had to do to keep the lights on.
[Source: Miami Herald]
Out of the Box |
