PORT EVERGLADES TO DEEPEN PORT

PORT EVERGLADES TO DEEPEN PORT

Our close coverage of Florida’s port expansions continues with this article. One of the reasons for this is the belief that our economy will be very much positively affected by the widening of the Panama Canal. The area ports are responding to this and preparing for increased traffic and cargo. Right now Port Everglades is 42 feet deep, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has just recommended that it be deepened to 47 feet to accommodate the increased traffic. Broward County sought a depth of 48 feet, and would need to pay for the extra foot. That would cost $18 million dollars. That that seems like a lot but when you see this math you can see why investing in this infrastructure makes sense. The Army Corps calculates that every $1 spent on the deepening project (total cost $370 million) the U.S. will make $2.7 dollars in return over the next 50 years. The conclusion was made that the extra foot of depth did not justify the added expense. It should be noted that Port Miami is dredging to 50 feet. So it is clear everyone is betting on this expansion and putting up millions of dollars in pursuit of more growth. I think it is all going to pay off and that this will be lasting growth. Florida is uniquely positioned between Central America (where it seems like most of the fruit and seafood are coming from lately) and the rest of the U.S. and it is a natural stop for sea based traffic. If we can improve our rail service this could only assist the growth to come. Very exciting stuff and we will be following it closely. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.

Broward to dig deeper at Port

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-08-12/news/fl-port-everglades-dredge-20140812_1_port-everglades-portmiami-u-s-army-corps

REAL ESTATE LICENSING FEES ARE REDUCED

REAL ESTATE LICENSING FEES ARE REDUCED

Do not be alarmed, there was no photo with the article. It happens from time to time, it is just coincidental that there have been some missing photos from the blog articles lately. As you can imagine, this article caught my eye! You really don’t see fees going down very often, and for real estate licenses I cannot remember this ever happening since I moved here in 2001. Back then everyone in the state seemed to have a real estate license regardless of age, expertise or occupation. It was a profession preferred by the transient crowd, a way to make big money without working very hard or long hours. When hard times hit the market, membership in the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches dropped 31% from 2005 – 2011. Now with the market slowly improving, the number of realtors is growing once again. It is interesting that the state appears to be trying to help the industry with this drop in licensing fees. But don’t forget that lots of people make money from these real estate licensees, who must attend real estate schools, pay taxes on the licenses, and eventually collect sales tax on the transactions they make. Thanks to the state of Florida for the small break, it is appreciated although it will not affect my voting choice. Before long, we might well be back to the boom times where you could find a real estate agent under every rock and mangrove in Florida. We are certainly heading in that direction quickly. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.

Real-estate licensing fees reduced in Florida

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/business/real-estate-licensing-fees-reduced-in-florida/ngz3F/#fafbbd37.3711057.735463

FLORIDA HAS PLENTY OF SUN BUT LITTLE SOLAR POWER

FLORIDA HAS PLENTY OF SUN BUT LITTLE SOLAR POWER

This is just plain crazy and something that needs changing in huge way. I was in Chicago a few weeks ago and while riding the L train to Wrigley Field to see a Cubs game I saw plenty of solar panels on top of residential and office buildings. It is something you never see in Florida, despite our moniker as the Sunshine State. Why is this?? Because here in Florida and in other states (many of which are in the Southeast) where there is a monopoly on the energy supply, like Florida Power & Light, the utility company pays big money to prevent any competition. No matter how logical, environmentally friendly and efficient it might be. This is another example of politics gone bad, where the rich and powerful use their money to shape the laws to benefit their interests. It is almost funny that not only have they prevented competition from solar, but they have actually succeeded in making it illegal for homeowners to lease solar systems. That is the most common use of solar power, leaving only the option of purchasing it, which is very costly upfront. States in the Northeast like Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey are far ahead of states in the South with rooftop solar panels for homes. I think if enough publicity is shed on this subject the utility companies will be forced to allow more competition which will be good for both consumers and the environment. So please spread the word, and with our help competition will be allowed. Once it is, prices for everything will drop and service should improve. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.

Sunshine State slow to warm up to solar power

http://members.jacksonville.com/news/2014-08-16/story/sunshine-state-slow-warm-solar-power

PORT EVERGLADES: BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 47 & 48 FEET OF DEPTH?

PORT EVERGLADES: BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 47 & 48 FEET OF DEPTH?

An interesting debate is taking place in Broward County regarding the depth of dredging at Port Everglades. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the authority in these situations, and also impacts federal funding of these port projects. They have just recommended a 47 foot depth for Port Everglades, while Broward County sought a depth of 48 feet. Seems like small change, no big deal right? First of all, let’s talk about the cost of it: $18 million dollars. The 47 foot depth would allow the largest petroleum and container vessels. So what is the issue? It is that megaships with full loads prefer depths of 50 feet to comfortably maneuver. Port Miami is dredging to 50 feet and maybe other ports are concerned that they will be bypassed if they are not deep enough. It could also be a regional competitive thing, like if Miami can do it then we should be able to as well. There is a lot of money and jobs at stake here, $369 million dollars, of which $186 million would be paid by the federal government and $183 million by Port Everglades. You could imagine the prospect of spending all this money to improve the capacity and then it not being adequate to handle the increased traffic. And then the traffic would divert to other ports that can handle it and lose the investment and the existing traffic. The ports and the expansion of it supports 4,200 jobs and 2,200 construction jobs. There will be plenty of more updates on this soon and I promise you will find them here. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.

Port Everglades mulls extra $9 million outlay to dredge to 48 feet

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-08-07/business/fl-port-everglades-dredging-update-20140807_1_port-everglades-portmiami-expanded-panama-canal

LONG VACANT LANTANA WATERFRONT SITE FINALLY TO BE DEVELOPED

LONG VACANT LANTANA WATERFRONT SITE FINALLY TO BE DEVELOPED

I promise it isn’t me! This is the 2^nd article this week I have been unable to get the photo from it, and of course I blame the respective publications. I have a long and impressive track record of using photos with my blogs so I know it isn’t me! I love articles like this about a long vacant or dilapidated site that gets a new life from a developer. This is the definition of a win win deal, with the City of Lantana getting added tax revenues and new homes sprouting where there was nothing but overgrown land and decaying buildings before. But all is not agreed upon yet but looks promising. The plan is to transform the 10 acre waterfront site into 5 buildings, a mixture of 2 story mixed use properties which would be fronting on Dixie Highway and 6 story residential buildings which would be a gated rental community. The plans call for 2 mixed use properties and 3 residential buildings. There will be a total of 319 residential units. Given that there have been many failed deals on this site throughout the years and no other competing plans or bidders, this deal should happen. This is one of the last large waterfront parcels left and it will be very interesting to see how it all turns out. It should be great for the area and it is long overdue. My fingers are crossed but I really don’t think that is going to be necessary here. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.

Lantana waterfront property could develop as retail/residential

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/lantana-waterfront-property-could-develop-as-retai/ngypN/#74a094e9.3711057.735459

DESPITE MONEY AND EFFORTS, WALMART STILL STRUGGLES IN U.S.

DESPITE MONEY AND EFFORTS, WALMART STILL STRUGGLES IN U.S.

Sorry despite multiple and sincere efforts I was not able to get the photo from this article for some reason. Walmart fascinates me, for many reasons. But as the largest retailer in the world, they shed light on lot of things in the market. It seems like Walmart just can’t find itself these days. Realizing that just having the lowest or low prices is not enough to guaranty success, they have tried to expand in many ways. They have introduced new lines of business, such as the auto insurance industry, health clinics, ramping up their web site to compete with Amazon, etc. But none of these has really been successful and I think they have taken Walmart away from their core focus and customers. But I understand that they must widen their customer base if they are to be successful and that is what they have been pouring their money and efforts into lately. Their main focus has been improving their web site to compete against Amazon. But from what I read here, there is no chance from them to compete against Amazon, despite Walmart spending $650 million dollars to do so in the past 2 years alone. Their efforts to expand their smaller size formats are still in the works and have not been successful to date. It seems like they missed a huge opportunity to accelerate this effort by buying Family Dollar and their 11,000 locations, who ended up merging with Dollar Tree instead. It seems like they really have no direction or plan, just keep trying to enter new business markets and hope that something will catch fire and work. Eventually they will need to come up with a real and focused strategy if they want to compete against their rivals like the dollar stores and Costco, Target, Kroger, etc. We will see what they come up with and I will be watching closely. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.     

'It's sad...pitiful': Howard Davidowitz weighs in on Walmart's latest disappointment

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/-it-s-sad---pitiful---howard-davidowitz-weighs-in-on-walmart-s-latest-disappointment-143055177.html

PORT EVERGLADES GEARING UP FOR GROWTH WITH NEW PROGRAM

PORT EVERGLADES GEARING UP FOR GROWTH WITH NEW PROGRAM

Special thanks to Cordova Rodriguez & Associates for the great photo! This article was too interesting to pass up, even if it didn't have a photo. Port Everglades is one of 16 ports to enter into a new agreement with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It will allow state and local governments along with the private sector to reimburse U.S. Customs for expanded services and quicker inspections. This will be accomplished by adding customs personnel when there are peak traffic surges. This will make the port more attractive as a destination and the customers that will benefit from the new changes will be cruise lines, cargo terminal operators and ocean shipping lines. There is some precedent in the area for this new program. Last July Miami International Airport was among the initial 5 governmental agencies chosen for the program. They increased their budget by $6 million dollars, in order to pay for adding personnel, additional traffic lanes and automated passport technology. The result of this money and efforts was a decrease in wait times of almost 30%. The idea is simple for both Port Everglades and MIA: make your destination more attractive and more efficient and you will get more business/traffic in return. It is exciting to see these changes in place before the widening of the Panama Canal, which is expected to bring significantly more traffic to the area. Hopefully the Port of Palm Beach can also get involved in the program as well at some point now that the groundwork in the area has been laid. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.

Port Everglades may improve customs processing

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-07-28/business/fl-port-everglades-customs-deal-20140728_1_port-everglades-fort-lauderdale-seaport-customs-and-security-operations