Warm, sunny and miserable

This morning I read an amusing article from David Grimes of the Sarasota Herald Tribune. I thought you might enjoy it as well.

Yes, it's 75 and sunny, and yes, it's early February, but we're not as happy as you would think.

There is always the threat of a cold front. Occasionally, the temperature will plummet to a frigid 62. This is cause for universal alarm and panic. Extra blankets are hauled out of the closets. Air conditioners are turned down to low. Furniture is burned in a futile attempt to stay warm.

Oh, yes, you Northerners scoff at our travails, but you have no idea. It has been dry lately and our lawns are looking a little brown. Your lawns are covered in snow. Looking out upon a semi-green lawn in February is so depressing, we sometimes forget to use sunblock and get over-tanned.

Driving is another reason we're miserable. Since it has been warm and sunny recently, we have been obligated to drive with the tops down on our convertibles. This has resulted in mussed hair and additional over-tanning. It is also hard to hear our Beach Boys CDs when the wind is ruffling our Hawaiian shirts.

I have lived up North in February, and it is a beautiful thing. You start the day by hacking the ice off of your car. Then you slide down the road into a 12-car pileup. Then you return home with the flu. This pattern repeats itself until early April.

Because of our nice weather, we remain disgustingly healthy here in Florida, which gives us little to talk about.

While you folks up North get to commiserate at parties about your colds, flu and general ague, we are left to discuss the stock market, real estate prices and Hillary Clinton's emotional stability. Trust me, these conversations seldom turn out well.

People think coming to Florida for a winter vacation is a good idea, but they are wrong.
Everyone here is sunburned and cranky. The real estate market is in the tank. Our roads are lined with orange construction cones. Jimmy Buffett isn't as young as he used to be.

When I go out and fetch the paper in the morning, I shiver.

Not because it's cold (it isn't), but because I know I'm going to have to squeeze a dozen oranges from the backyard tree for our Sunday-morning screwdrivers.

Who can put up with that kind of pressure?

Lunch today

I just noticed that my last post in this blog was in late November. Sorry for the laziness. December was one big blur with the holidays. I also several Canadian clients in town and was busy with them. Their dollar is very strong right now so I am getting inundated with real estate calls.

I will get back in the groove of writing more posts. Amazingly enough I was showing a unit in The Renaissance in downtown Sarasota when the potential buyer told me he read this blog and appreciated some of the posts about Sarasota that were not real estate related.

I had lunch with another SKY Sothebys associate, Tom Kelley. We ate at Carigiulos on Palm Avenue in downtown. I had a tasty chicken sandwich. Tom had the steak salad. He ate it like it was his last meal. If you have not eaten there give it a try.

November Chill

I woke up this morning to a pleasant change in the weather. Right now it is 60 degrees and breezy outside. The high today will only be in the high 70's with moderate humidity and the low will be 56. I am sure a lot of people in Florida are welcoming the cooler weather. My family, dog and I are jumping in the car now to go play in the park.

Driving down Longboat Key this week I noticed several trucks carrying down the vehicles for the snowbirds or as another Realtor in my firm put it "northern aristocrats".

Sarasota Farmers Market

I had not been to the Saturday morning Farmers Market in many years. At the advice of a friend, I took the family there last Saturday. It was great to see all of the happy people, dogs and especially the band of young people playing music. I bought some tasty treats for the football games on Sunday.

If you are not familiar with the Farmers Market it is held every Saturday from 7 a.m. to 12 noon in downtown Sarasota. Their products range from fruit, vegetables, cheese, plants, seafood, flowers, arts, morning breakfast and coffee. Even if you don't need to buy anything it is fun to visit. The Saturday market is located on Lemon Avenue at the intersection of Main Street.

Lakewood Ranch Cinemas

I had the pleasure of seeing The Bourne Ultimatum at the Lakewood Ranch Cinema yesterday. It was the first time I saw a movie in these theaters. These are nice facilities and worth seeing a movie there. I thought it was interesting that they serve beer and wine. It reminds me of the old cinema draft houses back in the 1980's where you could eat and drink while watching a movie.

If you liked the first two Bourne movies you will like The Bourne Ultimatum. It was nonstop action with a good story.

July 4th Boat Races

The Suncoast Offshore boat race was held on Sunday July 1st off the coast of Sarasota. The Suncoast Offshore Grand Prix Festival is one of Sarasota's largest events annually attracting hundreds of thousands of people to Sarasota.

The family and I dodged rain and lightning bolts the Friday night before the boat races to see the parade in downtown Sarasota. My boys loved seeing all of the big boats.

We spent the 4th of July up in St. Petersburg beach at a friends house on the water. Our friends have a great weekend home up there sitting right on the open bay. We took our jet ski up with us and had a blast.

Demolishing the Quay

The wrecking ball started working on The Quay yesterday to make way for the new billion dollar development of retail and residential space. I am happy to see that they will finally be taking down the derelict building.

The first of three planned residential towers, slated to contain roughly 700 units, could be done in late 2010 or 2011. I am surprised to see so many residential units in the plans. In all of 2006 roughly 150 condos sold in the downtown area and that number includes all of the sales in 100 Central which were made in 2004.

We have plenty of downtown condos for sale now. There is demand for property in this area but they have to be priced well. I think the developer, Irish American Management Services Ltd., will need to a good number of units in the "middle of the road" price range in order to sell 700 of them.

I think it will eventually be a great destination place with all of the planned shopping, restuarants and entertainment.

I wonder why they have not planned any convention space in the project. More meeting space would support more hotel rooms, jobs, travel, etc.

The painted clowns were auctioned off

Do you remember seeing the clowns around downtown Sarasota? Evidently, 29 of the 26 clowns were auctioned off last Saturday night. Each clown averaged a $4,000 sales price with the minimum price $3,500. TideWell Hospice and Palliative Care has made nearly $120,000 off a public art display. There is still an opportunity to buy one. 20 clowns are available in an online auction until Friday.

"Homer the Reds Clown," designed by Skip Dyrda with help from local celebrity artist Jerry Springer, is headed to Dayton, Ohio. The clown "Dazzle and Hip-Hop" is bound for New York City. They sold for $3,500 each.

Nordstrom coming to Sarasota?

Nordstrom shoppers should be happy to hear about the retailers letter of intent to open a store at the University Town Center.

The high end retailers plans on opening at the 276 acre shopping center at University Parkway and I-75. The two-level Nordstrom will be 138,000 square feet and will open by late 2010.

When completed the University Town Center will be the largest retail space in Sarasota. The developers are also planning on office buildings, hotels, a movie theater, its own trolley system, parks, a grocer, outdoor dining until 3 a.m. and sculling on an adjacent lake.

In the first phase, a SuperTarget is now open and Benderson expects to sign Best Buy, ULTA cosmetics, Cost Plus World Market and Dick's Sporting Goods. Traffic is already very heavy in the Lakewood Ranch/I-75 area.

With such a large project planned the county will have to add and/or widen roads to alleviate congestion.