April 2018 Southwest Florida Business Today

Page 1

Celebrating 10 Years

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA’S B2B MARKETPLACE • 239-573-9732 Vol. 11 No. 6 / APRIL 2018 www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Distributed in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, Bonita Springs and Naples

TAKE ONE

North Fort Myers is open for business Leaders offer commercial redevelopment incentives Special to SWFBT Karen Moore, Publisher

Commercial Real Estate

A comprehensive 8-page pullout section that is a quarterly SWFL Commercial Real Estate market overview.

Lee County Commissioner Brian Hamman at a commercial real estate association meeting expanded upon the details of the newly announced North Fort Myers $2-million redevelopment incentive program adopted by the Lee County Board of County Commissioners in January. “This is a pilot project,” he said. “We hope its success serves as a springboard for other areas of the county.”

The background Following a market study conducted in North Fort Myers in February 2016, the Lee County Commission directed the Economic Development Office to research and design a program to spur the revitalization of areas within the county that have lagged behind other areas during the ongoing economic recovery. In February 2017, EDO staff recommended a pilot project in North Fort Myers with the focus on job creation through encouraging new commercial, office

BONITA SPRINGS CHAMBER HOSTS EXPO Experts help you navigate the most recent changes in the law that could impact your business.

Brownfield symposium highlights local impact

RSW reports recordbreaking January

During January, 965,981 passengers traveled through Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, an increase of 8.2 percent compared to January 2017. The traffic leader in January was Southwest Airlines with 180,817 passengers traveling to and from Fort Myers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Delta Air Lines (172,258), American (126,502), Spirit (113,804) and Frontier (111,900). Southwest Florida International Airport had 9,266 aircraft operations, an increase of 2.8 percent compared to January 2017. Page Field saw 8,437 operations, a 9.5-percent decrease.

FUTURE See page 13

LEGAL REVIEW

Special to SWFBT Jacob Ogles, Editor

IN THE NEWS

FDEP See page 14

and industrial development, as well as redevelopment of obsolete buildings. A key factor in the selection of North Fort Myers, and other areas, was that it reflects geographies that would benefit most from economic development efforts and, according to a market study, have an opportunity for the attraction of new business, business retention and the absorption of new jobs. According to the approved program, these targeted areas are within the Mixed Use Overlay, as identified

Summit discusses combating ID theft

Focus on Legal Review

The Florida Department of Environment Protection announced a brownfield redevelopment symposium will be held at the Chateau Elan hotel and conference center in Sebring on June 7 and 8. Department officials invited, developers, investors, Realtors, governments and other interested parties in all South Florida, including Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Palm Beach and Southwest Florida to learn about the Florida Brownfields Program.

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Members showcase businesses at event

The Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce in March held its 2018 Community Business Expo at the Promenade at Bonita Bay. The event featured 60 Chamber member exhibitors. Above: Cory Lavey and Bill Daubmann work a table at the expo. Left: Peter O’Flinn, Nigel Fullick and Bob Rosier. Bottom left: Shady Wheeler Below: Thomas Hecker and Trish Leonard visit with a Floridian flamingo friend during the event.

At a time when all businesses deal in e-commerce, the threat of data breaches and identity theft become increasingly relevant to major corporations and startup entrepreneurs alike. A summit in Naples will bring leading experts on the subject to discuss ways the mitigate risk and enhance cybersecurity. Hodges University will hold its inaugural Organizational Privacy Summit from April 30 through May 2. The event will take place at the Hilton Naples. Carrie Kerskie, director of Hodges Krebs University’s Identity Fraud Institute, saw a need for a summit focused on the needs of businesses. “We discovered that there seems to be a disconnect between the consumer and businesses when it comes to cybersecurity,” she says. “We want to help organizations approach data privacy from a complete, holistic approach.” The summit will include a keynote address by cybersecurity expert and investigative journalist Brian Krebs, who in 2013 broke the story that Target’s data had been breached and 40 million credit cards were compromised. Kerskie expects Krebs’ participation in the event to draw attendees from around the country. The three-day event will also include sessions on cyber insurance, the Dark Web, causes of internal data breaches and best practices to proactively get ahead of hackers, among other subjects. ID THEFT See page 13

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