South Florida www.southfloridabusinessjournal.com AUGUST 12-18, 2011 $4.50 Business Journal BEARS AND BULLS: The stock market’s roller coaster sent South Florida stocks on a wild ride P6 rc om me rci al us e Health premiums set, although profits rise fo By Brian Bandell ot Airport West deal shows industrial sites remain hot SEE DEAL | 37 ur na ls Jo es s sin Bu ity nC ca eri Am © New York-based investment fund KTR Capital Partners has paid about $9.7 million for 24.5 acres it purchased in Miami-Dade County’s Airport West submarket and hired Butters Construction and Development to build out 500,000 square feet of space there. The site, located inside the Pan Am West Industrial Business Park at Northwest 25th Street and 132nd Place, may be developed as several buildings, said Adam Vaisman, Butters’ director of acquisition and development. KTR and Butters hope to break ground by the start of 2012, he said. Calls to KTR seeking comment were not returned. KTR, which owns Seneca North in Pembroke Park and the Beacon at 97th Business Park in Doral, is looking to invest more in South Florida, Vaisman said. Vacancy in the Airport West area has gone down significantly in the last 18 months: It was 5.7 percent in the second quarter, compared with 8.5 percent in the fourth quar- -N By Oscar Pedro Musibay MARK FREERKS Humana CEO Mike McCallister raked mulch at the multigenerational playground it donated to the city of Lauderhill. Although many health insurers enjoy higher profits, Humana CEO Michael McCallister said he does not expect premiums for employers and consumers to be lower anytime soon. The head of the Louisville, Ky.based insurance giant (NYSE: HUM) visited Lauderhill on Aug. 3 to help Humana’s South Florida employees build a multigenerational playground that was donated to the city. The donation, worth about $83,000, is an example of how Humana gives back to the community. Yet, many employers that hear of Humana’s profit increasing 29.5 percent to $775.5 million in the first six months of 2011 might be wondering whether the company will give back some of those premium dollars. Humana ended 2010 with 339,000 commercial health enrollees in Florida, including 174,000 in HMOs. It had an additional 388,000 Florida residents in Medicare or Medicaid managed care plans. Minnesota HMO expert Allan SEE HUMANA | 36 Apartment project near Marlins ballpark is complete By Oscar Pedro Musibay Developer Jose Milton has completed the 80-unit Stadium Tower apartments in Miami’s Little Ha- vana neighborhood, hoping to lure renters from those hired to work on the 38,000-seat Florida Marlins ballpark. That kind of investment is exact- ly what supporters of the $600 million-plus ballpark were hoping the project, set for completion in time for the 2012 baseball season, would yield: an engine for redevelopment and commercial investment in the area, which is home to some of the nation’s poorest residents. SEE APARTMENTS | 37 EXCELLENCE IN HUMAN RESOURCES Join us on Thursday, Aug. 25 as we honor South Florida’s great HR professionals at a luncheon event at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six. To register online, go to http:// bizj.us/b37f5 or call Rossie Ruiz at (954) 949-7522 for details. CONNECT WITH SFBJ For more information, see the Reader Guide on the inside back cover of this issue. right for records n Dr. Edward Goldman’s new medical records company, Practice Communications, is gaining clients and hiring employees. P3 wingery takes flight n Smokehouse Grille & Wingery has closed its first restaurant in eastern Boca Raton, as co-founders Mark Uffer and Erik Frasco, of Wellingtonbased Wicked Restaurant Management, focus their efforts on a different location in the city. P4 highways hit? n Commuters could be inconvenienced if problems with federal funding for transportation infrastructure affect any projects that are under way. P10 Critical conversations n South Florida Business Journal’s education Critical Conversations panel members talk about their strategies and budget cuts. P13 also inside The List: Office Furniture Companies SoFla Luxe Foreclosure Roundup Growth Strategies Peggy Nordeen Hot Leads People on the Move Week on the Web Leads Classifieds Reader Guide P19 P20 P21 P22 P22 P23 P23 P24 P26 P33 P39 THE LIST | 19 south florida business journal | august 12-18, 2011 Top 15 Office Furniture Companies Ranked by 2010 South Florida revenue 6 7 7 9 18 1 Rent 2810 Center Port Circle Pompano Beach 33064 (954) 782-1855 (954) 782-1856 www.oe-furniture.com $12 $11 25 1 Purchase Rent Lease (305) 557-1667 (305) 824-9211 www.xpressbuy.com $9 $9 35 1 Rent Lease $8.2 $8.3 18 3 Purchase Rent Lease New Floor planning Used Setup Refurbished Removal $8 $6.9 38 1 Purchase Lease Floor planning Setup Removal New Floor planning Setup Removal New Used Office Express Supplies 8005 W. 20th Ave. Hialeah 33014 Workscapes South 1300 S. Miami Ave. Miami 33130 (305) 400-8101 (305) 456-6039 www.workscapes.com Smith Office & Computer Supply 1009 S. 21st Ave. (954) 922-4811 (954) 929-2545 www.smithofficesupply.com Corporate Design Choice 11001 N.W. 33rd St. (305) 716-9990 Miami 33172 (305) 716-9980 www.corporatedesignchoice.com Staples 2305 S.W. 32nd Ave. NR Pembroke Park 33025 10 8 (305) 651-3838 (305) 999-6599 www.staples.com Office Dimensions 3621 N.E. First Court Miami 33137 (305) 576-7550 (305) 576-7511 www.odimiami.com 11 USA Office Furniture 12 OfficeMax Inc. dba OM Workspace – Miramar 13 Office Gap 7200 N.W. 58th St. NR Miami 33166 10 14 11 15 300 N.W. 70th Ave., No. 301 Fort Lauderdale 33317 $5.5 $5.5 22 2 Purchase Lease New Floor planning Used Setup Refurbished Removal $4 $4 8 1 Lease 8 2 Lease Floor planning 21 1 Rent Lease Floor planning Setup Removal 5 1 Purchase NA 1 Purchase Lease $2 WND (954) 452-2747 $500,000 (954) 452-0505 $500,000 www.officegap.com Office Furniture Outlet LLC (954) 926-7777 $200,000 $200,000 www.office-outlet.net 3 1 Purchase Rent Techni Mobili Sharper Image 2COOL Gabe Dickstein Bryan Sterenal 2002 Knoll Kimball Office National Christina LaCerra 1999 Paoli Lacasse Global Randy Garcia 1988 New Used Refurbished Setup Removal Lease USA Contract Furniture 1405 S. 30th Ave. New Floor planning Used Setup Refurbished Removal 14 1 11586 Pierson Road, Building L-11 (561) 793-6789 $390,000 Wellington 33414 (561) 792-3587 $390,000 www.usacontractfurniture.com 13 Hollywood 33020 New $7 $5.5 $2.4 (305) 888-8218 (305) 459-1253 $474,000 www.usaofficefurniture.com 10004 Premier Parkway (954) 661-2691 NR Miramar 33025 www.omworkspace.com WND us e Office Elements NR Hollywood 33020 8 $14 $13.8 Jay Binkowski 2009 TOP 5 2010 SOUTH FLORIDA REVENUE (MILLIONS) $45.3 Empire Office $22 RTA Products LLC $14 Office Elements $12 Office Express Supplies $9 TOP 5 BY S. FLA. EMPLOYEES NUMBER OF SOUTH FLORIDA EMPLOYEES J.C. White Architectural Interior Products 83 Knoll DIRTT Gunlocke Ann Fox 2001 Global HON Alera WND 1950 HermanMiller OFS Custom-made Shawn MacMullin 1987 me rci al 6 (954) 499-9149 (954) 499-2269 www.rtaproducts.com Steelcase AIS Inscape New Floor planning Used Setup Refurbished Removal rc om 5 3900 Executive Way Miramar 33025 Sharon Feltingoff 1978 fo 5 RTA Products LLC Top local executive Year founded locally Haworth Paoli HON New Smith Office & Computer Supply 38 Empire Office 35 Allsteel HON Global Don LaCerra NA Floor planning New Setup Refurbished Removal Krug Global AIS Mark D. Stern 1988 New Global Industries Affordable Interiors System HON Fernando Lopez 2001 New Teknion HON National Douglas Wynne 1970 Floor planning Setup Removal New AicoSystems Nevers Inwood Mariela Borrello 1999 Floor planning Setup Removal New Global Paoli ECFI Daniel Snyder 2003 Setup Removal New Used Refurbished Kimball Hon Steelcase Mark Turner 2008 ot 4 Rent Lease Brands carried* -N 4 35 1 3201 Commerce Parkway (954) 435-7300 Miramar 33025 (954) 435-7212 www.empireoffice.com Conditions ur na ls 3 $22 $24 Empire Office Floor planning Setup Removal Jo 3 Purchase Rent Lease (954) 499-6677 (954) 499-6678 www.jcwhite.com es s 2 83 2 3501 Commerce Parkway Miramar 33025 sin 2 $45.3 $47.8 J.C. White Architectural Interior Products Services offered J.C. White Architectural Interior Products Bu 1 Purchase options Phone Fax Web site ity 1 S. Fla. staff S. Fla. locations Company Address nC Rank 2011 2010 S. Fla. revenue (millions) 2010 2009 Office Express Supplies 35 Office Elements 25 UPCOMING LISTS n Aug. 19: hospitals, nursing homes, Physician practice groups n Aug. 26 landscaping companies n Sept. 2: Commercial property management firms n Sept. 9: business telephone companies, Commercial real estate developers REPRINT INFORMATION information for obtaining commemorative plaques, reprints or Web permissions can be obtained from the Business Journal’s designated partner company, scoop reprintsource at (800) 767-3263 or www.scoopreprintsource.com. no other companies offering similar services are affiliated in any way with the Business Journal. ca Notes: South Florida refers to Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. NR = Not ranked. NA = Not available or not applicable. *Due to space constraints, not all brands could be listed. Contact the individual companies for a complete listing. eri Sources: The companies Researched by Amy Limbert [email protected] By Oscar Pedro Musibay Discounted condominium pricing in South Florida, the main driver of sales since 2008, keeps units below replacement costs, despite the fact that inventory is dwindling and prices are rising. The staggered pricing structure that Related ISG has instituted for new projects – including the 200-unit My Brickell, which is projected to break ground soon – not only caters to buyers from Latin America, but is designed to help finance project construction in a market where speculation financing is scarce. Related ISG principal Phil Spiegelman said absorption is occurring at a steady pace throughout South Florida’s most important urban markets, which bodes well for future development plans. “There is no specific star that says, ‘I’m the best’ or ‘I’m the only one absorbing,’” he said of projects with inventory that remains © Am Discounted condominium prices are driving most local sales unsold. “Sales are at a nice, consistent pace across the board.” Condominium inventory in downtown Miami, the epicenter of new condo development in South Florida during the boom, is down to 3,600 units from a total of 17,502 built, according to a new Related ISG report. Miami Beach, a perennial hot market for condos, is down to 1,450 from 10,000, and Fort Lauderdale has 231 of 5,135 units unsold. The continued weakness of the dollar and the strength of the Brazilian real, Canadian dollar and other currency is making already-discounted units even more attractive to foreign buyers, said Jeff Morr, managing principal of Miami-based Majestic Properties. Morr To continue to tap into external markets flush with cash, Related ISG is asking buyers, going forward, to pay several deposits over time that together total about 70 percent of a unit’s value. The financing strategy, which is commonplace abroad, is a way to finance the project without going to a lender, Spiegelman said. The reality is that foreign buyers will continue to dominate the condo market in the short run, until mortgage financing becomes readily available, said Peter Zalewski, who heads Bal Harbour-based real estate research firm and consultancy Condo Vultures. Zalewski, who has tracked condo absorption for several years, said the question that remains unanswered involves the amount of profit developers made from the boom. If the average replacement price for new condominiums was $300 a square foot, and the average price in downtown Miami is currently $350, then profit have potentially dwindled alongside inventory. At the height of the boom, the downtown average price was between $500 and $600 a square foot, Zalewski noted. Although Related Group Chairman and CEO Jorge Perez has talked about the company’s interest in moving forward on about five residential projects in the coming months, other developers – such as ST Residential, the management and real estate arm of a consortium of investors including Starwood, which controls hundreds of units in the market – do not plan new construction for at least 18 months. Zalewski said the first projects to come out of the ground will likely be smaller, boutique products, a stark contrast to what was commonplace during the boom. It’s a lot easier to find 100 buyers than the hundreds needed for one project during the boom, he said. “There is not going to be a lot of heavy lifting,” Zalewski said about the manageability of the projects. “It’s going to be a test of the market.” [email protected] | (954) 949-7567