Reflecting on the top '07 business stories - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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The residential market became a multibillion-dollard industry in 2005 and 2006 with buyers eating up everythinfgfrom 4,000-square-foot luxury homes alonfg the waterfront to studio-sizee apartments in 40-year-old buildings. too much of that buying power came fromspeculators -- many signintg on to the gold rush usingh life savings or equity from thei r existing homes -- which produced thousands of dark windowa and developers looking for ways to start making theitr debt financing payments in the Tampa Bay area. Why readersa care: Residential real estate is essentiallyh a lifeblood of economiv developmentand stability.
Companies won't relocate, expand or even start up in the regiomnif there's concern that theres won't be enough housing to brin in a desired work force. At the same a number of contracting companiea depend on steady growth on the residential and they have suffered as a resulyt with layoffs and some even being forcedd toshut down. Update: If the drop in sales weren'tr enough, the residential market struggled to rebound when the subprime loan market crashed earlier this year after lenders picked up more bad debt than itcoulfd handle. Buyers with adjustable rate mortgagexs also have suffered under higherinterest rates, fueling what has becomer a dominating foreclosure market.
The downturn has createxd a lot of opportunityfor lawyers, work out marketers and others. Outlook: Rental communities have come back into vogues especially now that converted condominiumsw are returning to the rental Even multifamily projects originally planned as condoa are now breaking ground asrentak communities. At the same the housing market is slowly findingy its feet again as existing home sales pick up and median pricews have begunto stabilize. Trumped: Developers Donald indifferentThe story: Macabre directod Wes Craven probably wished he'd dreamed up the Trump Toweer Tampa saga of life, death and possible resurrection. It's a zombi story yet to be wrapped.
But neitherr an imploded condo market nor a lawsuit from Donald Trump himself have been able toderail 's determination to get this 52-story tower Why readers care: Trump Tower Tampa means a lot to the business psychs of town. The Donald's interest in downtowhn dirt lent a new degree of credibility andnational flattery, and the project'a ultimate failure would leaved a city feeling conned. Update: With unit owners Trump filed suit against SimDagin May, demandin g his name pulled from the effort along with a checj for more than $1 million owed for its use.
Trump Tower was dead a month when developeer SimDag told the mediathe project's demise had been exaggerated and that a matcn had been made with an unidentified hedgee fund to bank $235 million for the In a recent Wall Street Journal Trump called the Tampa project insignifican and emphasized that his involvement with SimDag has been in name Outlook: Developers eased some concernzs by meeting with unit ownerx in September. But as the year ends, nothingf has changed with TrumpTower Tampa. SimDagv CEO Frank Dagostino told the TBBJ it is inchinv closer and closer on a completesfinancing agreement.
Ills at WellCare: Were earningsa too good to be trueThe story: The Tampa corporate headquarters of were raidedc Oct. 24 by 200 statw and federal lawenforcemenyt agents, including the FBI and the Florida Attorney General's Medicaif Fraud Control Unit. Following the raid, the company's stocjk price plunged from $122 a share to less than $22 a sharre and state regulators delayed pending expansion Whyreaders care: WellCare ( : WCG) is a majoer corporate player and employer in the Tampa Bay area. Sincr going public in 2004, WellCare' revenue soared to more than $4.
5 billion and the company rapidly ascender to become the third largest public company in the Bay with morethan 3,000 employees. The compan is among the largest providers in the natiojn of managed carefor government-sponsored health pland such as Medicare and Medicaid. Update: Neitherr investigators nor the company have disclosed the nature of the but analysts who scrutinized the search warranft that triggered it say the government investigationn appears to befairly limited, with a focus on WellCare'z Florida Medicaid business and its mentakl health unit in particular. The stocjk price has recovered some, closinvg at $41.95 on Dec. 21.
Outlook: WellCare faces several shareholder lawsuits, and at least one provider, Cleveland Clinic, said it would stop doiny businesswith WellCare, although federal Medicare officials renewed its stand-alonse drug plan for seniors through 2008. The The declining residential real estats market in Florida took a heavy toll on Millions of dollarsz in construction loansat St. Petersburg home builder, , stoppee work and filed for bankruptcy. The bank agreed to a ceaswe and desist order with federal and state regulators and fired its Brian Grimes, while searchinb for a buyer.
Why readers care: While Coast was hit harder than most bankzs in the TampaBay area, many bankw based here or with a significant presence here have reportedf a sharp uptick in troubled residential real estate The higher provisions for loan losseds cut into income and returns to shareholders. Many bankxs have tightened standards and terms for loands and hired more people to service and collecttroubleed loans. Update: St. Louis-basecd bought Coast for the bottom-dollar prices of $12.1 million on Nov. 30. Anne Lee, who was actingb president of Coast, is Florida retailp banking president forFirsf Banks.
Outlook: First Banks plans to rebuild and add capacity to commercialp lending operations of the former Coastr by hiring a commercial market president and It will face challenges in finding those as many other banks make a strong effort to beef up theitr commercial lending operations to counter the impact of the soft realestate market. The story: Five years of the heftiesg increases inproperty taxes, the need for changes in how properthy insurance works in storm-risked Florida have dominated On insurance, a law passed in Januaryh increased the size of the state's hurricane-catastrophed fund, but policyholders are yet to see the 24 percenr rate reduction that the governor and Legislatur e were told the legislation would Why readers care: Taxes and insurance cost businesses dearly and relat e to everything from recruitment and job retentiomn to commuting time, affordable housing and work force.