October 2013   

Cape Coral News Letter MastHead
Public Private Partnership Touted by Governor
Cape Coral EDO Billboard Unveiling   
 

When Lamar Advertising Company, HD PR Group and the City of Cape Coral joined forces to create the "Cape Coral is Open For Business" billboard campaign in September of 2012, we launched the sort of public private partnership the Governor would love to see throughout the entire state. Lamar generously donated billboards throughout the area, and HD PR Group donated the creative design. This allowed the City to get its positive business friendly message in front of hundreds of thousands of people.

So, it's no wonder that Lamar recently invited City leaders to the Florida Outdoor Advertising Association annual meeting, in part, to recognize just how much the campaign meant. As the keynote speaker, Governor Rick Scott gave praise to business opportunities in Florida-siting our No. 2 ranking for job growth in the nation. The goal? Work together to become No. 1. 

 
New Cape Coral Businesses   
Business Card top  
108 new businesses registered for Cape Coral Tax Receipts
(Business Licenses)
in August, 2013.

Visit the EDO website's

Download Center  

for listings of all new  

Cape Coral business license registrations in the last six months.

 

Green Expo

Postponed

Green Business   

DEP announced that it is postponing its 2nd Annual Greening Your Bottom Line Expo & Conference. 
 
We will let you know when a new date is announced.

Florida On Pace

For 100 Million

Visitors

 Cape Coral Mid Cape Corporate Center       

Backed by record state funding and spending on marketing, Florida might top 100 million visitors this year. The growth in visitors would mean a boost to jobs and Florida's economy, the state's top tourism official said.

 

To see the full report, click here.

Resources

Governor Seeks

Millions More

For Ports

 Cape Coral Mid Cape Corporate Center       

Gov. Rick Scott says he wants state lawmakers to approve $35 million for projects at three of Florida's ports in an effort to bring more cargo-shipping and manufacturing jobs to the state. "We should be the shipping channel for the East Coast," Scott said. "It's ours to lose." 

 

For the story in the Orlando Sentinal, click here.

 

How to Create

An Effective

Introduction

professional-adults.jpg    

The goal of networking is not to gather sales leads, but to engage in a conversation that starts a solid business relationship. The only purpose of a short introduction is to only create awareness, stimulate engagement, and get to a next step -- for the other person to learn more about how your business can help them.

You only have seconds to get people to care about you and your business. It's really no different when people land on your website or read one of your brochures or emails.

The best introductions are natural, repeatable, and targeted. Make every word count and give your audience something that will stick with them.

 

To read more of this column by Ron Stein,

click here.


  

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Cape Coral Economic Development Office

Dana Brunett 
Audie Lewis
Karen Ramos

 

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Phone

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Economic Development News

Message From Your EDO Director

 

City Manager John Szerlag and EDO Director Dana Brunett with Governor Scott at Florida Outdoor Advertising Association meeting honoring public private partnerships.

Your EDO is undertaking some important efforts to make Cape Coral a more desirable location for new and expanding businesses as well as to help stabilize our present commercial base. The hard work we put in now, while not exciting, could be essential for our future development.

 

We have been working closely with our Department of Community Development (DCD) to implement a number of improvements that were recommended as part of the Zucker Report.  The more efficient and predictable our review and permitting process is, the better it is for business development.  One of the most important steps was hiring a new DCD Director and we believe we have a solid choice in Vince Cautero.  Welcome aboard Vince!  Having said that, I wish to thank our Building Official, Paul Dickson, for his willingness to step up and help direct DCD for the past 3.5 years, which was a very difficult time here in our city.


We have supported a new zoning designation for the Zemel property in the Northeast Cape which goes in front of City Council next month.  This zoning will be supportive of corporate and light industrial development, which is vital for our commercial growth going forward.  We have also been working on several larger scale projects that could be big job generators.  Some will have higher wage jobs, which are important as we move forward.  The first of these larger scale projects is the potential Hertz Call Center-we are still awaiting a decision from the car rental giant.


We have also made great strides in bringing new retail businesses to our city.  This helps to keep more of our local earnings within our community, thereby curbing the leakage of dollars out of town.  Some of the most recent efforts include Sam's Club, Wawa's, Jimmy Johns and more.  There has also been resurgence in the CRA which I will discuss below.


Remember, keep a positive attitude about our city and show your pride in Cape Coral to those who ask.  We have a beautiful community and we should share that fact every chance we get. 

 

Sincerely,

 

Dana Brunett

 

City of Cape Coral

Economic Development Director

South Cape CRA Making a Comeback

CRA LogoThere has been a tremendous amount of new activity taking place in the South Cape Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) over the past six months.  Many new businesses and restaurants are opening and investing in the area and they're creating quite resurgence.  We knew as the economy recovered that the CRA would see some positive growth, but what were experiencing now is beyond what we expected this early in the game.


In the early summer Ford's Garage opened to a large welcoming crowd and people have been going there in droves ever since.  The owners have been good neighbors and have brought some exciting events to their location as well.  Since that time, we have heard announcements from the likes of Family Dollar as well as Culvers and Starbucks, two businesses the EDO has recruited to the CRA over the past two years mainly due to requests from local citizens. 

 
What's happening now is the natural ancillary development of businesses who are seeking to be in the CRA because of what's happening there, who is coming there and the market that is fast becoming one of the places to be.  The likes of Red's restaurant and Barista's Coffee have chosen to be in the CRA and that's a very good sign.


We're not done; your EDO is hard at work bringing new businesses and new life to the CRA and will continue to recruit the businesses that make the most sense for South Cape.  We also don't want to ignore the fact that a great many small businesses are starting to come back to the CRA.  This is tremendously important as these businesses are the backbone of the CRA and we need to encourage the "Mom & Pop" entrepreneurs who wish to be there as well.  Please contact us if your wish to explore a CRA location. 

Vision image

November 12th is just around the corner!

To purchase a ticket, click here.

 
   
Firestone Celebrates Another New Store in the Cape
 

  
 

The busy corner of Skyline and Veterans just got a little busier with the Grand Opening of the latest Firestone Complete Auto Care operation this month.  Dignitaries and senior officials from the corporate, regional and new local Bridgestone Retail Operations team were on hand to welcome a strong opening crowd to their newest Cape Coral location. 


Mayor Sullivan spoke at the ceremony and representatives from the Economic Development Office helped to cut the official ribbon and set the stage for another chapter in this company's growing presence in the City. 


David Humpress, the head of new store operations for Bridgestone stated that " the process of bringing this location to life was made possible with great ease from the city and we are proud to be part of the community".   He also thanked everyone for their support of their continued growth in Cape Coral and the region.


He elaborated in a separate letter to the EDO that "the City has been great to work with, licensing applications and permits were easily instructed and processed, and city officials were timely with inspections". 


This message was an important reinforcement to the EDO and City's deliberate intentions to make sure Cape Coral is business friendly and readily recognized as "Open for Business".  Cape Coral has been in the national news frequently of late with recognition and awards for becoming more and more of a destination spot for business development and job growth.   

 

City officials want to continue this growth and focus on having a strong commercial tax base and a diverse job market which includes companies with strong future prospects like the Firestone and Bridgestone retail operations nationally. 

 

Development projects are popping up all around the City and the Economic Development Office team wants to insure this continues and escalates as news of the city's positive business changes continue to attract more and more new developments.   

Website Hide and Seek!

 

America's SBDCBy: Russ Winstead, Certified Business Analyst, SBDC

 

I had a friend of mine recently tell me about their new website and how great it looked! I asked her how much business she was getting from it. She told me she didn't know. I asked her how much traffic was coming to her site. She didn't know. I asked her if she was ranking on the first page of a "Google search" using the key words that describe her business. She didn't know.

 

I then told her that having a good looking website with no business, no visitors or ranking is like being all dressed up, but having no place to go.....

 

With millions upon millions of websites out there, you need to have yours set up correctly to be found by the customers looking for you.  I can't go into details here, but many things go into a properly designed and optimally managed website. If you can't confidently answer the questions above and if a web presence is important to you and your business, it should be evaluated by a professional or you should learn for yourself how to make sure it's working for you.

 

If you would like consultation regarding these issues or just guidance in growing your business, please feel free to contact me directly  at 239-573-2737or attend our FREE Fourth Wednesday Business Chats, held at City Hall in the main conference room every 4th Wednesday at 11:30.



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