Carpinteria conundrum: Will space limits stop business it doesn
The proposed ordinance that would limit the square footage of big-box retailers in Carpinteria by allowing a building maximum of 30,000 square feet may be causing a great debate, but as far as commercial real estate goes, regional agents probably aren’t losing any sleep. Currently, a temporary moratorium is in place on the bigger boxes Read More →
For business owners, future may be stone-washed
Consider, if you will, the following recent news items: Saudi Arabia, leader of a resurgent OPEC, twice has rebuked President Bush’s plea for more output to cut oil prices. A surge in inflation amid slow growth has flummoxed central bankers and stock market investors. Paul Volker, the former Federal Reserve chairman and inflation slayer, has Read More →
How Obama can connect with the real swing voters
Dear Senator Obama: I have been interested in yourcandidacy for a number of months, and not just as a journalist who thinks we’vegone about as far as we can go with politics as usual in Washington, D.C. As a small-business owner, I’ve sometimes been intrigued by the tone of your campaign and its promise of Read More →
Vacancies grow in Santa Maria commercial real estate sector
San Luis Obispo-based Stafford-McCarty Commercial Real Estate recently released a sobering account of the impact that the struggling economy has had on Santa Maria. As the first to feel the blow of subprime loans, the residential market has been carrying the weight behind the general real estate downturn, but in Santa Maria, vacancy rates have Read More →
Gorell enters 37th District race two years early
Oxnard attorney Jeff Gorell learned his lesson in 2004. That year, the Camarillo attorney ran for a 37th Assembly District, losing the GOP primary in an area so reliably Republican the race for the nomination constitutes the contest. Gorell jumped in the fray in January 2003, only to find that opponent Audra Strickland whizzing along Read More →
Hart Commercial Real Estate added to the SLO menu
Despite a cooling economic climate, Jason Hart may have launched his new commercial real estate company just in time to take advantage of a recent influx of national restaurant tenants to the five cities area. “It’s a different demographic than San Luis Obispo, where there are more independents and boutiques,” he said, though Hart’s Read More →
No end on horizon for airline industry troubles
It is a dirty little secret of the U.S. airline industry that over the decades, profits never have exceeded losses for very long. Given the calamitous developments of the 21st century – the grounding of the industry after Sept. 11, 2001, horrible management and soaring fuel prices – it is likely that the industry will Read More →