Growth at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport means one more way to get from here to Philadelphia.

Avelo Airlines added a third nonstop route to and from SRQ Airport. Starting on Nov. 2, the airline will go to Wilmington Airport (ILG) on Thursdays and Sundays. One-way flights, on a Boeing Next-Generation 737 with 189 seats, will start at $49. 

“We are pleased that Avelo Airlines has added a third nonstop destination to Sarasota Bradenton International Airport,” said SRQ Airport CEO Rick Piccolo. “This new nonstop destination provides passengers a way to avoid big city congestion and fly from one convenient airport to another.”

It’s also just the latest sign of the massive growth in traffic at the airport, which more than tripled over three years. The airport in 2022 saw nearly 4 million passenger flights and expects a half million more this year. Through the end of May, the airport already saw nearly 2.1 million total enplanements and deplanements.

Right now, Avelo is the only airline flying nonstop from SRQ to ILG. The airline’s network now flies to destinations in 25 states and Puerto Rico. Executives expect enthusiasm for the new Sarasota-Bradenton route.

“SRQ – say hello to Philly!” said Avelo chairman and CEO Andrew Levy. “Getting to Philadelphia and the greater Delaware Valley is easier and more affordable than ever with Avelo’s exclusive nonstop service to Wilmington Airport – the region’s most travel-friendly airport. Combined with Avelo’s industry-leading reliability, there isn’t a more convenient, faster and more relaxing gateway to The City of Brotherly Love from Florida’s Gulf Coast.”

ILG, meanwhile, exclusively houses Avelo flights. The airport serves as an alternative stop for visitors both to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and to much of Delaware, the state where flights will land. It also has established flights to San Juan in Puerto Rico, Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina and Charleston, Greenville-Spartanburg, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head, South Carolina in South Carolina. Flights just started in June between ILG and Nashville, Tennessee and Savannah Georgia.

Photo courtesy Wilmington Airport.

In Conversation with David Hunihan, CEO for Lee Wetherington Homes, and Robert Milligan, Founder/President for Preferred Shores Real Estate on regional trends in Real Estate and home building.

HOW DOES OUR LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURE HANDLE THIS GROWTH?

HUNIHAN: I’ve been in this business in Florida for over 30 years and I could literally, until about three years ago, count on one hand the amount of people from California, Washington or Oregon that we were selling homes to. The people from the Northeast and the Midwest would generally come here. But we have quite a few people that bought homes from us recently coming from Portland, Oregon and California. That really is surprising. And as for the people coming from Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, etc., even more of them are coming down here now. I grew up in New Jersey, worked in Manhattan and went to school in Boston. So if you want to talk traffic, you want to talk crowded, we have not even come anywhere near what 13 lanes of traffic going each way, going over the George Washington bridge or the Garden State Parkway in the morning is compared to what it is here. The big thing for me is how we handle that as a community. That really goes back to good planning and smart growth. Lakewood Ranch has done a great job of that over the years. They started back in the ‘80s, planning for today. They had a map and a plan for infrastructure and arterial roads, north-south roads, communities, interior retail, industry, office space, knowing that they wanted a live/work/play community, a place where people could come and live and work and stay and recreate and not even have to go out, but also that would be able to accommodate growth. 

MILLIGAN: The majority of our business is in Tampa, St. Pete and Sarasota and Charlotte Counties. We also operate in Fort Myers, Naples and Miami. So we are really statewide. As far as handling infrastructure, I’m no city planner, but there are pros and cons to everything. As a local, I’m very nostalgic about the way Sarasota was, but on the other side of the coin, there are a lot of great amenities and nicer restaurants and things to do now that we didn’t have then. Being a father of three boys, when I was growing up here, mostly everybody my age wanted to get out of here. And now that Sarasota’s become such a vibrant destination with more things to do, I’m hopeful that people, such as myself with children that are growing up here, may hope to remain here and stay closer to home and keep the family together. 

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Steve “Stamatis” Zeris has been named Managing Broker for RE/MAX Alliance Group’s Manatee County offices. Zeris has more than 30 years of experience in the real estate industry, serving as a mortgage broker, appraiser, Realtor; short sale negotiator, Graduate Realtor Institute (GRI) Instructor, and home improvement business owner. He received the 2016 President's Award from the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee and the 2017 Spirit Award from RE/MAX Alliance Group. He was the 2018 President for the Women’s Council of Realtors of Manatee County, and 2017-2018 president of the board of directors of the Humane Society of Manatee County. A native of New Jersey, Zeris is a first-generation American born to Greek immigrants. He moved to Florida in 1990 with his wife Sharon. They have two children and a rescue dog. He is based in the Bradenton office at 3007 Manatee Avenue West and can be reached at (941) 518-6450 or szeris@alliancegroupfl.com. 

With pre-construction work on its ER-OR expansion nearing completion, Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Venice is poised to kick off construction. Last week, crews began preparing the north/west wall of the 28-bed Emergency Care Center (ECC) for the expansion. Workers are reframing the existing interior wall to create a safe zone for the exterior wall demolition and construction of the 30,000 square-foot expansion. The $90 million expansion, slated to be complete in December 2024, will expand the hospital’s emergency care and surgical capacity to help meet the pressing healthcare needs in south county. Hospital staff reconfigured the ECC triage and lobby waiting area to help with operational flow, but no changes were necessary to the walk-in or ambulance entrances, or the helicopter landing pad, which are located a safe distance from the construction zone. The initial demolition/construction is expected to last four months. Work will be scheduled in phases, so that no more than one to two emergency rooms will be closed at any one time. Similar buffering will protect the building’s second floor surgical suites, which are located far enough away that no rooms will need to close due to construction. Most of the work planned on the second floor will take place at night to minimize construction noise during the day. Once the exterior wall is down, there should be no obvious impact on patient flow or operations within the hospital, SMH-Venice Campus President Sharon Roush said. SMH-Venice reached full capacity within a week of opening in November 2021. The Sarasota County Public Hospital Board approved adding a third patient care tower to SMH-Venice prior to its opening to help meet the pressing need for more hospital beds in south county. As volumes continued to rise, due in part to the unexpected and abrupt closure of ShorePoint Health-Venice in the summer of 2022, the Hospital Board approved the ER-OR expansion and related projects. Emergency care visits exceeded projections by 30 percent and are expected to double over the next 10 years. The ER expansion now under way will increase the number of ECC exam rooms from 28 to 62, including two additional resuscitation rooms, for a total of four. Diagnostic capabilities also will expand, with additional radiology rooms and space for a new CT scanner in the ECC. To meet higher than expected surgery volumes, SMH-Venice is increasing its number of surgical suites from six to eight by the end of this year, and creating space for eight more ORs in the future. When it opens in 2024, the 5-story patient care tower now under construction will double the hospital’s bed capacity from 110 private patient rooms to 212. The tower will open in phases, starting in April 2024 with the 4th and 5th floor, each with 34 patient rooms, followed by the second floor with 34 more patient rooms by year end. The third floor is dedicated to mechanical space, while the first floor will be built to accommodate future needs. 

Leonard Giarrano of RE/MAX Alliance Group was recently recognized in the 2023 “America’s Best Real Estate Professionals” rankings by RealTrends + Tom Ferry. That places Giarrano among the top 1.5% of 1.6 million real estate professionals in the United States. Giarrano generated almost $24 million in sales volume in 2022. He also earned the Chairman’s Club award and was recognized among the top 100 RE/MAX agents in Florida. To qualify for the RealTrends + Tom Ferry “America’s Best Real Estate Professionals” list, participating agents must have completed at least 50 transactions or closed $20 million in sales volume during the year. Giarrano has 38 years of real estate experience, specializing in relocation and new homes. He is based in the Sarasota office at 2000 Webber Street, Sarasota, Florida 34239 and can be reached at (941) 724-0690 or LVGiarrano@hotmail.com.

Last week, the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority (SMAA) announced the opening of our new and improved Cell Phone Lot at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. It is located at 1180 Rental Car Road, Sarasota, Florida, directly across from the previous temporary location, and offers easy access from Old Bradenton Road or the main airport entrance off University Parkway. The new Cell Phone Lot consists of 124 paved parking spaces, 5 of them handicapped accessible, restrooms, and vending machines. The lot is well lit with LED lighting and secured with fencing. Two 8’x16’ flight information screens are scheduled to be installed within the next 6 months, providing updated information on flight arrival times. In the interim, cell phone lot users can find flight information on the airport web site or by downloading the AeroCloud app.  To maintain a smooth flow of vehicular traffic when dropping off or picking up passengers, the airport requires all vehicles to be loading or unloading while parked curbside in front of the terminal.  The new Cell Phone Lot, located only a minutes’ drive from the terminal building, provides a convenient location for vehicles to wait until their traveler’s flight has landed and they are notified by cell phone the passenger is ready to be picked up.    Rick Piccolo, President and CEO of the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport stated, “The new Cell Phone Lot will offer the amenities necessary to ease the process of waiting for arriving passengers at SRQ. We encourage all airport patrons to use this new lot, or park in our short-term parking lot, when picking up passengers at the airport.” 

Manatee Memorial Hospital (MMH) proudly announces it has achieved its recertification as a Comprehensive Stroke Center through the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC). Achieved on August 3, the certification is effective through 2026. Certification is a process through which healthcare organizations demonstrate compliance with National standards. Certification by ACHC reflects an organization’s dedication and commitment to meeting standards that facilitate a higher level of performance and patient care. In July 2023, MMH received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke GoldPlus quality achievement award for its commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately leading to more lives saved and reduced disability. Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the U.S. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs, so brain cells die. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and accelerating recovery times. MMH also received the American Heart Association’s Target: StrokeSM Elite Plus award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster alteplase. 

SUMMER SIZZLERS | Our collection of hot local summer experiences, July/August 2023. 

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