Hey Sc,
I rearranged some assets two years ago, land contracted my higher end restaurant to a gentleman from Chicago and assigned a long term employee to the lead role of my casual themed restaurant almost a year ago. Sold my home in suburbian GB and moved to north Tampa last summer to seek a better climate. Traded the 4 seasons for 4 lanes of steady traffic.
I can tell you that the conservative midwest is growing from a retail storefront perspective. Many smaller, organic themed/eclectic restaurants have popped up in the GB area and seem well sustained. Brew pubs and micro brew handles have popped up all over town as well. Directly however, my sales are flat to down, but I am experiencing infrastructure growth construction near my retail property, which redirects storefront traffic and will always create a sales decline. That's my personal midwest perspective. My window viewing perspective from the Tampa area makes me feel like the bubble has just begun. I have never seen so much volume and retail spending. It's as if there are millionaires in every other car. Lines around the block at my local Starbucks, Mc Donald's and the like. Sit down restaurants full nearly every time we visit. Sport venues packed getting top ticket dollar. Huge growth around me in the new residential communties as well. High end auto brands all over the roadways. So it appears that there is much room to grow in metro Florida with a lot of international dollars showing up as well.
I hope you are doing well too. Where is your nest egg sitting these days?
F4T
