Keith Bricklemyer, a shareholder of Bricklemyer Smolker & Bolves PA in Tampa, noted that even though the group called Florida Hometown Democracy fell far short of its petition and fund-raising goals, the signatures collected remain valid for up to four years.

"They don't die just because they died this year," Bricklemyer explained during a recent meeting of the Florida Gulfcoast Commercial Association of Realtors.

The group, which wants voters rather than elected officials to have the final say on growth plan changes, gathered only a fraction of the signatures needed to get the initiative on the statewide ballot for the Nov. 2 general election. Real estate and construction leaders railed against the proposal over much of the past year, calling FHD a threat to both industries.

The group intends to give control over comprehensive growth plans directly to residents. However, such initiatives would add to an already arduous process for adopting or amending land use plans in Florida, said Bricklemyer, who also serves as vice president of public affairs for the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

"The cure that they're proposing is worse than the disease they're trying to cure," he said, noting that nearly 9,000 plan amendments were processed during 2002.

Colonial brings back Whitaker

Colonial Properties Trust is bringing back an original Tampa resident to grow its local market presence.

Dallas Whitaker, vice president of Colonial's office division in Birmingham, Ala., will start July 1 as senior vice president with a five-employee operation overseeing four buildings totaling 300,000 square feet.

"The challenge to take a small presence and grow it is what is so exciting to me," Whitaker told the Birmingham Business Journal. "It's an extremely competitive market with very savvy investors and real estate operators."

Although he is taking on a commercial real estate market at least three times the size of Birmingham, Whitaker has sufficient experience. Recent successes with Colonial include the $56-million buyout of The Colonnade retail/office complex and a $20-million lease at a nearby office building.

Whitaker, a graduate of Tampa's Jesuit High School, began his commercial real estate career with The Austin Companies in Tampa and also previously worked with Atlanta-based Carter, which has substantial Bay area operations.

Colonial, based in Birmingham, has $2.8 billion in assets and is active in nine Southern states with 21 million square feet of office and retail space, along with 20,000 apartment units.

Echo call out to Bay Area

A Pittsburgh-area developer is looking to the Tampa Bay area for its next success story with shopping centers.

Echo Real Estate Services Co. plans to build an 850,000-square-foot power center in Pasco County called The Grove at Wesley Chapel, as well as another project in North Tampa called Oakley Plaza. The company develops new stores for discount chains such as Wal-Mart and Target.

Bill Krahe, CEO of Echo, said the company has quietly grown to more than $400 million in assets over the past three years. He described The Grove project as its largest to date, potentially costing more than its 873,000-square-foot Mall at Robinson near Pittsburgh, valued at $130 million.

"Developing in Florida is a whole different animal than in western Pennsylvania," Krahe told the Pittsburgh Business Times. He noted that strong population growth in Florida led Echo to pursue retail development in the Bay area.

Echo was actively marketing its portfolio of projects during the International Council of Shopping Centers spring convention, held recently in Las Vegas.

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