GlobalMind now has a location in St. Lucie County.  The mailing address is 4828 N. Kings Hwy #224 Ft. Pierce, FL 34951.  We have added the location to better serve our clients in the Treasure Coast. 

As well as adding a location, we have joined the St. Lucie County Chamber of Commerce.  Check them out at www.StLucieChamber.org, you can find us listed in the Surveyor category.

Want to know more about Kim Albritton, our Executive Vice President?  Check out the North Palm Beach Chamber Newsletter, Communicator.  Kim is featured in the New Member Profile in the October edition.

The Treasure Coast Green Conference was held today in Port Saint Lucie, Florida.  The focus of the conference was to educate the developer/builder community on the importance of green building.

During the conference, speakers shared common misconceptions with green building such as, it is too expensive or complicated.  Many speakers were able to share examples of projects where they were able to accomplish green certification with small increases in costs.  One development was able to go green without increasing costs. 

The green initiative has become household news.  Everyone from celebrities to elected officials are promoting green practices to save our environment. Each year more consumers are demanding products that are environmentally friendly, take the increase in organic products. 

The development community has a great ability to make small changes in their processes and behavior to make things “green.”  I have included some links to green sites.  The websites have checklists and information on what is green and how to get there.  Please leave your comments or suggestions on green development.

Check out the conference site, hopefully they will have another one next year. Treasure Coast Green Conference: http://www.stlucieco.gov/erd/green_conference/index.html

LINKS:

Florida Green Building Coalition: http://www.floridagreenbuilding.org/db/

US Green Building Council: www.usgbc.org

Florida Green Building: http://www.greentrends.org/

A new way to search for land is here - Tycoon

With Tycoon you can:

1. Get an overview of the regulatory environment in each covered county with links to local land development code, regulatory agencies and general statistics.
2. Search for land based on criteria such as size, percent wetland coverage, zoning and current & future land use. We are not a listing service. We allow you to find land that meets your criteria—listed or not. You can save your favorite properties.
3. Locate local development experts from engineers and planners to attorneys, lenders and contractors. Tycoon will help you find the team you need to do the deal.

All of this is available to you for free(1). We’d love to hear your thoughts on the struggles you face in getting solid land and regulatory information.

(1) internet charges may apply

In the October publication of the ZweigLetter, a leading publication for the Engineering and Architecture community, GlobalMind’s Executive Vice President, Kim Albritton, is quoted on the topic of workplace discrimination.

The article talks about how to “take a stand against workplace discrimination.” The quote from GlobalMind (Nick Miller, Inc in the article), states that employers should work to educate managers and employees on workplace discrimination, how to identify it and how to report it.

Workplace discrimination can be anything from sexual harassment to workplace accommodations. Firms need to make sure they are taking the steps to protect themselves from a lawsuit in workplace discrimination cases long before the first suit arises.

If you are interested in reading or receiving the ZweigLetter, please go to ZweigLetter.

Tim Whitaker has been invited to speak at the Leica HDS Worldwide User Conference. Mr. Whitaker will speak about the benefits of using the Leica Scan Station in Land Development Surveying. 

The Leica HDS Conference will be held in San Ramon, California on October 22-24, 2007.  For more information, please visit http://www.leica-geosystems.com/hds/en/lgs_6441.htm?id=4018. 

Thanks to everyone who joined us in Palm Beach Gardens to celebrate our new name ~ GlobalMind.

The open house was a packed event that presented a great opportunity to meet business professionals in our community. The event allowed other businesses to explore what it is GlobalMind does and meet our great staff!

We wanted to thank everyone for their support in celebrating our new name!

After yesterday’s market surge, many were quick to say were are not in a recession, nor are we headed for one. Then, the pending home sales numbers were released, the lowest numbers in 6 years (Pending Home Sales Hit 6 year Low)!

On the way into work this morning, I was listening to CNBC. CNBC reporters were talking about how the market surged on Monday and what does it mean. Many people speculated that we are not in a recession and that Monday’s gains were an indication of that.

Basically, we have not hit the bottom of the housing slump, we have more to go. I have heard some predication’s are now out to 2010, others say 2008-2009. I feel like everyone is mimicking Chicken Little and running around talking about the sky falling.

What we should be doing is working to stimulate growth in the areas we can. This is a GREAT time to buy or invest in the real estate market. Just like investing in the stock market, buy when it is down.

Please leave your comments on what you think about the “sky is falling phenomenon.”

If you could assemble your project team for your next land development project from your desktop, would you? In my previous post, I introduced the ability to search for land through our new service Tycoon (www.beaTycoon.com). Not only will Tycoon allow you to search for property, but it will also provide decision critical information.

So what is the information? Tycoon provides searches to find land, links to get the local scoop and land development professionals to get the deal done!  We have already discussed how to search for land, but how can the rest of the site be used?

The biggest obstacle to a deal’s success is the ability to convert property from its current use to a new more profitable use. That means zoning and land use issues. Tycoon links to key regulatory sites in each county we cover.

We’ve taken the guess work out of finding experienced professionals. In each county, we’ve enlisted a select group of service providers. Our expert providers have specific experience in land development and investing. They cover all of the disciplines needed–real estate brokerage, finance, land planning, engineering, land surveying, title and many more.

Our vision is to become the leading source of information for land development.

To celebrate our new name, we will be holding an open house and ribbon cutting event at our Palm Beach Gardens office on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 from 4 - 6 PM. Please join us in celebrating our new name.

If you would like to join us, please RSVP at 561-627-5200.  See you on Wednesday!