CREW Tampa Bay’s 8th Annual Summit was a huge success! Despite Tropical Storm Colin’s heavy rain, 350 of the top commercial real estate professionals came to hear from Mayor Buckhorn and Mayor Cretekos, who provided us with their city updates as well-known economist Anirban Basu share his impressions of the state of the economy. Stacie Schaible, one of the NBC affiliate’s top News Anchors, moderated the mayoral discussion, which included topics ranging from how millennials view the area to the status of the Tampa Bay Rays stadium.

Although transportation issues remain our region’s top issue, we were pleased to hear how strong our local economy remains, affirmed by Mr. Basu’s data, citing the Tampa Bay region as having one of the lowest unemployment rate at 4.3% in the country. Although we may be in the 7th inning for commercial real estate in the US, according to Mr. Basu, the continued strong foreign investment in Florida will bolster our state’s economic prospects. I was honored to serve as the Chair for the event for the second year and I am excited about number of new and renewing sponsors who helped to make this our best year ever! Mark your calendar for next year – June 6, 2017 at the Downtown Tampa Hilton.