The Naples Daily News is running a series about Southwest Floridian news makers in 2009.  One of the featured 2009 newsmakers is convicted real estate deal-maker Samir Cabrera.

If you are interested, Samir is now making his home in Pensacola at the Federal Prison Camp.  Samir was convicted of fraud associated with a a vacant land flip in the Daniel’s Corridor of Fort Myers.  His case was one of the most followed stories of the year and the entire region was relieved that justice was served.

The Daniels Corridor area has truly evolved into the “main street” of the Fort Myers region with the recent expansion of RSW and the upcoming development of the new Red Sox spring training facility.

Florida Weekly has a light and entertaining article about our gateway to the world, Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW).

There is something uplifting about landing at RSW on a flight from up north. Shedding the jacket and long pants, opting for a pair of flip flops and digging through the luggage for the sunglasses.

With an average year-round temperature in the in the mid 70s and over 260 days of sunshine, Southwest Florida. When you come down to relax or even shop for a second home, don’t forget to enjoy the shedding of your outer layer as you pass through RSW.

Airport adjacent locations booming

One of the hottest national trends in commercial real estate is development around airports. It used to seem that many airports were located way to far from downtown for any meaningful development beyond airport use. That perception is changing all across the country on a grand scale.

Today airports are serving as the major anchor to entire new communities. Here in SW Florida, the potential for growth around RSW seems almost unlimited. A whole new class of office space is on the way around the airport and will continue to shift the “economic center” of our region eastward.

The new residential communities that are sprouting up close to the airport including locations along Tree Line Avenue and Alico Road will require amenities and services in this area. Many of these projects are high-end and will contribute to an eastward shifting of our economic center. The smart play today is finding a parcel in this area to invest in, development and appreciating values around RSW are inevitable.

Why Airport Location No Longer Tarnishes A Property’s Appeal [Investor Business Daily]

New SW Florida Airport dazzles

Wow, I am writing today from the new Southwest Florida International Airport. When I booked this flight last month, I had no idea that I was going to be one of the first passengers to use the new airport. I literally had to do a double take after so many flights through the dingy old terminal, this place is big-time. It reminds me of the new terminal at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport……..big, bright and airy.

The parking and rental car facilities are located in a huge garage connected to the terminals, a significant improvement over the previous arrangement. Like the old terminal, there is a Chili’s outside of security. The big change here is many dining choices inside of security, no more stale sandwiches from the beer kiosk.

My Jetblue flight is departing from Terminal D, which has plenty of very comfortable leather chairs to accommodate every waiting passenger. The free WiFi that was so helpful at the old terminal is not presently operating, hopefully this will be turned on in the near future.

Can a new airport significantly impact the economy of an area like SW Florida? While I really don’t know the answer to this question, I do know that significant growth has occurred in other cities around new airports. A couple examples that come to mind are the extensive development around Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia and DFW in Dallas, two airports that when they were built, were very remote.

I believe that commercial property in close proximity to the airport is about as sure a thing as any real estate in SW Florida. It just seems that an explosion of development is just around the corner for the entire corridor along I-75 in the vicinity of the airport. It is time to step up and find my piece of the action in this booming part of town.

Transition from old to new goes smoothly [News-Press]