Cape Business Trends newsletter January 18, 2007
Exit 6½ could aid health-care facilities
Will Cape Cod Hospital’s tower expansion and its future plans for an outpatient facility prove a new spur to eventual construction of Route 6’s Exit 6 ½?
The long-discussed access into Hyannis through Independence Park was the subject of a recent Hyannis Access Study taskforce session, which heard Cape Cod Healthcare’s latest plans and its CEO’s encouragement for new exit.
Stephen Abbott said a 263,000-square-foot outpatient facility near the proposed exit off Route 6 would consist of up to a dozen doctors’ offices, a women’s clinic, an imaging facility and an urgent care center. He believes the new exit will make it easier for patients by alleviating traffic delays to the hospital – especially in the summer. It also will help recruit physicians who increasingly are choosing to work privately at outpatient facilities like those in Sandwich.
Speaking of Sandwich
One of the most successful outpatient facilities on the Cape is the Cape Cod Eye clinic, laser and surgery center in Sandwich. This is a powerful example of two competitors joining forces because the benefits of “coopetition” outweigh the disadvantages.
Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston and Eye Health Services, which otherwise compete head on from Yarmouth to Boston, created an LLC nearly 10 years ago to purchase land, construct a state-of-the-art surgical center and clinic and then manage the operation jointly. It’s grown from 600 surgeries to 4,500 – and helped put Sandwich on the map as an emerging health-care hub that attracts patients from as far away as Worcester and the Berkshires. Patients prefer the easier drive to the Cape than to hassle traffic and parking in Boston.
This story will be featured in the upcoming special publication, Sandwich: Cape Cod Begins Here, which will be inserted in the March-April edition of Cape Business and be mailed directly to 5,000 Sandwich residences, including the primary addresses of second homes.
To learn more about this publication and the opportunities it presents, please call Bob Viamari or Lisa Braun at 508-385-3811. The advertising deadline is January 30.
Remodeling and knock-downs
Land may be getting too expensive and scarce to justify building any new home under $1 million. That’s why many established contractors are gravitating to high-end remodeling projects and knocking down existing structures and rebuilding virtually from ground up.
Builders also are turning to high-end prefabricated homes that save both money and time.
These are among 2007 trends that will be highlighted in the upcoming Personal Finance publication, Building and Protecting Your Real Estate Investment, appearing in the March-April Cape Business magazine and separately mailed to the 20,000 highest-assessed homes on the Cape.
This publication will include more than a dozen stories, including one on how to choose the right builder. Among your initial steps:
• Think your project through from start to finish. Consider special needs you may have and how you will use the space in the future. Consult an architect or designer if necessary, and decide on a realistic budget.
• Think about the materials you want to use – visit lumber yards and suppliers, look at magazines featuring distinctive home designs, see what friends and family have done, or do research on the Internet.
• Clearly define the job you want done in a specification sheet and rough floor plan which you can give to potential contractors. When all the contractors who bid on your job work from the same design plan, you are most likely to get complete and accurate bids that can be compared.
To learn more about this publication, please call Bob Viamari at 508-385-3811.
Discount card for prescription drugs
The county is launching a discount card program to help consumers cope with the high price of prescription drugs. The initiative comes under the umbrella of the National Association of Counties, and could mean a savings of 20 percent off retail prices of commonly prescribed drugs.
The cards may be used by all county residents, regardless of age, income, or existing health coverage, at many Cape Cod pharmacies, including CVS, Walgreens Stop & Shop, Wal-Mart, and Brooks pharmacies. A national network of more than 57,000 participating retail pharmacies also honor the NACo prescription discount card.
“Barnstable County is pleased to participate with NACo,” said Lance Lambros, chairman of the Barnstable County Commissioners. “The NACo prescription discount card offers significant savings for the uninsured and underinsured residents of our county.”
Cape Cod residents can present the card at pharmacies. There is no enrollment form, membership fee or limits on frequency, the county said. Cardholders and their family members may use the card any time their prescriptions are not covered by insurance. Residents do not have to be Medicare beneficiaries to be eligible for this program.
Cards are available at Barnstable County offices off Route 6A in Barnstable Village and soon will be found at all town boards of health. County residents can call toll free (877) 321-2652 or visit the Web site for assistance with the program.
Mortgage rate forecast
The Mortgage Bankers Association expects the 30-year fixed rate on mortgages to jump from 6.2 percent to 6.5 percent by the end of the third quarter, as investors lose hope that the Federal Reserve will slash short-term rates any time soon
In a long-term forecast, MBA Chief Economist Doug Duncan predicts existing-home sales will decline by about 7 percent this year compared to 2006, and that sales of new homes will decline by about 8 percent. Sales in both categories are projected to rebound in 2008 by about 3 percent and 1 percent, respectively, in 2009.
He also expects existing-home price appreciation to slow "significantly" over the next three years, and that median prices should remain relatively flat for new and existing homes. Price gains for both types of housing are expected to be limited to about 2 percent in 2008 and 2009.
The MBA also projects total mortgage originations to decline an additional 4 percent to $2.29 trillion in 2008 and drop another 6 percent to $2.15 trillion in 2009.
Duncan sees the Fed holding the federal funds rate at 5.25 percent.
For a complete report on Duncan’s forecast, click here. The upcoming Cape Business Personal Finance publication for March-April will include the latest on local lending conditions and rates. To learn more, click here.
Taxing and spending
Sales tax growth in Massachusetts is slowing, leading more lawmakers on Beacon Hill to look at the possibility of taxes on Internet commerce. The state collected just over $4 billion in sales and use taxes in fiscal 2006. But, five years earlier, it had collected $3.755 billion, not a very strong growth rate. The state’s 5 percent sales tax is among the lowest in the nation.
Meanwhile, overall state tax collections are expected to crawl along near the rate of inflation, contributing to an impending budget gap of approximately $1 billion, the top House budget author said.
After a revenue hearing that he called “sobering,” House Ways and Means Chairman Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) said the fiscal 2008 state budget likely would require “level-funding a whole lot of different items, which probably would call out for increases in funding.”
DeLeo and other top Beacon Hill fiscal policymakers entertained a buffet of revenue-raising options during the hearing, but declined to commit to any specific strategy, instead remaining open to a number of proposals put forth in recent days by Gov. Deval Patrick. Patrick has proposed allowing municipalities to levy meals and lodging taxes and imposing “safety fees” on convicts, kept open the option of expanded gaming in the state, and backed off earlier pronouncements ruling out a gas tax increase.
The revenue slowdown may end the state’s three-year trend of revenue-triggered personal income tax exemption increases, top revenue officials said. Such increases, approved as part of the last major statewide tax increase, are triggered by tax revenue growth and are worth about $60 million a year. They have risen three straight years.
Upcoming events
As noted above, our March/April Personal Finance section focuses on real estate and recent industry trends – one such trend is green building practices, which are growing in popularity here on the Cape. On Monday, January 22, 2007, Architects Studio Ltd. will present a seminar titled “Building Green: what works … what doesn’t” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Harwich Community Center on Oak Street.
Some of the topics include:
• What are the considerations for siting a house?
• How can you design for low impact on the environment?
• What are the principles of sustainable growth?
• What is the Massachusetts “Smart Growth Model"?
For more information on this event and other upcoming business events, visit the Cape Business Calendar, updated daily.
To submit events, send the information to news@capebusiness.net.
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