Business leaders say 2006 'looks great!' Business leaders say 2006 'looks great!' (January 20, 2006)

by Jeb Bing

If you think like I do that the local economy is strengthening with momentum that bodes well for 2006 and beyond, we're not alone. The optimism of business leaders, professionals, politicians and organization representatives at last week's Tri-Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau 9th annual regional mixer was unprecedented, with nearly 600 jamming the Palm Event Center on Vineyard Avenue to show their enthusiasm. Amy Blaschka, Executive Director of the CVB, who hosted the event, found the mood of the crowd "special," calling it a pivotal time for the Tri-Valley with everyone feeling better about 2006. Not that 2005 was bad. Jim Ott, CEO of UNCLE Credit Union, said he's seen business improving over the last six months, but 2006 looks better and stronger. Financial institutions in general are handling increased services with vigorous loan activity that demonstrates consumers are more secure in their jobs, are starting to see pay raises and bonuses again and are now out shopping for big ticket items such as cars, boats and new homes.

Gus Lugo, catering manager for the Crowne Plaza Hotel, said the hotel's occupancy rate is climbing for the first time in several years and that his company and organization meeting schedule is up 45 percent over a year ago. That means the hotel's seven large meetings rooms that can accommodate 1,500 people at a time are booked far in advance for sales and marketing breakfasts and luncheons and day-long strategic planning sessions.

Attorney Phillip Vermont said his Hopyard Road firm which specializes in lease litigation, meaning he helps office building managers get rid of deadbeat tenants, has found the number of cases has slowed because of a "massive decrease" in leasing failures. With the economy improving, tenants are not only paying on time, they're seeking more space to grow their businesses. Look around Pleasanton, Vermont said, and you'll see two- and three-story office buildings under construction on many of the limited vacant and buildable office sites in town. There's almost no room left for larger, taller buildings, which is creating renewed demand for office space for the first time in years.

Downtown retailers such as Bennie McKay shared their optimism at the Tri-Valley mixer, with McKay reporting that his Acc'sentials upscale men's fashion store on Angela Street near Main is gaining new business as never before. He credits the improvement to a more aggressive Pleasanton Downtown Association marketing campaign that has put locator signs on Main Street that point to a growing number of retailers on side streets. Public events, such as those staged regularly at Studio 7 art studio across the street, are also attracting shoppers to the downtown.

Speaking of marketing, no one could be more pleased with a new spurt of business than Wayne Yew, whose Allegra Print & Imaging on Serpentine Lane is looking for a stronger 2006 as the businesses he serves order more marketing brochures and other materials. Despite competition from the Internet, Yew said there's renewed interest in print materials to tout a company's services, products and people. Even so, Gracie Santos, founder of Striking Web, a Web site design and servicing company on Santa Rita Road, said orders from clients started increasing late last year with demand so heavy that "We almost couldn't stop for Christmas." Booming business was also touted by Joe Foos, Director of Sales and Marketing at LANlogic, which provides project management services to small and medium-sized organizations. With his customer base growing "like crazy," the 20-employee LANlogic plans to hire five more within the next two months to service this demand.

Even child care is thriving, with Christina Petrosky telling business associates that her P3 Party Place drop-in center for children 2-12 years old, which she opened just 14 months ago, already needs to expand as more parents find they have the expendable income to take a break from family life for an hour or two of shopping or dining out. For her and the other 600 at the crowded CVB mixer, it looks like a prosperous 2006.

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