See how forward-thinking cities, like Miami, are utilizing the impact of the recession to rebuild their city and their economy.

Susan Piperato | NREI

The push toward downtown revitalization that began in the 1990s has survived the Great Recession. But in this gradually improving economy, attracting development isn’t easy.

Florida is taking the lead as one of the best performing in terms of job creation, and several other economic factors. Read on to hear more about the forecasted recovery in Florida, and three other ‘Sand States.’

Steve Matthews | Bloomberg Businessweek

Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada are the states where homeowners enjoyed the most extreme runup in prices—until the subprime crisis sent the whole housing industry into its sharpest contraction in decades.

By Mark Alexander, CCIM

We are finally seeing signs of recovery in the long-slumping commercial real estate market in southwest Florida. A full recovery will certainly take some time, but recent statistics from Costar show that we bottomed out over 2011 in the three main sectors of commercial real estate in southwest Florida. The market is now showing signs of movement in a positive direction. The period over the last ten years has been one of unprecedented change in the commercial real estate market that is unlikely to be seen again in our children’s lifetimes.

See why Florida is ranked #4 in the nation for exporting and why this makes it a great place to do business.

Megan Anderson | Orlando Business Journal

Florida remained the nation’s fourth-largest export state with a record $64.8 billion in origin exports last year, according to Enterprise Florida Inc.

Is a manufacturing rebound in sight? Orlando believes that the small companies will not only bring jobs to Central Florida, but also keep the jobs here as well.

Richard Burnett | Orlando Sentinel

After years of lab work, Dan Rini is finally setting up a factory to make high-tech, air-conditioned uniforms for the military. But unlike many U.S. factories of recent decades, it’s not in China, India or, for that matter, South Carolina or Alabama.

Did the December slow down affect the overall growth of 2011? Read more to find out what happenened with each sector.

Randyl Drummer | CoStar

Powered by continuing gains in apartments and growing momentum in the office sector, the CoStar Commercial Repeat Sale Indices (CCRSI) National Composite Index ended 2011 significantly above its cyclical low last March, despite a relatively flat fourth quarter for pricing.

Slowing banks are becoming more confident in the commercial real estate market. Find out more about the types of deals that are getting done and how banks are helping.

In what appears to be a sign of things to come, U.S. Bank recently closed on an $18 million construction loan for NoBe Bay, a 98-unit waterfront condominium project.

With Tampa’s vacancy rate going down, one of the largest factors appears to be tenant demand, which should increase even more in the coming months. Read on for more information on the Tampa market.

Florida Real Estate Journal

Along with the national economy, the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area’s economy continued to strengthen over the third quarter of 2011.

Read more about the strength in the Panama City market by clicking on the article below.

Chris Segal | News Herald

While the downturn in residential real estate sales grabs most of the public’s attention, driving past rows of empty commercial properties along thoroughfares like U.S. 98 serves as a reminder that the commercial real estate market also has seen tough times.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Aug. 12, 2011

The “2011 Florida Commercial Market Watch”, released by Florida Realtors, finds tempered optimism in the six cities tracked by NAR researchers, with job creation leading most markets.”Job growth creates demand for commercial space, and the (national) economy should be adding between 1.5 million and 2 million jobs annually both this year and in 2012, with the unemployment rate falling to 8.0 percent by the end of next year,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.