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.

Plans for train service between Miami and Orlando could mean up to 6,000 more jobs and the potential for 3 million cars to be off the road in Florida. Read more about it in this article.

Kevin Gale | South Florida Business Journal

Florida East Coast Industries is planning a $1 billion project to develop a three-hour Miami-to-Orlando passenger train service by 2014, using a right of way that runs through the downtown areas of South Florida’s coastal cities.

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.

Does a new year mean new optimism among lenders? Read this article to see what what is being seen in the lending market.

Beth Mattson | National Real Estate Investor

The volume of multifamily and commercial real estate lending is a far cry from the frothy days of 2005 through 2007. Yet the flow of capital is growing and both borrowers and lenders are optimistic that financing will continue to improve in 2012.

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.

Will 2012 bring access to more commercial real estate loans? Economist, Dr. Chandan, discusses the effects of legacy distress on the market.

Dr. Sam Chandan | GlobeSt.com

As reported in our most recent Bank Default and Lending Report, the combined default rate on banks’ commercial and multifamily mortgage loans fell to 3.75 percent in the third quarter of 2011.

With many people discussing an economic recovery, South Florida is following the trend with jobless claims dropping. Read more in this article.

Douglas Hanks | Miami Herald

Fewer South Floridians are filing their first applications for unemployment benefits, continuing a trend of stability for a battered hiring landscape that is now in recovery mode.

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.

I’ve always been a fan of Dr. Sean Snaith.  Snaith is the director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness and a nationally recognized economist in the field of business and economic forecasting. Today he released his latest Florida metro forecast offering a slightly improving economic outlook for Florida through at least 2014.

Snaith expects unemployment to remain stubbornly high — not falling below 10 percent until next year — He goes on to call the housing boom of the mid-2000s a “once-in-a-lifetime event that we will probably not see again”