Software entrepreneur Jesse Biter has acquired the final remaining parcel needed to bring his vision of downtown apartments to reality. A company owned by Biter bought the property at 1401 Second St. for $850,000 from CRA Holding LLC, a Sarasota company managed by Thomas A. Wood. Biter used a $450,000 mortgage from seller to help finance the deal, court records show. The 5,484-square-foot building and its 0.24-acre lot become Biter’s…
Read MoreBlueprints of Inspiration
Tech development made Jesse Biter wealthy, while construction earned him a reputation in Sarasota as a developer of a different kind. We sat down with the HuB builder and Dealers United co-founder about the building blocks that lay the foundation of his own life. Rich and Tina Biter I can’t begin to describe how I’ve been shaped by my parents. They are the biggest influences. They have done the most…
Read MoreSpace Florida Sets Course On Reviving Cape Launch Pads
Space Florida is trying to land a couple of private companies, including one that could service human flights, by promising to upgrade two launch pads at Cape Canaveral. Board members of Space Florida, the state’s aerospace arm, have agreed to put up a combined $6.4 million as part of two matches with the state Department of Transportation for improvements at Launch Pad 36 and Launch Pad 41. “I want to…
Read MoreScott appoints Sarasota entrepreneur Jesse Biter to Enterprise Florida board
Sarasota software developer and businessman Jesse Biter will take one of the governor’s seats on the board of directors at Enterprise Florida. Gov. Rick Scott announced the appointment on Monday. Biter, who is CEO of Biter Enterprises, already has been serving the organization as an appointee of the Speaker of the Florida House since 2011. He succeeds Henry Rodriguez, and is appointed for a term beginning today and ending Sept….
Read MoreEntrepreneur Savant
Upon arriving at Jesse Biter’s office on the top floor of his HUB building, Sarasota’s tech entrepreneur mecca, I was struck by the nonconformity of the interior design. His office space is one large open room, approximately three thousand square feet with windows framing three sides. About two dozen desks line the windows, all-facing towards the middle of the room. No partitions or walls, just young people on headphones staring,…
Read MoreJesse Biter: Balancing of competing interests requires mayor’s leadership
A vibrant downtown with no noise … No vagrants without a place for them to go … More jobs without workforce housing… No sprawl and no increased density… Direction and vision without leadership… No, Sarasota, we can’t eat our cake and have it, too. I saw the recent comments by some city officials and city residents who want a revised sound ordinance to stop amplified music after 11 p.m. That…
Read MoreInside a Rooftop Soiree at Jesse and Katie Biter’s Downtown Penthouse
Sarasota power couple Jesse and Katie Biter entertain friends in their downtown Sarasota penthouse. What do you get when Jesse and Katie Biter decide to throw an elegant soiree at their downtown Sarasota penthouse? You get an evening that spares no detail in style and flavor. Tech entrepreneur Jesse, who owns downtown’s four-story HuB, a creative incubator for entrepreneurs, is a high-profile proponent of making downtown more vibrant and accessible…
Read MoreMountain men
Executive: Evan Berlin, founder of Berlin-Patten, a law firm with offices in Sarasota, Venice and Lakewood Ranch; Jesse Biter, co-founder of Dealers United, a Sarasota-based auto industry buying group; and Jamie Ebling, a partner with Berlin-Patten. Diversion: Berlin, Biter and Ebling, close friends for 10 years, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in September. Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, Africa, is the highest freestanding mountain in the world, at 19,341 feet above sea level…
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CONA debates 2050 plan
Downtown developer Jesse Biter said Monday that downtown zoning codes, which keep urban living out of the financial grasp of young professionals, will pose a bigger threat to downtown Sarasota’s economic future than the proposed changes to Sarasota’s 2050 plan. The Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations held a Monday-night panel discussion titled “Urban Services, Urban Realities,” featuring Biter, Downtown Improvement District board member Eileen Hampshire, Downtown Sarasota Alliance board…
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