Premier Insurance Corporation to move to Cape Coral Parkway
Premier Insurance Corpora-tion, a CRA-based independent business insurance company, plans on moving from its Lafayette Street location to Cape Coral Parkway by January of next year.
Agency Principal Lawrence Wier said Premier Insurance has been operating in Cape Coral since 1996.
He said the decision to move from Lafayette Street to Cape Coral Parkway was opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
“It was an opportunity to buy a building from a bank because the economy created the opportunity,” Wier said. “It was a no brainer.”
Premier Insurance has 2,750 square feet of space at its current location on Lafayette. When the business eventually move to the new location — which was once the site of a RE/MAX office — it’s square footage will increase to 4,780 square feet.
The Cape Coral Parkway building is valued at $286,191, which is down considerably from 2009, when it was valued at $514,230.
Wier and Premier Insurance was also unanimously awarded a facade grant from the CRA Board Tuesday night in the amount of $47,204 with a few conditions, including making adjustments to the sign on the front of the building, and screening the ground level A/C equipment.
CRA Planner Patrick White described the outside renovations to Premier’s new building as a “Key West” style.
Currently, Premier Insurance Corporation employs seven people. Wier said he hopes to hire another 10 jobs in the next five years.
Wier said he is looking forward to making a continued investment on downtown Cape Coral, and thinks the area has potential.
Wier made some connections between Cape Coral Parkway and Fifth Avenue in Naples, where Premier Insurance insures several buildings.
“Fifth Avenue in Naples used to look a lot like Cape Coral Parkway,” he said. “There is potential here. It may take a long time before that happens, but there is opportunity.”
Wier added that it was important to make a “leap of faith” by investing in the community.
“It’s going to take some time, but people are going to buy up these buildings (in the CRA). I have no doubt about it,” Wier said.