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Southwest/Tampa Bay In the News - Nov. 2005
In the News
BONITA SPRINGS -- Developer Elias Brother Communities will build its new headquarters between Albertsons and Home Depot on Bonita Beach Road. The complex will include three office buildings with 134,000 square feet of office and retail space.
CAPE CORAL -- The Investment Exchange Group, which provides a range of services for Section 1031 tax-deferred investment exchanges, purchased 16 lots along Del Prado Boulevard from HKW Associates. The Investment Exchange Group is an intermediary for another buyer who plans to build a medical office building on the site.
CHARLOTTE/LEE COUNTIES -- West Palm Beach developer Syd Kitson has announced plans to purchase the 91,000-acre Babcock Ranch, which straddles Lee and Charlotte counties, for an undisclosed sum. Kitson wants to sell 74,000 acres back to the state for preservation and put a 20,000-home residential development on the remaining 17,000 acres.
CLEARWATER -- Triangle Development finalized the purchase of 2.4 acres along north Fort Harrison Avenue from the Salvation Army. The parcel is the last piece the company needs to proceed with a 6.5-acre luxury condominium development to be called Island View/Harrison Village.
Joyce Frustaci was named vice president of marketing for Market Street Mortgage, a residential mortgage loan company that closed $2.5 billion in mortgage loans in 2004 and $1.5 billion during the first half of 2005.
FORT MYERS -- Lee Memorial Health Systems purchased the Colonial Center lots at exit 136 off I-75 for $7.8 million. The company plans to build a medical clinic and lease additional office space.
TJD Holdings purchased six acres between the San Carlos/Beachwalk Boulevard intersection and the San Carlos/Kelly Road intersection from Strategic Properties of Southwest Florida for $2.26 million.
The new $438-million terminal at Southwest Florida International Airport is now open. The two-story terminal, one of the first built since Sept. 11, includes a taxiway and related roadways, a parking garage and rental car facilities on the ground floor directly across from the terminal. The old terminal will be closed and demolished. The Federal Aviation Administration, meanwhile, recently awarded the airport another $6.96 million to rehabilitate its single runway.
NAPLES -- The median sales price of a single-family existing home in Naples was a record $500,800 in August -- a 26% increase over the same period one year earlier. The number of sales was also up from 390 in August 2004 to 472 this year.
Jerry J. Williams, chairman, president and CEO of Orion Bancorp, has been elected chairman of the Florida Bankers Association and will serve as the association's primary advocate for the financial services industry. Williams is the first FBA chairman from Naples in the association's history.
ST. PETERSBURG -- For the ninth time, Bayfront Health System landed a spot on Working Mother magazine's list of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers."
Discount airline CanJet is increasing its flights from Canada to St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport this winter. The airline launched non-stop flights on a staggered basis beginning in November and will add services through February.
Synovus Bank of Tampa Bay is moving its headquarters to a new building near the Carillon office park in north St. Petersburg. It also recently signed a lease to open its first Hillsborough County branch, one of several planned in the county. The bank will keep its current headquarters in downtown St. Petersburg open but will devote more space there to commercial lending.
Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, which has locations in Clearwater, Largo, Palm Harbor and Pinellas Park, will open a 35,000-sq.-ft. facility early next year in Midtown.
TAMPA -- The Tampa Port Authority received a $1.7-million grant from the Department of Homeland Security in September to pay for communications equipment and floating protective barriers to keep boats out of certain areas during high alerts. The grant brings the TPA's total federal security funding to $10.6 million.
Media General named John Schueler president of its Florida Communications Group. Schueler, former publisher of the Daily News of Los Angeles and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, replaces Ron Redfern and will oversee the company's operations of the Tampa Tribune, WFLA-TV, TBO.com and CENTRO Grupo De Comunicaci?n.
