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Southwest Florida In the News - July 2005
FORT MYERS -- Furniture retailer Robb & Stucky opened an expanded 245,000-sq.-ft. headquarters and distribution center on Plantation Road between Six Mile Cypress and Daniels Parkway in south Fort Myers.
Southwest Florida International Airport's new $438-million terminal is expected to open this month. At almost 800,000 square feet, the new terminal will be almost twice the size of the one it will replace. More than 6.7 million passengers passed through the airport last year. The new terminal will be able to handle 10 million passengers annually.
LAKELAND -- Publix Super Markets plans to test the natural foods grocery market next year. The Lakeland chain will open its first GreenWise store in Palm Beach Gardens. A second store is planned in Boca Raton.
SARASOTA -- Ohio developer Isaac Group Holdings unveiled plans for a $150-million downtown shopping/residential project called Pineapple Square. Plans call for 40 high-end retailers, but the centerpiece is expected to be an 11-story building that would contain shops, a garage and condominiums. The building will be located on the current site of First United Methodist Church's parking lot.
State lawmakers have cleared the way for Sarasota Memorial to expand into other counties, including Manatee, De Soto and Charlotte. The hospital says the expansion is necessary because more than 20% of its patients come from outside Sarasota County.
ST. PETERSBURG -- As part of a deal to secure state funding to move the Salvador Dali museum downtown, the city council approved spending $2.65 million for a new 7.3-acre waterfront park, the largest park expansion in almost 100 years, Mayor Rick Baker says. The museum is currently located just south of downtown in a building that is not hurricane-proof.
TAMPA -- Philanthropist, entrepreneur and cardiologist Kiran Patel and his wife, Pallavi Patel, a pediatrician, donated $18.5 million to the University of South Florida. The state will match $16 million, and Patel is holding back about $7 million until the school raises another $14 million from other donors. That money would also draw matching funds from the state, which would put the total value of Patel's gift at more than $62 million. The money will be used to create a center to study global issues. Patel founded WellCare HMO, grew it into a $1-billion company then sold it two years ago.
Tampa will host the 2009 Super Bowl. NFL owners voted for Tampa over Atlanta, Houston and Miami. Tampa last hosted the Super Bowl in 2001.
Building products manufacturer ASI is building a 65,000-sq.-ft. facility near the Tampa Port that will house corporate offices, a training facility, showroom and warehouse. ASI employs about 200 and has 12 locations and three manufacturing facilities in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama.
Leo J. Bottary has joined public relations consultant Hill & Knowlton as senior vice president. Previously, Bottary was director of public relations at St. John & Partners Advertising & Public Relations in Jacksonville.
North Shore Bank of Wisconsin has opened a mortgage origination center in Tampa, its first expansion outside of Wisconsin. North Shore has $1.8 billion in assets.
Tampa-based GunnAllen Financial has named Irv Cohen president of GunnAllen Bank Holdings and GunnAllen Bank and executive vice president of GunnAllen Financial. Cohen had been president of J.P. Morgan Treasury Technologies Corp. in Tampa.
City council members signed off on Tampa General Hospital's controversial expansion plan, which includes adding a 1,400-car parking garage on a half-acre parcel of parkland.
WESLEY CHAPEL -- A Pittsburgh developer is planning to build a $100-million retail and entertainment complex off Interstate 75 in Pasco County just north of State Road 54. The 835,000-sq.-ft. Grove at Wesley Chapel project is expected to include 300 residential units, large specialty retailers, restaurants and a 14-screen theater.
