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Northwest Florida Business Briefs - March 2005
BAY COUNTY -- Faith Christian Family Church sued Bay County Property Appraiser Rick Barnett after Barnett denied a tax-exemption application for Pastor Markus Bishop's 10,410-sq.-ft. home. Barnett, citing the exemption requirement that pastors' homes be used predominately for religious purposes, charged the church $47,000 in property taxes. The $3.3-million residence is located in a gated community six miles from the church.
CRESTVIEW -- City officials still want to build a Crestview Community Center with the help of $675,000 in state grant money, but the money may revert to the state because a deadline for using it has passed. The 5-year-old project has spent $300,000 of the Department of Agriculture grant on infrastructure and architectural plans and will need at least $1 million more for completion.
DESTIN -- Plans by the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation board to build the Mattie Kelly Cultural Arts Village moved ahead with board approval for city annexation of the 52-acre site near Destin Commons. A fund-raising campaign will be launched this year.
ESCAMBIA/SANTA ROSA COUNTIES -- Lane Furnishings of Tupelo, Miss., donated $350,000 in new furniture to Rebuild Northwest Florida as part of "corporate good works'' in the post-Ivan aftermath. Another donor, the National Football League, gave $152,000 to United Way of Escambia County, most to be used for reroofing in the two counties. FORT WALTON BEACH -- Paul Hsu, founder and chairman of Manufacturing Technology Inc. (MTI), has sold his company to MTC Technologies of Dayton, Ohio, for $75 million. MTI, a defense contractor with 450 employees in nine U.S. locations and 2004 revenue of $50 million, will retain its name as a division of Nasdaq-traded MTC's Air Forces Group, but Hsu is leaving the company. Both companies are listed among the nation's fastest-growing.
JACKSON COUNTY -- Graceville Area Chamber of Commerce has merged with the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, adding its 60 members to the countywide business group's 480-member roster.
MARIANNA -- Sykes Enterprises (Nasdaq-SYKE), which is outsourcing its nine U.S. call centers, left parting gifts for Marianna and Jackson County after closing the 3-year-old facility there. It gave back 26 acres, equipment and furnishings, its tornado-damaged building valued at $1 million and a $125,000 check to raze or repair it. The call center employed about 270 when Sykes announced plans in August to close, just before the Ivan-associated tornado hit. A Palatka center also has closed.
Family Dollar is expected to add more than 500 jobs early this year at its new Southeast regional distribution center. The 907,000-sq.-ft. building is reportedly one of the largest ever built in the Panhandle.
PENSACOLA -- Delta Connection has begun offering nonstop flights from Pensacola Regional Airport to Cincinnati and JFK Airport in New York.
Three local leaders have drafted a $70-million plan for 27 acres of city-owned waterfront, to include a maritime museum, teaching and conference center, baseball stadium and public park. The idea's creators: Quint Studer, owner of the Pelicans baseball team and Studer Group healthcare consulting firm; University of West Florida President John Cavanaugh; and Ret. Vice Adm. Jack Fetterman, president of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. Studer is committing $12 million toward the project; Fetterman pledged to raise $12.8 million. Cavanaugh would move several UWF programs to the site.
