SHARE:
Southwest Florida Business Briefs - Nov. 2004
TAMPA -- The Florida Public Service Commission ordered Tampa Electric Co. to absorb more than $15 million the company had planned to pass on to its customers. The commission said the utility did not try hard enough to find a company that would charge lower prices to haul the utility's coal to its local generating plants.
TAMPA BAY -- A wave of apartment-to-condo conversions is sweeping southwest Florida. Most recently: Clearwater's Grand Venezia at Bay Watch, a 366-unit apartment community, and the 86-unit Grand Bellagio at Bay Watch. Other conversions: Homes at Culbreath Key Bayside, the Madison at SoHo, both in South Tampa; the Madison in downtown St. Petersburg; and Audubon Villas also in St. Petersburg.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has imposed new boating speed zones on many unregulated stretches of Tampa Bay to protect manatees. The new zones will help free up dock-building permits that had been on hold in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
OBITUARY -- Charles Rutenberg moved to Clearwater in 1955 and began a career in development, eventually building 10,000 homes in the Tampa Bay area. In 1969, he sold his two companies, Imperial Home Corp. and Rutenberg Construction Co., to U.S. Home Corp., becoming president of that company. Rutenberg was also chairman and CEO of Republic Bank and Life Savings and Loan Association. In 1993, he filed for bankruptcy and sold off some of his estate. He died in September at age 80. His brother, Arthur Rutenberg, is also a well-known Florida home builder.
