March 29, 2024

Around the State

Jill DeVlieger | 5/1/1996
Florida

SunTrust Banks Inc., based in Atlanta, agreed to pay $2.3 million to at least 40,000 Florida customers who allegedly were overcharged on their escrow payments. In 1995, the state filed a suit against SunTrust and its mortgage subsidiary which claimed the company violated federal regulations by requiring borrowers to carry excessive amounts in escrow accounts, which in one case totaled $913.

Northwest

Westinghouse Electric Corp. plans to close its assembly plant in Pensacola to reduce costs and improve efficiency. The plant, which employs 650, manufactures combustion turbine and electric generator products and nuclear steam generators. By the end of 1997, Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse will fold the Pensacola plant's operations into its factories in North Carolina and Ontario.

HealthSouth Corp., the nation's largest provider of outpatient surgery and rehabilitative services, plans to add a 40-bed acute inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Panama City. The new hospital is expected to employ up to 125 within the first two years of operation. The Birmingham, Ala.-based company hopes to begin construction immediately and complete the facility in early 1997.

Advanced Engineering & Research Associates of Arlington, Va., an interactive software and computer training company, is opening a Pensacola branch office this spring. The company, which initially will employ about 30 at its new location, eventually plans to employ 60 there. The company chose Pensacola because it recently won a military contract in the area.

Pensacola is the new home of the Nashville Knights, a professional ice hockey team in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). The ECHL was founded in 1988 and will have 23 teams next season, including those in Tallahassee, Mobile, Biloxi, Baton Rouge and Birmingham. The team's new uniform colors and nickname haven't been decided yet, but officials are planning a name-the-team contest later this year. The Knights will play on a new $1.6 million ice rink, which Escambia County officials agreed to pay for with funds in part from a bed tax. Construction is expected to begin next month on the rink and should take about two months to complete. When the team isn't using the rink, it will be available for public skating, ice shows and private rentals for hockey leagues. When ECHL's 1996-97 season begins in October, individual ticket sales will range from $9 to $20 with special discounts for each game.

Northeast

Jacksonville's Deluxe Check Printers plant, owned by Deluxe Corp. of St. Paul, Minn., will be shut down over the next two years as part of a cost-cutting move by the company. Eighty full-time and part-time jobs will be eliminated. The company, the nation's largest check printer, will shut down 26 U.S. plants by the end of 1997 and expects to continue its operations out of 15 nationwide plants operating 24 hours a day.

Ainsley Superior Warehousing plans to lease the former General Electric Distribution Center in Jacksonville's Imeson International Industrial Park. The Syracuse, New York-based warehousing company expects to employ 70 at its new location. Ainsley will handle food products in its 318,897-square-foot center.

Belz Enterprises of Memphis, Tenn., will be the developer of a new outlet mall called the Belz Factory Outlet World at Interstate 95 and State Road 16 in St. Johns County. The mall is expected to have 310,000 square feet in its first phase, with plans to exceed 750,000 square feet when totally completed. The mall is expected to open in late 1997 or early 1998 with 100 stores.

The lease for Central Florida's Silver Springs, the state's oldest tourist attraction, and Wild Waters, an adjacent water park, has been purchased by the Ogden Corp. of New York City. Florida Leisure Acquisition Corp. (FLAC) was leasing the parks from the state, which owns the land where the two parks are located. Ogden picked up FLAC's remaining 13 years of an original 15-year lease. Ogden bought the lease in an effort to expand its nature-based entertainment holdings. No employees are expected to lose their jobs due to the acquisition.

The University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville and the Sunshine Network announced a multi-year television rights agreement providing the network with the rights to UF athletic events. The agreement begins with the 1996-97 school year. The Sunshine Network, which reaches more than 3.8 million cable homes in Florida, will broadcast more than 100 Florida Gator events and/or programs annually.

Central

Excell Agent Services, a company that provides phone operators for hire, plans to open a 40,000-square-foot call center in Rockledge. The center is expected to open in October with about 400 employees. By April 1997, the Phoenix-based company hopes to employ 1,000 in jobs mostly paying $6 to $7.50 per hour.

The Air Force plans to cut about 191 of 907 civil service jobs from the 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Station in Brevard County. The 45th Space Wing runs the military spaceport in Brevard, operates the Air Force's Eastern Range, which is a network of rocket-tracking stations, and provides weather information for all Space Coast launches. Separately, the Air Force announced plans to move three squadrons, the 41st and 71st Rescue Squadrons and the 741st Maintenance Squadron, from Patrick Air Force Base to Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Ga., in order to save money and to consolidate operations. About 544 jobs will be transferred to Georgia when the squadrons are moved during the summer of 1997.

Miami's Precision Response Corp. plans to expand in Orlando and to create about 250 jobs there when it opens its new customer service call center in a 37,000-square-foot building on East Colonial Drive. The company, which provides telephone customer service for corporate clients such as AT&T, Taco Bell and British Airways, also has plans to open two more call centers in Orlando, bringing its total Central Florida work force to about 1000.

Memtec Limited, an international manufacturer of filtration and separation materials and equipment, plans to expand its manufacturing facility in DeLand. The expanded facility would house the company's Fluid Dynamics Business Group (FDBG), eventually allowing FDBG to double its manufacturing capacity and to create at least 100 new jobs.

AAI Corp. plans to shut its Ocoee plant and lay off 50 workers by July. The Hunt Valley, Md.-based training simulator company says the shut down is necessary due to increased competition and Pentagon budget cuts.

The Atlanta Braves baseball team agreed to move its spring training to Walt Disney World's new sports complex, which offers a 7,500-seat ballpark with spectator seating on two levels, corporate suites, clubhouses, office space and covered batting tunnels. The Braves and Disney signed a 20-year agreement. The team's current lease with Palm Beach County expires at the end of spring training in 1997 when the new facility at Disney is expected to be completed.

Universal Studios Florida, Sea World of Florida and Wet 'n Wild formed a marketing alliance. A five-day pass will admit guests to all three theme parks. It is priced at $89.95 (plus tax) for adults and $72.95 (plus tax) for children 3-9 years old. Further details about the program will be announced shortly.

Precision Meters Inc., a division of Germany's Spanner Pollux GmbH and one of the world's largest manufacturers of multi-jet water meters, purchased a 5.8-acre site in Orlando Central Park South for a new 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. The new building, now under construction, will become the company's U.S. headquarters in addition to housing manufacturing, assembly and distribution operations. When the facility is completed in July, it will employ 52.

Infinity Broadcasting Corp. of New York City plans to buy three Orlando radio stations as part of a $410 million deal that includes a dozen stations in five markets, pending approval by federal regulators. The Orlando stations - soft rock 98.9 FM (WMMO), classic rock 96.5 FM (WHTQ) and adult contemporary 990 AM (WHOO) - would be sold by New York's Granum Holdings. The sale could close as early as next month.

A Westbury, N.Y., company called 1-800-FLOWERS plans to open a customer service center in a 9,000-square-foot facility in Winter Park. The company, a nationwide floral delivery firm, expects to hire about 70.

Dual Inc. relocated its headquarters from Arlington, Va., to Orlando last month. The defense contractor moved 100 jobs and hopes to triple its work force in Orlando by 1998. Also planned within three to five years is an expansion of its simulation unit, which currently employs 100 in Lake Mary.

Tampa Bay

Promus Hotel Corp. plans to build a $5 million reservations office in Tampa that should be fully operational by Jan. 1, 1997. The new center will be located in the Woodland Business Center in the Westshore area and initially will employ 200. Memphis, Tenn.-based Promus, one of the world's premier lodging companies, selected Tampa for several reasons, including the availability of a suitable work force and facilities.

Kmart's launch of its own credit card could mean more than 500 new jobs for Tampa. Beneficial National Bank USA, the bank offering the card, already employs about 150 in downtown Tampa. The decision to create additional jobs hinges, in part, on getting a tax break. Beneficial might house the employees that would service the Kmart card in a proposed new office tower on Harbour Island. Most of the new jobs would be customer service positions, paying above minimum wage.

Tampa-based Technical Resource Connection plans to expand by either building or leasing another facility near its current location. In addition to expanding its space, the software-development technology company expects to add another 150 employees by year end.

As part of its planned merger with Chemical Bank, Chase Manhattan will cut 600 Tampa jobs, moving those positions to Ohio. The cuts will come from the mortgage-servicing operation that will be folded into Chemical Bank's mortgage unit in Columbus. After the cuts, only 1,300 Chase employees will remain in Tampa.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., the Nashville-based health-care company, suspended operations at two of its Pinellas County hospitals that it recently acquired, Pinellas Community Hospital and Seminole Hospital and Women's Center. About 318 nursing and related hospital positions were eliminated. The closures were expected because both hospitals had been operating at a loss for the last few years.

Southwest

Sarasota-based RISCORP, a managed-care workers' compensation company, raised $190 million in an initial public offering. The company sold ten million shares of its Class A common stock at $19 per share. RISCORP, with revenues of $166.1 million for fiscal year 1995, plans to use a portion of the offering proceeds to expand beyond Florida.

Key Voice Technologies, a Sarasota-based company that develops and markets voice processing systems, has been acquired by Comdial Corp. of Charlottesville, Va. Now a wholly owned subsidiary of Comdial, Key Voice will continue operating from its current headquarters in Sarasota.

Treasure Coast

At the end of March, Paxson Communications in West Palm Beach announced a secondary public offering of 13,500,000 shares of its Class A Common Stock. The shares were offered by a group of underwriters that included Smith Barney and PaineWebber. 10,300,000 of the shares were offered by the company and 3,200,000 shares were sold by selling stockholders. Paxson has a nationwide network of television stations airing infomercials and owns 16 radio stations in Florida's four largest cities.

Lakeland's Marriott Ownership Resorts, a sales leader in the timeshare industry, plans to develop a five-building oceanfront timeshare resort on 20 acres in Palm Beach Shores. The resort would have four eight-story buildings and one six-story building, housing 313 units. The first phase could begin in September and be completed within a year.

Southeast

Secretary of Defense William J. Perry approved plans for the new headquarters of the United States Southern Command (SouthCom). A new 154,848-square-foot building in Miami's WestPointe Business Park will be leased to the government for a ten-year term at a base rent price of $1.7 million per year plus services and utilities. Construction began on the new facility last month and is expected to be completed by March 1997. SouthCom will begin moving into the headquarters during the summer of 1997. SouthCom, the regional command responsible for all U.S. military activities in Central and South America south of Mexico and in the waters adjoining Central and South America, was headquartered in Panama.

Humana Health Care Plans is expanding its offices, located in Miramar's Huntington Square, by 7,000 square feet in order to accommodate corporate growth. The company, a provider of health-care plans, expects to add 30 employees to its current staff of more than 480.

Westinghouse Audio Intelligence Devices (WAID), a wholly owned subsidiary of Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Westinghouse Electric Corp., chose a 5.8-acre site in the Corporate Park of Coral Springs for its new 75,000-square-foot corporate headquarters and manufacturing/training facility. WAID expects to employ about 140 within the first year of operation. WAID is the world's largest supplier of specialty electronics and training to federal, state, municipal and international law enforcement agencies.

One of the last undeveloped tracts in the Doral area of Miami was
purchased by Lennar Homes. The 27.4-acre tract cost the Miami-based real estate company $7 million. Lennar already has a dozen gated communities in the area.

Miami-based John Alden Financial plans to sell the company's annuities business and Western Diversified, a subsidiary that offers credit life and disability coverage to auto dealers throughout the United States. The company hopes to use capital generated from the sale of these businesses to maximize shareholder value. Possible uses of proceeds include capital allocation to John Alden's health insurance business, payment of special dividends and repurchases of the company's common stock.

Tags: Florida Small Business, Politics & Law, Business Florida

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