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Central Florida Roundup
Orange County launches a tech offensive
Orange County is on track to provide every student with a computer.
Players
» Andrea Massey- Farrell, senior vice president at pestcontrol company Massey Services, will be the next chairwoman of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce.
Business Briefs
CAPE CANAVERAL — A SpaceX rocket carrying a satellite for Facebook exploded on the launch pad. No one was hurt.
CLERMONT — USA Canoe/ Kayak will hold its 2017 national championship at the city’s Waterfront Park on Lake Minneola.
COCOA BEACH — Cross-Brands Manufacturing will open a 75,000-sq.-ft. facility to resume production of Sea & Ski sunblock, once the top-selling suntan lotion in the country.
LAKE MARY — Faro Technologies, which develops 3-D measurement technology, bought Londonberry, N.H.-based Laser Protection Technologies.
» AT&T leased 30,000 square feet of office space to house 180 employees.
LONGWOOD — Winter Park-based developer Alexander Investments International is redeveloping a longabandoned community golf course into a 286-unit apartment complex.
OCOEE — City commissioners approved a site plan for a large mixed-use project that will include a hotel, nearly 300 condo units and more than 170,000 square feet of retail space.
ORANGE COUNTY — Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando began distributing free inspect repellent to visitors amid rising concerns about the Zika virus. Meanwhile, Disney World will drain and fill in a 330,000-gallon pool at its River Country water park, abandoned since Disney closed it in 2002.
ORLANDO — Los Angeles-based video game designer Particle City, which is backed by Respawn Entertainment, plans to open an Orlando studio, which will develop a series of mobile games around the Titanfall franchise. The company says it expects to create 17 jobs over the next three years. » The University of Central Florida pushed back the planned opening of its downtown campus by one year, to August 2019. Meanwhile, the university’s private fundraising foundation set a goal of raising $500 million — some of which will pay for the downtown campus — by June 2019. » Ronald McDonald House opened an $8-million home adjacent to Nemours Children’s Hospital, the charity’s third housing facility in Orlando.
» Asurion, a Nashville-based insurer of mobile devices, opened a 50,000-sq.-ft. call center in Orlando with plans to hire 350 employees.
SEMINOLE COUNTY — After a successful citizens’ petition drive, county commissioners approved new regulations for greyhound tracks, including mandatory injury reporting, disposal reporting and animal licensing. The county has one track: Penn National Gaming’s Sanford Orlando Kennel Club.
SUMTER COUNTY — State economists expect the county’s total taxable property value will grow by nearly 55% over the next five years, the fastest rate in the state.
WINTER GARDEN — A developer plans to build a threestory building with apartments and commercial space in the small city’s burgeoning downtown area.
