March 28, 2024

Southwest Fla. & Tampa Bay Business Briefs - July 2010

Round-up of business news

Art Levy | 7/1/2010
art
Art Appreciation
$52,331 Average salary statewide for independent artists, writers and performers
$95,585 Average salary in Manatee County for independent artists, writers and performers

Source: Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, Labor Market Statistics Manatee Economic Development Council

Bradenton — With help from $65,000 worth of incentives from Manatee County over the next five years, IMG Academies will add 65 employees in the next three years. The sports training facility also has plans to build a 50,000-sq.-ft. dorm in 2012.

Haines City — Paper products maker Cellynne has added 25 jobs at its local plant. The company also has manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin, Nevada and China.

Hillsborough County — Tampa Sports Authority, which governs sports facilities in Hillsborough County, is drafting a 10-year strategic plan that includes a Major League Baseball facility. Meanwhile, an investment group called BuildItDowntown.org is pushing for a stadium to be built in downtown Tampa. Tampa Bay Rays executives have indicated they want a new home to replace St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field, but they haven’t said where they want the new stadium to be.

» The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and the Tampa Bay Partnership have won a $540,100 federal grant to study which industries have the potential to generate the most jobs in the region. SRI International will conduct the research.

Largo — Pinellas County officials are seeking ideas on what to do with the former site of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art. The museum closed last year, and the 60,000-sq.-ft. facility, which includes studio space and a 102-seat auditorium, remains empty.

Manatee and Sarasota Counties — The Manatee Sarasota Workforce Funders Collaborative plans to dole out $1.5 million over the next three years for job training. The first of the grants includes $19,350 to Tidewell Hospice and Palliative Care to train
and certify 60 registered nurses and $5,500 to Village on the Isle to teach workers about electronic medical records.

St. Petersburg — Mayor Bill Foster has created the St. Petersburg Sports Alliance to figure out ways to attract more sporting events to the city. The alliance’s 42-member board includes boxer Winky Wright, former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Mike Alstott and Fred McGriff, who played for the Tampa Bay Rays.

» After 26 years, the Maddux Business Report will no longer publish a printed edition. The company will continue publishing online.

» Universal Health Care Group has spent $9 million to purchase a 160,000-sq.-ft. space downtown. The company sells health insurance plans.

» Bill Edwards, chairman of Mortgage Investors Corp. and a concert and music promoter, has pledged $2.5 million to All Children’s Hospital. The money will endow the hospital’s music therapy program and expand All Children’s patient education and information system.

Tampa — The 2012 Republican National Convention will be held at the St. Pete Times Forum. The weeklong event is expected to attract more than 40,000 visitors to Tampa Bay and add millions for the local economy. Officials in Minneapolis, site of the party’s 2008 convention, say the event there generated $170 million in spending and created 2,800 jobs.

» Odyssey Marine Exploration (Nasdaq-OMEX) is seeking to overturn an earlier court decision that required the treasure-hunting company to turn over millions of dollars worth of silver coins to the Spanish government. The coins, recovered three years ago by Odyssey, were aboard a Spanish navy ship that went down off Portugal in 1804.

» Tribridge, an IT services company, has purchased Mercatus Group, a technology consulting company based in Chicago.

Tags: Southwest, Tampa Bay

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