Central Fla., Space Coast Business Briefs - March 2010

MAITLAND — The Enzian Theater, which turns 25 this year, has won one of two National Endowment for the Arts grants in Florida for 2010, which will provide $10,000 for the 19th annual Florida Film Festival.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS

» Mercantile Capital Corp., one of the largest providers of U.S. Small Business Administration 504 loans in the nation, reported a 12.8% increase in dollars loaned last year over 2008. The number of transactions decreased slightly, says Chris Hurn, the firm's president. The largest loan Mercantile Capital made was for $8.1 million to Blaine Convention Services in California to acquire a retail warehouse.

BREVARD

» Melbourne-based Harris Corp. (NYSE- HRS) has been awarded a five-year, $26-million contract to help centralize information technology operations for the Air National Guard, which now has its IT spread out over 11 U.S. locations.

» Direct Air of Myrtle Beach, S.C., suspended its planned service between Melbourne International Airport and Dulles International near Washington, D.C., citing competition and a lack of ticket sales. The airline reportedly is continuing its plans to start flights from Melbourne to Punta Gorda and Niagara Falls, N.Y.

ORLANDO/ORANGE COUNTY

» UCF's Business Incubation Program has formed the Economic Gardening Institute and the website GrowFL.com and has received $1.5 million from the Florida Legislature to accelerate job creation and regional economic growth by helping second-stage companies expand. Partners in the venture include the Edward Lowe Foundation, the Central Florida High Tech Corridor Council and CEO Nexus, a public-private group that works with entrepreneurs.

» AirTran set a December record for traffic last year with a 5.3% increase over the previous year, logging more than 1.5 billion revenue passenger miles. In another measurement, the Orlando-based airline saw its number of passengers increase during that period 1.7% to more than 1.9 million.

» University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith has been tapped as one of 56 economists to participate in the Wall Street Journal's economic forecasting panel for 2010. Snaith is the director of UCF's Institute for Economic Competitiveness and is a member of several other national forecasting panels.

» The U.S. Federal Highway Administration awarded Data Transfer Solutions in Avalon Park a contract potentially worth $10 million over five years to work with engineering firm Louis Berger Group and provide GIS services.

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