SHARE:
Central Fla., Space Coast Business Briefs - Feb. 2010
BREVARD —
» At Port Canaveral, Carnival Cruise Lines (NYSE-CCL) introduced its new and largest ship, the $860-million, 3,646-passenger Carnival Dream, with an inaugural cruise in November.
 Carnival Dream |
» The Mango Tree Restaurant, an upscale “special event” destination in Cocoa Beach, has closed after 25 years.
» Fingerprint security devices manufactured by Melbourne-based AuthenTec are now being built into LG eXpo phones sold in the United States.
ORANGE COUNTY —
» Orlando’s two largest outlet malls are becoming sister properties under the ownership of Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, which owns Orlando Premium Outlets. Simon announced plans to buy Prime Outlets Acquisition Co. of Baltimore, the parent company of Prime Outlets Orlando and the smaller Orlando Marketplace, for $2.235 billion. Simon also owns Florida Mall, Waterford Lakes Town Center, Seminole Town Center and Lake Square Mall.
» The Orange County Convention Center will host NPE—The International Plastics Showcase, one of the largest U.S. tradeshows with more than 50,000 attendees, in 2012 and 2015 after wooing the conference away from Chicago’s McCormick Place, where it has met every three years since 1971.
ORLANDO —
» Commercial property developer Damien Madsen has proposed a boutique hotel that would replace the former OUC building at Orange Avenue and the East-West Expressway downtown, which the city has agreed to sell him for $2.6 million pending land-use approvals.
» Canadian modeling, simulation and training company Presagis is expanding its Orlando operations and doubling its workforce of 20 at Central Florida Research Park because of growing opportunities in defense and other simulation contracts.
» Innovative Software Products, a software developer in the University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program, has forged a working partnership with Level 3 Communications, based in Broomfield, Colo., one of the largest internet service providers in the world.
SEMINOLE COUNTY —
» Allegiant Air is moving some of its flight operations from Orlando Sanford International Airport to Orlando International, where it can better compete with AirTran Airways. This month, the airline will shift 10 routes to the larger airport and will still fly to 21 destinations from Sanford.
WINTER PARK —
» Scandinavian Bonnier Corp., which has corporate offices in Winter Park Village, has acquired Weldon Owen Publishing of San Francisco for an undisclosed amount, adding non-fiction book publishing to its operations that publish 49 specialty magazines, including Popular Science, Field & Stream, Saveur, Boating Life and Sport Diver.
» Entrepreneur Donna Moore has opened a co-op kitchen on Fairbanks Avenue that houses her gourmet chocolate company, Chateau Confections, and other women-owned culinary businesses that need a facility where they can manufacture products.
