March 28, 2024

Northeast Fla., Jacksonville Business Briefs - Feb. 2010

Cynthia Barnett | 2/1/2010

AMELIA ISLAND —

» A group of homeowners in Amelia Island Plantation is trying to gain controlling interest of Amelia Island Co., which operates the 1,350-acre resort. Amelia Island Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last fall. The residents, operating as Red Maple Investors, have offered $5 million of debtor-in-possession financing and up to $15 million to buy equity in the plantation upon its emergence from bankruptcy. Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Co., which holds the first mortgage, filed an objection to the homeowners’ proposal.

CEDAR KEY —

» Oystermen got a reprieve from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which had proposed a ban on the harvest and sale of oysters from the Gulf of Mexico during “warm months” — April through October. The FDA withdrew the action pending further study after an outcry from coastal communities throughout the southeastern U.S. that rely on the oyster industry. Scientists attribute about 15 deaths a year to a bacteria called vibrio vulnificus that is associated with eating raw oysters. FDA proposed the ban to reduce consumers’ exposure to vibrio.

GAINESVILLE —

» Teri Levin, continuing a Levin family legacy, has donated $1 million to the University of Florida in honor of her late husband, Pensacola Beach developer Allen Levin. The university’s Fredric G. Levin College of Law is named after Allen Levin’s brother, Pensacola attorney Fred Levin, who donated $10 million in 1999. The gift brings the total of Levin family gifts to the law school to nearly $30 million including state matching funds.

JACKSONVILLE —

» Sustainable Energy Solutions, a Jacksonville developer, owner and operator of renewable energy projects, acquired Baton Rouge Renewable Energy from Illumination Renewables. Sustainable Energy Solutions has landfill gas-to-energy projects in Georgia and Alabama.

» The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration gave HCA approval to build the first hospital on Jacksonville’s west side, an 85-bed facility in the Cecil Commerce Center.

LEVY COUNTY —

» A federal jury found two suspended Levy County commissioners guilty of conspiracy and soliciting bribes for approving what they believed was a new development project. An undercover FBI agent posed as a developer and counted out $10,000 to Sammy Yearty and Tony Parker, according to a videotape played at their trial. “There was no surprise. No outrage. You never heard the word ‘no,’ ” the prosecutor told jurors. Sentencing is scheduled for April.

OCALA —

» In a regulatory filing with the SEC, federally run home loan guarantor Freddie Mac reported that the failures of Ocala-based Taylor, Bean & Whitaker and Colonial Bank exposed it to more than $1 billion in potential losses. Taylor Bean shut down and laid off more than 1,000 local workers last fall amid a federal investigation into loans it warehoused through Alabama-based Colonial Bank.

» Following other community colleges around Florida, more than half of which now offer bachelor’s degrees, trustees at Ocala’s Central Florida Community College voted to drop “community” and change the institution’s name to College of Central Florida. The change takes effect later this year, when CCF begins offering four-year degrees.

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