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Southeast Fla. Business Briefs - Jan. 2010
BOCA RATON —
» IT company Champion Solutions Group will add 20 jobs over two years at an average of $60,000 per job, following a $50,000 state training grant.
FORT LAUDERDALE —
» Professional employer organization AlphaStaff Group will buy Sarasota-based Selective HR Solutions for $13 million, becoming the nation's fourth-largest PEO.
» Holy Cross Hospital rejected a $1-million donation from troubled lawyer Scott Rothstein and his wife, Kimberly. Rothstein, according to his former law firm and investors, ran an investment scam that federal investigators say topped $1 billion. The hospital says it will hold the money in a trust account pending direction from authorities. Also, Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust froze Rothstein's 5% share in the bank.
» Broward County commissioners asked the U.S. Treasury Department for permission for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to offer charter service to Cuba and for Port Everglades to offer seaborne service to Cuba.
» A Broward Circuit jury awarded Cindy Naugle, 61, sister of former Mayor Jim Naugle, $300 million in her fraud suit against cigarette company Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest award against a tobacco company by an individual. Naugle, who has emphysema, takes oxygen 24 hours a day and uses a wheelchair because walking exhausts her, said she wouldn't have taken up smoking at age 20 had she known, as she said the tobacco companies did, that nicotine was a highly addictive drug and cigarettes were a drug delivery device. She stopped smoking in 1993. The jury awarded her $56.6 million for medical expenses and $244 million in punitive damages. The company plans to appeal.
» The 50th Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the world's largest, reported a 1% increase in attendance but "still has a way to go to get back to 2007 levels," says Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist III, CEO of Show Management, the show's producer.
MIRAMAR —
» New York-based office furniture dealership Empire Office, with $200 million in sales in 2008, acquired regional office furniture dealer Thomas W Ruff South Florida and plans to open offices in Miami and Boca Raton.
PALM BEACH GARDENS —
» Dycom Industries (NYSE-DY), a specialty contractor for telecom companies and utilities, took a $2-million charge against earnings in connection with settling a wage-and-hour class-action suit and reported a 22.4% decline in revenue for the first quarter ended Oct. 24.
PORT ST. LUCIE —
» The city offered a digital movie-game company a $51.8-million bond and cash grant deal to locate a facility in Tradition and create at least 500 jobs paying an average of $64,233 by 2014. Wyndcrest Holdings, which owns Venice, Calif.-based Digital Domain, also gets a $20-million state grant. Port St. Lucie's package includes a grant of land valued at $10 million, a $10-million cash grant with the remaining $31.8 million to come from bond buyers and to be repaid by the company through a 20-year lease on the facility. The city will use a federal stimulus tax-exempt bond program for that bond portion.
SUNRISE —
» In an ownership restructuring, Cliff Viner and Stu Siegel became co-general partners of Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, the entity that controls the Florida Panthers NHL team and the BankAtlantic Center where it plays. Alan Cohen, who had been in charge, became a limited partner.
STUART —
» Waterblasting Technologies, a 72-employee firm, opened its new headquarters in December.
VERO BEACH —
» A news report from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association says Piper Aircraft plans to boost production this year by half over 2009 levels. Meanwhile, the company has said it will delay deliveries of its PiperJet until 2013. The company will hire 50 engineers and technicians in the second quarter. President John Becker resigned less than six months after being promoted from vice president of engineering.
