Crestview —
» Satellites Unlimited, a Birmingham-based installation and service company for Dish Network satellite TV, is hiring 45, including 40 technicians, to staff its newest office, located in Okaloosa/Crestview Industrial Airpark.
Panama City —
» Gulf Coast Community College expects to break ground this fall on a $20-million to $25-million Advanced Technology Center, to offer workforce training programs for new area businesses attracted by airport construction and adjacent business development.
Pensacola —
» Gulf Breeze-based Highpointe Hotel Corp. is developing its sixth Pensacola hotel, an $18-million, five-story, 137-unit Hilton Garden Inn on Airport Boulevard, to open in early 2010.
» Impact 100 Pensacola Bay Area reached its 2009 fund-raising goal of $500,000-plus and kept its rank as the nation’s largest Impact group. Members in the women’s philanthropic group each contribute $1,000. Grants of $102,800 each will be awarded to five non-profit community service organizations.
Sandestin —
» Compass Rose Academy, a private school for students ages 3 to 12 opening this fall at The Market Shops, will have foreign languages, yoga and cooking in the curriculum but no letter grades. Student progress will be monitored by portfolios, updated weekly. The school will have an 8:1 student-teacher ratio and accommodate 75 students. Annual tuition: $8,200.
Santa Rosa County —
» County commissioners approved the purchase of 90 acres of undeveloped land in East Milton for $3.1 million from the E.H. Pullum Trust for future economic development.
Tallahassee —
» Florida State University has opened its 45,000-sq.-ft. Materials Research Building at its southwest campus. The $20-million building houses 13 laboratories for design and development of advanced materials and systems and will be home to FSU’s High-Performance Materials Institute, a leader in the development of “buckypaper,’’ an innovative, strong, lightweight composite material.
» The city is the first in the state to be recognized as a Gold Certified Green City by the Florida Green Building Coalition.
Valparaiso —
» City commissioners reacted negatively to the Air Force’s decision to establish Joint Strike Fighter training at Eglin Air Force base, voting to sue the Air Force a second time over the expected noise of F-35 flights. The Air Force move would also lock in a $250-million construction allocation.