Central Florida, Space Coast Business Briefs - Nov. 2008

KISSIMMEE — Construction is complete on the $15.6-million, eight-story Parkvue Condominiums and Offices at City Center in the city’s historic downtown.

MELBOURNE — Harris Corp. (NYSE-HRS) has replaced Lehman Brothers Holdings in the S&P 500 index.

ORLANDO — Lockheed Martin’s Orlando missiles unit has won a $122-million Army contract that’s expected to create as many as 200 high-tech jobs over two years. The program involves the next generation of air-to-ground combat missiles.

» After 19 years, Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney shut its nightclubs for good in September. Disney plans to put family-friendly restaurants and stores there. Disney has also finalized the sale of 298 acres to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, which is set to open a hotel overlooking the Osprey Ridge golf course by 2012.

» Brazil’s Tam Airlines begins flying to and from Orlando International Airport this month.

» The Burnham Institute has been selected for a six-year, $97.9-million grant from the National Institutes of Health to manage one of four small-molecule screening and discovery centers in the country. About $40 million will go to the Lake Nona facility that opens in early 2009.

» The University of Central Florida’s fall freshman class includes a record 63 National Merit Scholars. The school’s enrollment has topped 50,000 for the first time.

» Groundbreaking is set to begin this month on a new Jewish community center named for hotelier Harris Rosen’s parents, Jack and Lee Rosen. Rosen has pledged $3.5 million toward construction of the southwest Orlando center.

» UCF’s Anxiety Disorders Clinic is working with new virtual reality equipment to treat people who have debilitating fears, using head-mounted displays to simulate scenarios such as taking an airline flight or speaking before a large crowd.

» In a recent national survey on education, eSchool Solutions determined 7% to 14% of teachers are absent on any given day, which means students spend the equivalent of one full year of their K-12 education with a substitute teacher.

» The East Orlando Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors laid off its president, Annie Winterbottom, and director of operations, Sherry Melville, in September to reduce spending.

» Turkey Lake Partners has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a 260-unit condo/hotel project it was developing near SeaWorld under the name Sage Resorts.

» Frank Amodeo, founder of Mirabilis Ventures, pleaded guilty in federal court in September to failing to pay $172 million in taxes.

» A judge in New York threw out charges against Orlando-based Signature Compounding Pharmacy, which was accused of supplying illegal performance-enhancing drugs to athletes nationwide. The ruling criticized the prosecution’s work, saying mistakes had impaired the integrity of the grand jury proceedings.

SEMINOLE COUNTY — New Generation Biofuels Holdings, based in Lake Mary, has signed a lease in Baltimore for its first commercial biofuel manufacturing plant, where it will produce 25 million gallons a year starting in early 2009.

VOLUSIA COUNTY — Bray & Gillespie Management and its companies, which own 23 hotels from Daytona Beach to Ormond Beach, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September.

» Vintage Props & Jets in New Smyrna Beach filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in late August.

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