Southwest Florida & Tampa Bay Business Briefs - June 2008

Bradenton

Neostyle, an eyeglass frame maker and designer, has opened a distribution headquarters downtown. Nancy Engel, executive director of Manatee County’s Economic Development Council, says the firm anticipates employing 25 there within two years.

Brooksville

Precision Alliance Co. has told Hernando County officials that it hopes to attract a cluster of high-tech machine tool companies to the county. Precision executives say the plan would help create 4,000 high-paying jobs.

Cape Coral

The Resort at Marina Village, a 19-story condo/hotel project under construction at Tarpon Point Marina, is on schedule to open next year. The resort will be managed by Fort Myers Beach-based SunStream Management.

Fort Myers

Frontier Airlines will cease service at Southwest Florida International Airport for the summer. The airline had been providing eight flights a week between Fort Myers and Denver.

Lee County

A $3.2-million dredging project at Blind Pass has been approved, state Sen. Mike Bennett says. The work, which is expected to start in August and end in February, includes dredging Blind Pass between Captiva and Sanibel islands.

Longboat Key

Loeb Partners Realty, which owns the Longboat Key Club, plans to invest $500-million in the property. Improvements would include a 222-room hotel, condominiums, additional meeting space and a refurbished golf course.

Naples

» Paul J. Marinelli, president and CEO of the Barron Collier Cos. since 1997, died April 10, while undergoing medical testing in New York. He was 52 and is survived by his wife and three children. He played a role in many developments, including Ave Maria, La Playa Beach & Golf Resort, Grey Oaks, The Mercato and the Promenade at Bonita Bay.

»Collier Enterprises has installed a 24-foot lighthouse on Naples Bay at the Hamilton Harbor Yacht Club.

Pinellas County

Clayton Wilcox, Pinellas County’s school superintendent since 2004, is stepping down to become a vice president at textbook publisher Scholastic Corp. His contract as superintendent wasn’t due to expire until 2011. The school board has appointed Deputy Superintendent Julie M. Janssen interim superintendent.

Sarasota

The Cincinnati Reds have ended their 10-year spring training affiliation with Sarasota and Ed Smith Stadium. The team will train instead in Goodyear, Ariz., which spent $33 million to lure the Reds away.

St. Petersburg

» Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA is buying Danka Office Imaging for $240-million. Danka’s headquarters will remain in St. Petersburg, where it employs 300.

»Residents living near the Raytheon plant in the Azalea neighborhood have filed two class-action suits, claiming the company has polluted groundwater with toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride. Raytheon, an electronics and communications firm, purchased the site from E-Systems in 1995.

»Graham-Rogall, the city’s largest public housing complex, has been sold to condominium developer KEGB for $12-million.

Tampa

» Lear Corp., an auto parts maker with factories worldwide, has eliminated 100 jobs at its Tampa plant.

»Florida Communications Group, a Media General subsidiary, has offered buyouts to about half of its 1,326 employees at its properties, including the Tampa Tribune, Hernando Today, WFLA-Channel 8 and TBO.com. Also, Media General shareholders elected three new directors who were nominated by Harbinger Capital Partners, a hedge fund pushing Media General to sell the Tampa Tribune and WFLA-Channel 8.

»Tampa’s Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is installing more than 3,000 Las Vegas-style slot machines, the first Vegas-style slot machines to be installed in the state outside of south Florida.

»Army Gen. David Petraeus will lead the U.S. Central Command, based in Tampa.

See “Up for Grabs” for the hot congressional race in this district. And go online for hot state Senate and House races.

Tags: Southwest