BRANDON -- Prudential Tropical Realty recently expanded its Brandon/Valrico office to accommodate 50 employees and a training facility.

CLEARWATER -- Market Street Mortgage has launched a national builder division in Atlanta to offer mortgage programs to new construction builders in more than 40 states...

>> First American Title Insurance Co. of Clearwater has acquired Trans-Continental Title Co., a California-based provider of title and settlement services in 38 states.

FORT MYERS -- Cooner & Associates, a surveying and mapping firm, opened a new headquarters.

POLK COUNTY -- Roofing material company Polyglass USA will build a $10-million to $15-million plant in Winter Haven, expected to bring up to 80 jobs and to be operating by early 2007.

SARASOTA -- Business brokerage firms Murphy-Sunbelt Business Advisors and Capital Business Services have merged and opened an office in Sunrise Plaza in Sarasota...

>> The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art has completed the first phase of a $76-million, seven-year expansion of a new Visitors Pavilion and Tibbals Learning Center, which contains the largest miniature circus in the world.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Partnering with Sembler Co. and developer Jimmy Aviram, JMC Communities is planning to build a 26-story luxury condo along Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg. Units in Ovation will start at $1.6 million...

>> Progress Energy Florida has installed a five-kilowatt hydrogen fuel cell in Palm Garden of Largo to provide backup power for hallway and safety lighting in the event a hurricane or other emergency interrupts power at the skilled-nursing facility...

>> First Advantage Corp. has purchased Indiana-based TruStar Solutions, which assists companies with internet recruiting strategies...

>> The Home Shopping Network will expand its headquarters by adding a 65,000-sq.-ft. warehouse and three office buildings...

>> Scientists at the University of South Florida St.Petersburg received a $727,000 grant from the National Center for Environmental Research of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish the Center for Science and Policy Applications for the Coastal Environment, which will focus on water quality and supply in coastal Florida...

>> The Trust for Public Land has purchased a two-mile stretch of rail corridor from CSX that will extend the 34-mile Pinellas Trail into downtown St. Petersburg.

TAMPA -- Sam Seltzer's Steakhouse received $11 million from Boston-based private equity fund Capital Resource Partners. The restaurant chain plans to add 20 restaurants in Florida over the next five years...

>> The Metro Development Group purchased 600 acres in south Hillsborough County, extending from Highway 301 and 19th Street west to I-75, for a 2,200-home development called Cypress Creek...

>> The Tampa Port Authority has granted U.S. EnviroFuels a lease option to build a $75-million ethanol distillery at the Port of Tampa that would produce 40 million gallons of ethanol annually.