In the News

BELLEAIR -- Three local developers -- First Dartmouth Homes, Sun Vista Development Group and DeBartolo Development -- have announced plans to buy and demolish the 107-year-old landmark Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa and replace it with townhomes or condominiums.

ST. PETERSBURG -- The City Council approved a plan by Progress Energy and Kessler Enterprise to redevelop a downtown block that is currently home to the Florida International Museum. The $100-million project includes plans for 200,000 square feet of office space -- including the new headquarters of Progress Energy -- a 250-room Westin Grand Bohemian Hotel, 50 to 80 residential units and a 500-space parking garage.

TAMPA -- The St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa was ranked sixth in the nation and ninth in the world among indoor concert venues based on ticket sales for the first three quarters of 2004, according to the industry magazine Pollstar.

Nanopharma Technologies, a USF spinoff, received two grants totaling nearly $200,000 from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health to develop anti-anthrax antibiotics and drug-delivery methods.

Tampa Bay Water executives have agreed to spend another $29 million on its troubled desalination plant in Apollo Beach. The executives signed a contract with American Water/Pridesa to fix the plant after two former companies both filed for bankruptcy. The plant is now expected to be operational by 2007, four years after its projected startup date, and will cost $140 million, $30 million more than projected.