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In The News
Northeast Florida Business Briefs - Aug. 2005
ALACHUA COUNTY -- Officials are considering imposing a fee on residents of unincorporated areas
to pay for an estimated $9 million needed to improve stormwater management.
CLAY COUNTY -- County engineer Chuck Iley was appointed director of the scandal-plagued Public Works Department.
GAINESVILLE -- University of Florida trustees approved a series of tuition increases that will raise rates for in-state graduate students by 15% to 19%.
Fusion Capital Fund II, a Chicago institutional investor, is investing $9 million in University of Florida biotech startup Oragenics, whose leading product is an oral rinse designed to prevent tooth decay. Another UF startup, software company Clinipace, landed an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Gainesville's Emergent Growth Fund.
HAWTHORNE -- Newcomer Terry Knowles and former Commissioner Billy Carlton defeated longtime Commissioners Betty Surrency and Eddie Lee Martin. Knowles beat Surrency by one vote after he captured the lone absentee ballot. JACKSONVILLE -- Winn-Dixie Stores (OTC-WNDXQ.PK) will lay off 22,000 of its 78,000 employees, including 400 of the 1,400 employed at its Jacksonville headquarters. The company also plans to close 326 of its 913 stores as it attempts to reorganize under bankruptcy laws.
Rev. Michael Payne Sr., the first head of Mayor John Peyton's Office of Faith and Community Based Partnerships, resigned following conflicts with administration officials. The 9-month-old agency uses its $1.1-million budget to help religious organizations provide social services and secure government grants.
John McAllister, chairman of the College of Business at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, is the new dean of UNF's Coggin College of Business.
Amusement ride designer Sally Corp. opened "La Aventura de Scooby-Doo" at an amusement park in Madrid, Spain. The 6,000-sq.-ft. ride is Sally's seventh based on the Warner Bros. cartoon and the first to feature Spanish-speaking characters.
Florida Atlantic Investments of West Palm Beach purchased the 240-unit St. Johns Estates apartment complex from Kernan Associates for $24.5 million. Florida Atlantic also owns the 253-unit Grand Cay Villas in Ponte Vedra Beach and the 320-unit Timberland Parc on the city's Southside.
A study by the non-profit think tank JCCI offered the following racial breakdown of city CEOs: 91.6% white, 3.6% black, 1.5% Hispanic, 1.2% Asian and 2.1% from other races.
A New York-based investment firm bought CRT Properties -- formerly Koger Equity -- for $1.7 billion. DRA Advisors acquired a portfolio that includes 137 office buildings with 11.7 million square feet of space in 12 Southeastern cities.
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS -- St. John's River Water Management District and DuPont have agreed on a project that will divert 500,000 gallons of treated water into area lakes. Over the last decade, drought and increased development have lowered the level of lakes in the Upper Etonia Creek Basin.
MARINELAND -- Once the state's most popular tourist attraction, Marineland will reopen this summer with an expanded dolphin exhibit. Visitors will be able to interact with dolphins in a new 1.3-million-gallon "habitat."
NASSAU COUNTY -- County commissioners approved a 5-cent-per-gallon county gasoline tax, with money earmarked for road improvements.
NEPTUNE BEACH -- The 11th U.S. District Court of Appeals ruled a walk-in medical clinic may display a flashing sign that city officials claim violates a local ordinance. If the ruling is upheld on appeal, officials fear the entire sign code (as well as those of other Florida cities) could be invalidated.
ST. AUGUSTINE -- Orthopaedic Associates of St. Augustine announced plans for a $4-million, 9,000-sq.-ft. surgery center. The project will create 20 jobs, including a number of nursing positions.
Flagler Development Co., the real estate subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries, is building a 160,000-sq.-ft. warehouse at its 980-acre Flagler Station corporate park in Miami.
ST. JOHNS COUNTY -- Former Clay County Sheriff Scott Lancaster, who lost a re-election race last November following allegations of financial improprieties, is the new head of the Criminal Justice Training Academy of St. Johns River Community College.
LandMar Group bought the last 1,000 acres of developable land at World Golf Village. The Jacksonville-based development company paid $62.5 million for the parcel, where it plans to build a 2,200-home residential community.
