SHARE:
Southwest Florida
Job gains in Tampa Bay
BUSINESS BRIEFS
CLEARWATER — Electronics distributor Tech Data plans to build a 45,000-sq.-fit. building adjacent to its current headquarters. The company employs 1,700 at its Pinellas County campus.
FORT MYERS — 734 Agriculture, a New Yorkbased investment firm, is spending $138 million to purchase a majority ownership of Alico, which owns 130,400 acres in Lee, Collier, Polk, Glades, Hendry and Alachua counties. The transaction means Alico CEO J.D. Alexander will be replaced by Clay G. Wilson. >> White House Black Market, a clothing chain owned by Chico’s FAS, expanded into Canada, opening a boutique in Toronto. >> Florida Gulf Coast University’s Small Business Development Center added three business consultants to its staff.
LAKELAND — Publix Super Markets is selling Pix, the supermarket chain’s foray into convenience stores. Publix, which started testing the convenience store concept in 2001, will sell 13 of the 14 Pix stores to Circle K. The remaining store, located in Tennessee, is being sold to Max Arnold & Sons.
PASCO COUNTY — The county has started work on a 500-million gallon reclaimed water reservoir east of Interstate 75. The cost of the project, scheduled to be completed next year, is estimated at $36 million. The small town of Aripeka, located on the Hernando county line, will get its post office back just two months after the U.S. Postal Service closed the facility.
PLANT CITY — Canadabased Walton International Group has purchased 1,000 acres northeast of the city for $18.1 million. The company plans to develop a residential project on the site, which is already approved for up to 2,500 single-family homes. >> Dart Container, which makes foam cups, announced plans to build a $14-million 400,000-sq.-fit. warehouse in Plant City, where the company already employs 230 at a 480,000-sq.-fit. manufacturing facility.
ST. PETERSBURG — HSN cut 59 jobs as part of a restructuring. >> Rudy ciccarello, founder of Florida Infusion Services, plans to build a museum downtown where he would house his collection of arts and crafts furniture, pottery, ceramic tiles, metalwork, woodblocks, art, lighting, textiles and stained glass. He estimates the 90,000-sq.- ft. Museum will cost at least $35 million to build.
The Blue Ocean Film Festival announced it will relocate from California to St. Petersburg. The environmental documentary film event typically attracts 20,000 people. This year’s festival will be in November at the Muvico theater complex downtown.
TAMPA — The Port of Tampa has opened its $55-million petroleum terminal, where ships will unload fuel, oil and anhydrous ammonia. The Element, a 35-story apartment tower downtown, has sold for $98 million.
TAMPA BAY — Phosphate company Mosaic is expanding its Florida operations. It is spending $1.4 billion to purchase CF Industries’ phosphate business, which includes a Hardee County mine, a phosphate complex in Plant City and ammonia and phosphate facilities at the Port of Tampa.
WESLEY CHAPEL — Pasco- Hernando Community College has opened its 60-acre Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, featuring 10 classrooms, four computer labs, four science labs, eight health labs and a library.
Players
Humana appointed John Barger regional market president for the company’s central Florida Medicare market. Barger has worked for Humana for 17 years in a variety of management roles. >> Adria D. Starkey is FineMark National Bank & Trust’s new Collier County president. She had been COO of the Sanibel Captiva Trust Co. >> Mark Miller has been named COO at Largo Medical Center. He was previously COO at Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg and has also been an administrative fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
