Quick riser: Saint Leo University's provost makes a quick leap to president

PLAYERS

• Kelly Cullen is Tampa General Hospital’s new executive vice president and COO. A former nurse, she came to the hospital from BayCare Health System.
• Kristen D. Adams was named interim dean of the Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport. A Stetson law professor, Adams was appointed after Christopher Pietruszkiewicz was named president of the University of Evansville in Indiana.

BUSINESS Briefs

BRADENTON

• Real estate development and management company FLF Holdings bought Carlton Arms, a 900-unit apartment community along the Manatee River, for $110.5 million. Built in 1980, the sprawling complex had been owned by the Mahaffey Apartment Co. for 38 years.

FORT MYERS

• Southwest International Airport will undergo a $160-million renovation and expansion. The work, scheduled to be finished by 2022, will include new security checkpoints and more space for concessions.
• The Fort Myers News-Press has sold its building in downtown Fort Myers for $4.75 million. The newspaper will remain there as a tenant.

LEE COUNTY

• According to an annual survey by the Lee County Homeless Coalition, homelessness is up nearly 70% in the county, from 431 in 2017 to 728 this year. Also, the number of homeless families with children increased 136%.

NAPLES

• Construction is underway on a 340-unit apartment complex called the Springs at Hammock Cove. The project includes 14 two-story buildings near the intersection of U.S. 41 and Thomasson Drive. Leaders of the Marco Island Area Association of Realtors and the Naples Area Board of Realtors have suggested merging the two groups.

PINELLAS PARK

• Lockheed Martin has opened a plant in Pinellas Park, where it plans to add 80 jobs by the middle of 2019. Employees there will produce parts for the F-35 stealth aircraft.

POLK COUNTY

• County commissioners are considering making changes to rules that prohibit Sunday morning alcohol sales. Bartow- based Florida Citrus Mutual says Florida citrus growers are eligible for more than $340 million in relief from the federal government because of damages caused by Hurricane Irma.

SARASOTA

• Because mullet is in high demand for its roe, but not for its flesh, scientists at Mote Marine Laboratory are studying how to process the mullet meat into feed used by saltwater fish farms.

SEMINOLE

• The Superior Uniform Group has rebranded itself as the Superior Group of Companies. Apart from providing uniforms, the public company also makes promotional products and operates call centers. Meanwhile, Superior announced that it’s spending $88.4 million to buy CID Resources, a Texasbased maker of medical uniforms.

ST. PETERSBURG

• The city has invited developers to submit plans to lease and operate the city-owned Tangerine Plaza, a strip mall in the city’s Midtown neighborhood. The plaza has been without an anchor tenant since a Walmart Neighborhood Market moved out last year.

TAMPA

• Strategic Property Partners announced plans for the Tampa Edition, a 173-room, 26-story hotel. The hotel would be at the center of the SPP’s Water Street Tampa neighborhood. Philanthropist Kiran Patel was among a group that invested $16 million in Morphogenesis, an immunotherapy company.

TAMPA BAY

• The University of South Florida won a $1-million grant from the Wipro Limited Education Fellowship to offer professional development and mentoring to the region’s K-12 science teachers.

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Tags: Southwest