SHARE:
Central Florida, Space Coast Business Briefs - Dec. 2008
Cape Canaveral —
» VIPs including Gov. Charlie Crist helped dedicate Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which the Air Force will lease to Space Florida, opening the way for commercial launches.
DeLand —
» Shea Homes is including a 3-kilowatt solar power system in all new homes it sells in its DeLand active adult community Victoria Gardens, teaming with BP Solar to offer solar panels at no additional cost to reduce electric bills by up to 60% per home.
Melbourne —
» The Florida Technological Research and Development Authority Business Innovation Center, launched in May 2007 in Melbourne, has added two medical device companies and a software services firm to its business incubator: Abilities MedTech, NexGen and Eikona Systems.
Orlando —
» Philanthropist Lori Gardner Sommer of Orlando has donated $500,000 toward the expansion of Orlando Regional Medical Center’s emergency department and level one trauma center.
» Pest control and landscaping company Massey Services has moved into its new headquarters north of downtown adjacent to its former building on Clay Avenue. The company employs 135 at its headquarters and more than 770 in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana.
» Two central Florida shopping complexes owned by Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group are growing. Florida Mall, the area’s largest indoor mall, is adding 11 stores by the holidays. Orlando Premium Outlets has opened 40 stores.
» Metropolitan Collections, a high-tech company that preserves and archives photographs and is based at the University of Central Florida downtown Orlando incubator, has won a three-year contract potentially worth more than $1 million from the U.S. Golf Association.
» Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios theme park will open an American Idol attraction in January. Based on the popular TV show, it will allow park visitors to audition and then compete onstage.
Winter Park —
» Investment group Winter Park Angels, which provides funding to early-stage enterprises, has backed its first company, PlusOne Solutions of Oviedo, a supply chain business process provider.
» The proposed Emergent National Bank has received preliminary approval from the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency. Chairman Geof Longstaff and President Shannon Marks plan to open the bank in the first quarter of 2009 and share the office with Mercantile Commercial Capital, which specializes in Small Business Administration 504 loans and will be acquired by Emergent.
» The police department has added a feature called crime mapping to its website, wppd.org, where residents can read detailed descriptions of criminal activity reported in their neighborhoods.
Winter Springs —
» U.S. Bank, the third-largest Small Business Administration lender in the country, has opened its first office in Florida. It is operated by Michael Hershaft, vice president and business development officer, who formerly held a similar position with Banco Popular North America.
