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Central Florida Business Briefs - Feb. 2008
DAYTONA BEACH —
» US Airways returns to Daytona Beach International Airport this month with non-stop round-trip service to Charlotte, N.C. The county wooed the airline with about $1 million in incentives.
» Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Zero Gravity Corp. are collaborating on a program to integrate weightless flights and educational programs for students, teachers and researchers.
MELBOURNE —
» Aviation electronics company Rockwell Collins is adding 250 jobs with an average annual wage of $60,000.
ORANGE COUNTY —
» The county has approved a $7.3-million plan to install solar panels on the roof of the Orange County Convention Center to generate energy to operate the facility.
ORLANDO —
» Orlando International Airport saw a 4.3% increase in traffic in fiscal 2006-07, with a total of 35.8 million passengers.
» San Francisco-based URS Corp. is spearheading a project to design, build and install new explosive-detection machines for handling baggage at the airport.
» Disney’s Buena Vista Land Co. is offering to sell land to companies that want to develop value-oriented tourist lodging, dining and retail businesses at the resort’s western gate in a development to be called Flamingo Crossings.
» Universal Parks & Resorts is building a $3.1-billion theme park near Seoul, South Korea. It’s expected to open in 2012.
» Orlando has agreed to pay $28.35 million to First United Methodist Church of Orlando for a key parcel of land for the new Dr. P. Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center downtown.
» Darden Restaurants (NYSE-DRI) has sold its 72-unit Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill chain for about $80 million to Sun Capital Partners, which owns Boston Market, Sweet Tomatoes and Friendly’s.
VOLUSIA COUNTY —
» Intellitec Products has broken ground for a manufacturing facility at DeLand Crossings Industrial Park near Interstate 4.
WINTER PARK —
» Rollins College invested $1.5 million in 2007 to preserve historic architecture, including three landmarks: Pinehurst Cottage, constructed in 1886, the only remaining original structure on campus; the Knowles Memorial Chapel; and the Annie Russell Theatre.
