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Central Florida Business Briefs - July 2007
DELAND —
» Stetson University has two major construction projects in the works: A $7.7-million expansion of the Sage Hall Science Center with groundbreaking this summer and a 2009 opening date, and a new Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center that will house a collection of paintings by modernist Oscar Bluemner and visiting exhibits. Also at Stetson, students in the Roland George Investments Program took a top honor for the seventh straight year during an annual Redefining Investment Strategy Education Symposium at the University of Dayton in Ohio.
MELBOURNE —
» The Department of Defense awarded Harris Corp. (NYSE-HRS) a contract with a minimum value of $422 million to supply Falcon high-frequency multiband radio systems to the Army over the next five years.
» The city has approved the first high-density housing and retail project planned for the downtown historic district. The 10-story Lofts at Waverly will include
63 condominiums, with retail space on the ground floor. Also in the works downtown: A new $8.5-million City Hall, a 450-space garage and proposed development of a name-brand hotel.
ORLANDO —
» Construction is set to begin next year on a 221-room hotel on east Central Boulevard that will include a restaurant facing Lake Eola. The building includes a parking garage that lifts cars into place with an elevator, similar to the one in the planned Luxparque condominiums downtown.
» South Florida-based Sky Development has received site plan approval for Skycity Orlando, a $300-million project on Livingston Street near the Orange County Courthouse that will include a 25-story tower with Class A office space and a 35-story tower with 120 luxury condominiums and a 350-room hotel. Construction is set to start in 2009.
» Walt Disney World has donated $12.5 million to the planned Dr. P. Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center, which is raising private money to supplement public funding. The facility is one of three downtown public venues under debate and seeking approval from Orlando and Orange County governments.
» Disney President Meg Crofton also recently unveiled $1 million in renovations to the Walt Disney Amphitheater at Lake Eola Park and $700,000 in grants to 38 local non-profits.
» The University of Central Florida has dedicated a new Center of Excellence in advanced laser technology, named Townes Laser Institute after inventor Charles Townes, who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1964.
ORMOND BEACH —
» Gainesville-
based Emmer Development
Corp. has broken ground on Verona, a community of single-family
homes, on State Road A1A just
north of Capriana, the company’s
34-unit luxury oceanfront condominiums.
WINTER GARDEN —
» Oakland Park, a new community on the south shore of Lake Apopka that will contain 750 homes, has been designated one of seven green developments statewide by the Florida Green Building Coalition. Four home builders have agreed each residence will meet standards for being environmentally friendly.
