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Southwest Florida Business Briefs - June 2007
BONITA SPRINGS --
» Dennis Gilkey, former president and CEO of the Bonita Bay Group, launched a land advisory, investment and real estate development business called the Gilkey Organization.
BRADENTON --
» The city will sell developer Pat Neal 64 acres adjacent to the municipal reservoir for $3.2 million.
CLEARWATER --
» The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded Clearwater $1.2 million to help build boat slips downtown.
» Taylor Woodrow abandoned its plans to build a condo/hotel at the site of the old Adam's Mark resort. The company is working with city officials to come up with an alternate idea for the site.
FORT MYERS --
» NeoMedia Technologies will use technology developed by Virginia-based Javien Digital Payment Solutions, a payment-processing vendor for digital music sites, to connect mobile phone users to the internet through bar codes.
NAPLES --
» Mediterra, a gated community in Bonita Bay, is testing an "evapotranspiration" system on eight homes. The high-tech watering system fine-tunes irrigation schedules, combining data from weather satellites with specific plants' needs to reduce water consumption.
PINELLAS COUNTY --
» Student Loan Solutions, an educational loan company headquartered in Salem, N.H., has expanded into Florida with an office in Palm Harbor. The move created 50 jobs.
POLK COUNTY --
» Clear Springs Distribution has refurbished the old Florida Natural Growers plant along Spirit Lake Road in Bartow. The 100,000-sq.-ft. fruit packing facility will operate year-round for growers in the region.
SARASOTA --
» Chicago developer Jack Buck and Leiter Group of Peoria, Ill., will build a $100-million project including a hotel, condos, retail space and a parking garage along North Palm Avenue in Sarasota.
» Arthur Guilford was named vice president and CEO of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee.
» A House of Representatives task force has ordered the Government Accountability Office to investigate the cause of the nearly 18,000 "undervotes" in Florida's 13th congressional district race, which Republican Vern Buchanan won by 369 votes. Democrat Christine Jennings contends that a glitch in the voting system caused the undervote.
ST. PETERSBURG --
» SecurityPoint Media has partnered with JCDecaux North America to market its Secure Tray system. Already in use in at least three airports, including Los Angeles International Airport, the Secure Tray system features advertising on the bins where passengers place their personal belongings for X-ray screening at airport security checkpoints.
» With backing from America Online co-founder Steve Case, GratisCard has launched a new payment transaction system similar to credit cards. The GratisCard is not imprinted with a name but requires personal identification numbers and charges lower fees to merchants than traditional credit cards.
» The University of South Florida St. Petersburg named D. Kent Kelso regional vice chancellor for student affairs.
TAMPA --
» The Tampa Tribune is laying off 70 employees. The paper will also reduce the size of its broadsheet by half an inch and halt distribution to Citrus, Manatee and Hardee counties.
» Xerox is acquiring Tampa-based Global Imaging, a seller and distributor of office copiers, printers and other technology products, for $1.5 billion, or $29 a share.
» Ablest, a publicly held Tampa-based staffing firm, is being acquired by Koosharem Corp., a California-based company, for $32.5 million.
» Enterprise Florida awarded the Tampa Bay Partnership $113,000 to fund a medical device-focused mission to Scotland, an export development mission to China and other international economic development activities.
» Sirion Therapeutics, an ophthalmic-focused pharmaceutical company, received $45 million in private equity financing.
» Ram Realty Services and Pinnacle Realty Advisors are planning a retail, residential and office complex on 23 acres in Temple Terrace.
» Syndicated radio talk show host Michael LeBron, a former Tampa lawyer who goes by the name "Lionel," has been picked up by liberal radio network Air America Radio.
» Tampa-based Syniverse Technologies, which provides technology services to wireless telecommunications companies, has acquired Billing Services Group for $290 million. Billing Services provides clearing and financial settlement solutions for communications service providers.
» Bern's Steak House owner David Laxer unveiled plans to build a 75-room condo/hotel across from his restaurant. The project will also feature an 18,000-sq.-ft. restaurant.
