PHILANTHROPY
- Hugh Culverhouse Jr., the son of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ founding owner, will get back a $26-million pledge he made to the University of Alabama. Culverhouse, 70, had criticized that state for banning nearly all abortions and called on students to boycott the university. The Alabama law, with no exceptions made for rape and incest, bans abortion except if there is a serious health risk to the mother. University of Alabama trustees also voted to remove Culverhouse’s name from what had been the Culverhouse School of Law (photo right).
HEATH CARE
- Moffitt Cancer Center and AdventHealth will jointly open an outpatient cancer center (annex on right in photo) on the campus of AdventHealth Wesley Chapel. It’s scheduled to open fall 2020.
- Tampa General Hospital and Fast Track Urgent Care have teamed up to open 10 urgent care clinics in Tampa Bay, including two in Pinellas County.
- The Lakewood Ranch Medical Center has completed a $28.5-million expansion.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
- Polk County, home to a 1-million-sq.-ft. Amazon fulfillment center, will now get a 285,000-sq.- ft. air cargo complex that Amazon is building at Lakeland Linder International Airport. The cargo center will create 1,000 jobs, Lakeland officials say, and will cost $100 million to build.
- Benderson Development, the builder of the University Town Center mall near the border of Manatee and Sarasota counties, plans to add office space, hotels, restaurants, apartments and entertainment venues at the mall. Construction could start next year.
EDUCATION
- The University of South Florida St. Petersburg has started construction on a $30-million, 375- bed residence and dining hall.
GOVERNMENT
- The Collier County School Board approved paying $5 million to Zyscovich Architects of Miami to design and oversee construction of a new high school in North Naples.
- Venice’s landmark, 600-foot fishing pier is closed this summer while it undergoes more than $738,000 in repairs. The pier, which should open by this fall, sustained damage during Hurricane Irma in 2017.
- Newly elected Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has created five advisory teams to help her develop strategies to address city challenges, including transportation, workforce development, affordable housing, construction services and sustainability/resiliency.
TECHNOLOGY
- Publix Super Markets, with 800 stores in Florida, plus more than 400 in other states, plans to implement a new mobile pay system using a Publix app. The change will happen in stages, first for shoppers using Apple devices and then Android users.
- The city of Bradenton is working on an app that will allow utility customers to use their phones to pay utility bills and ask questions of city staff.
MANUFACTURING
- Hine Automation in St. Petersburg has nearly doubled its manufacturing space to 12,445 square feet, its fourth expansion since 2009. The company makes automation systems and robotic components for the semiconductor, solar and flat-panel display industries.
- Tampa’s Brew Bus Brewing will open a microbrewery, beer garden and restaurant in Pasco County’s Wesley Chapel community, creating 46 jobs.
REAL ESTATE
- The Ascentia Development Group of Sarasota and Batson-Cook Development of Atlanta announced plans for Arris, a 34-story, 80-unit condominium on a site near the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa. Construction is to start in 2020.
- Tampa’s City Council has asked for more information about human remains found by construction workers building parts of the $3-billion, mixed-use Water Street development downtown. Some of the remains appear to date to the 1800s.
- A 5,330-sq.-ft. apartment in St. Petersburg’s Ovation condominium tower has sold for $6.85 million, making it the second-most-expensive condo sold in Tampa Bay. A company called Amor Fati was the buyer. Tampa Bay’s most expensive condo, which sold for $6.9 million in 2016, is also located in Ovation.
- Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas and West Pasco is developing a 75-home affordable housing community in Pinellas Park.
- Leasing is underway at St. Petersburg’s ICON Central, a 368-unit apartment complex developed by Miami’s Related Group. The complex, which occupies an entire block, cost $118 million to build and incorporated in its design part of the 100-year-old bank building it replaced.
RETAIL
- Pasco County’s Trinity community is getting a Sprouts Farmers Market. The grocery store chain, which specializes in organic products and has more than 300 locations nationwide, plans to hire 150.
TOURISM
- The Philadelphia Phillies, which has held spring training in Clearwater since 1947, wants $79.7 million worth of upgrades at its city-owned Spectrum Field and its adjacent Carpenter Complex training facilities. The stadium is also home to the Clearwater Threshers Florida State League team.
- Three African lion cubs have been born at the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, the first time that lion cubs have been born at zoo in more than 30 years.
TRANSPORTATION
- United Airlines is starting construction on a $33-million maintenance hangar at Tampa International Airport. The airline plans to hire 40 aircraft maintenance technicians when construction is completed next spring.
Read more in Florida Trend's August issue.
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