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Wyndham plants new flag
Wyndham Worldwide Corp. announced April 22 it will put its brand on the 272-room Quorum Hotel-Tampa, at Westshore and Kennedy boulevards. The hotel will be renamed Wyndham Tampa Westshore in late May.
“This is a wonderful, established property that serves as a further testament to the strength of the Wyndham brand and its growing momentum among owners and developers,” said Jeff Wagoner, president of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts in Parsippany, N.J.
S&D merger approved
The U.S. Department of Justice cleared the way for Tampa-based Switch & Data Facilities Co. Inc. to merge with Equinix Inc. of Foster City, Calif. A federal antitrust investigation into the proposed acquisition was closed April 23.
The merger was to be completed by April 30. Equinix, a global data center services provider, announced last October it would buy Switch & Data, a leading provider of network-neutral data center and Internet exchange services. Switch & Data shareholders approved the deal in February.
WellCare director resigns
Regina Herzlinger, a Harvard University business school professor, resigned April 21 from the board of directors of Tampa-based WellCare Health Plans Inc. Herzlinger, who was not re-elected to the board at the company's annual meeting, has served on WellCare's board since 2003 and chaired its audit committee.
Herzlinger called the company's accounting methods into question and cited overbilling of state Medicare programs, which led WellCare's nominating committee not to recommend her for another board term. WellCare stated in an SEC filing that it objected to Herzlinger's “mischaracterization of facts.”
Jackson close to subsidy
State legislative leaders have agreed to set aside a $130 million taxpayer subsidy to attract Maine-based Jackson Laboratory to Collier County, according to state Rep. Tom Grady, R-Naples.
Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit biomedical research group, initially plans to hire 400 people in a new facility to be located off Oil Well Road in eastern Collier County. Barron Collier Cos. plans to donate 50 acres to the lab and build a research park around it.
Barron Collier is developing the nearby town of Ave Maria in partnership with Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan. Grady says the lab could eventually hire as many as 7,000 people, giving a boost to the agricultural area.
Magazines acquired
Naples-based Gulfshore Media has acquired several lifestyle magazines from Curtco Publishing. Terms were not disclosed.
Gulfshore Media's Dan Denton re-acquired the glossy magazines he sold to California-based Curtco in 2004. They include Gulfshore Life, Sarasota Magazine, Gulfshore Business, Biz941 as well as custom publications.
Gulfshore Media also operates Florida Home Media, a company Denton formed to publish Homebuyer magazines and related products in Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville.
County investigates contracts
Sarasota County Administrator Jim Ley has asked Clerk of the Circuit Court Karen Rushing to conduct an internal audit into how the county awarded contracts to work on the spring training stadium for the Baltimore Orioles.
Ley also reassigned a manager in the community services department for his alleged role in potential favoritism in the bid process.
The county is already being sued for allegations that include negotiating the deal with the Orioles outside of Florida open record laws and bid rigging. The groups suing the county are the Sarasota Citizens for Responsible Government and Citizens for Sunshine.
In an e-mail to county commissioners, Ley wrote: “While the matters raised require a fair evaluation, if what I have seen in bits and pieces is true, then I am very disappointed and sad that the judgment or actions of one might cast a patina of doubt on the entire endeavor.”
Local market improves
Condo sales in the Sarasota-Bradenton market rose nearly 70% in March on an annualized basis. The median price per sale also forged a double-digit percentage point increase.
The condo sales in the market were up 69% year-over-year for March, from 226 sales in 2009 to 382 this year, according to data from Florida Realtors, the organization formerly known as the Florida Association of Realtors. The median sales price was $146,400, up 13% from March 2009 and 3.4% from February 2010.
Single-family home sales saw an increase, too. There were 1,055 homes sold in the Sarasota-Bradenton market in March, up 38% over March 2009. The median price rose 9%, to $163,800.
Company expands space
Sarasota-based Osprey Biotechnics, a biotechnology-manufacturing firm that produces private label lines of laboratory-made bacteria, is doubling its local office and research space.
Osprey Biotechnics' products are used mostly for wastewater treatment, but it recently expanded to some new lines, including fungi that can control weeds and pests. Its products are sold nationwide and in Europe.
The company operates a 20,000-square-foot facility near the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
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