- December 15, 2025
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Rays maintain prices
The Tampa Bay Rays plan to keep ticket prices the same or less for 62% of the seats at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg for the 2011 baseball season.
Prices for upper-deck tickets will be $9 for 30 of the Rays' 81 home games, with more than a million tickets priced at $25 or less. Team executives say the move reflects their commitment to keep games affordable and accessible to fans and families.
Overall, ticket prices will reach as high as $300 for select weekend games in the Home Plate Club. Meanwhile, the Rays will extend its free-parking offer to carpoolers for a sixth year, while others will pay $15 to $20 per vehicle in various stadium lots.
Biltmore for seniors?
A Tampa-based group is exploring the feasibility of converting the historic Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa in Belleair into a senior health care facility.
Senior Care Group said it would look into the possibility over the next few weeks after talking with town leaders. But the plan drew immediate opposition from local preservationists who question whether that is the best use of the 114-year-old hotel.
The Biltmore, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, faced demolition five years ago until Belleair adopted a preservation ordinance. A planned $100 million makeover has been stalled for more than a year.
Busch hikes admission
Busch Gardens raised its admission by $3 last week in the midst of adding attractions to the Tampa theme park. Prices including tax are now $83.45 for adults and children 10 and older, and $72.75 for youngsters ages 3 through 9.
The park is also offering a Fun Card that will allow buyers to enter as many times as they like next year for the same price as a one-day ticket. The price hike follows those at Orlando's top theme parks this past summer.
A new Cheetah Hunt rollercoaster is being added to Busch Gardens next year. The park previously introduced its “Sesame Street Safari of Fun” featuring characters from the long-running children's TV series.
School announces expansion
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine plans to build a dental school next to its campus in east Manatee County.
School officials hope the $35 million project will be completed by 2012. LECOM also announced plans to build a dental school at its Erie, Pa. campus.
The dental college's curriculum will be similar to the one used by the medical school. It will utilize a community-based clinical plan that allows students to provide dental care in small settings.
The four-year dental school will hold 400 students, according to LECOM officials. The building will be built on land LECOM owns next to its medical school.
City lists property
Sarasota city commissioners will attempt to sell 11,000 square feet of retail space being built as part of a downtown city-owned parking garage.
Commissioners initially considered leasing the space and then discussed selling it in chunks. The commission recently decided it would seek potential buyers, however it plans to only consider those who will buy all 11,000 square feet.
City officials say they decided to sell the property rather than lease it because the market for leasing downtown is so soft. The garage, on Palm Avenue, just north of Main Street, should be completed by December.
New flights launch
A pair of nonstop flights, one to Boston and one to Milwaukee, was added to the list of cities served by airlines from the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
The Boston flight is on JetBlue, while AirTran provides the Milwaukee service. The flights, in deals with the airlines announced earlier this year, began Nov. 18.
AirTran hopes to grow its presence further at the airport. The airline recently requested permission from federal transportation officials to fly a nonstop flight to Washington Regan International Airport.
Chico's posts gains
Fort Myers-based women's retailer Chico's FAS reported earnings rose 27% in the third quarter compared to the same quarter in 2009.
Chico's reported third-quarter net income of $28.8 million on sales of $483 million. Sales rose 8.1% compared with the same quarter a year ago. Sales at stores open for at least one year rose 3.1% in the third quarter compared with a 12.8% increase in the third quarter of 2009.
Chico's has opened 64 net new stores since the end of the third quarter in 2009. The company operates 1,153 stores in the U.S., Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico under three brands: Chico's, White House | Black Market and Soma Intimates.
The company's board of directors in August authorized a $200 million share repurchase program. In the third quarter, Chico's repurchased 2.1 million shares for $18.7 million.
Alorica boosts employment
California-based customer-service operator Alorica plans to hire another 250 people at its Fort Myers operations over the next three years.
The company, which already employs 350 people in Fort Myers, received subsidies from Lee County totaling about $200,000 to expand.
Alorica, headquartered in Chino, Calif., provides customer relations, technical support, sales, collections and social media services for large companies in communications, technology, media, financial services and other industries. The company employs 20,000 in 34 centers in the U.S. and overseas.
Rib City expands
Fort Myers-based barbecue chain Rib City opened its eighth restaurant in Colorado, making it the largest barbecue chain in that state.
The new restaurant in Littleton, Colo., brings Rib City's total number of restaurants to 28. The privately held company controlled by the Peden family has 12 corporate-owned restaurants in Florida and 16 franchise restaurants in nine other states.
