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TGH plans rehab center
Tampa General Hospital is planning to build a rehabilitation center on Kennedy Boulevard on the western edge of downtown. It would go up on a vacant 10-acre lot previously occupied by Ferman Automotive Group.
The 59-bed TGH project was approved by the Tampa City Council and will allow room for expansion, as well as lodging for family members of long-term patients. It would replace a current rehab center on Davis Islands that TGH said it has outgrown.
The estimated cost of the new center is $100 million. Construction is expected to take 18 months.
Lopano new TIA chief
Joseph Lopano, former executive vice president of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, has accepted the position of executive director at Tampa International Airport. He will replace Louis Miller, who left the post earlier this year and became general manager of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in September.
Lopano, 55, was among four finalists considered by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority. He is widely credited with bringing additional carriers to DFW over the last three years, including international flights to London and Amsterdam.
Lopano will oversee nearly 600 employees at TIA when he takes on his new position, Jan. 1, 2011. He agreed to an annual starting salary of $250,000, plus a $49,000 pension contribution.
Building scores LEED gold
Wachovia Center, a 22-story office tower in downtown Tampa, became the latest to earn “gold” certification in the LEED program for existing buildings by the U.S. Green Building Council. It is one of only three buildings of its type to earn the medallion in the Tampa Bay area, as well as 10 throughout Florida.
The building is owned by USAA Real Estate Co., based in San Antonio, Texas, and used its sustainability platform to reduce carbon emissions, promote tenant satisfaction and awareness, improve operating cost efficiency and enhance property values. The 387,477-square-foot structure at 100 S. Ashley Drive opened in 1985.
Developers denied again
Manatee County commissioners denied a local developer's request to turn 3.3 acres of zoned residential land into commercial property, citing an acre of wetlands that could have been impacted with the project.
In a 6-1 vote, commissioners followed the recommendation of the Manatee County Planning Commission, which denied the request last month. The developer, Lake Lincoln, had proposed a zoning change that would allow it to build nearly 20,000 square feet of space on the site, which is at the front of the entrance to Tara Preserves. The Preserves is a mixed-use project that covers 1,100 acres and hundreds of homes just west of Interstate 75 on State Road 70. Lake Lincoln was formerly known as Tara-Manatee Inc.
Commissioners denied the request despite several concessions from the developers, who would've donated 45 acres of nearby wetlands and given the county $100,000 toward the purchase of a preserve.
Company announces closure
General Electric plans to close a manufacturing facility in north Manatee County by early 2011.
The closure will impact about 100 employees, company officials say. The facility scheduled to be closed is the GE Digital Energy plant, which primarily assembles smart meters for Florida Power & Light. The plant is expected to close by March.
Some meter production will be transferred to other plants in the state, a company spokesman says, while other work will be moved to one of the company's six remaining North American facilities. The company manufactures meters for steel mills, in addition to work with power and utility companies.
Permits increase slightly
Single-family building permits issued in Manatee County for the third quarter were up slightly over 2009.
The county issued a total of 279 permits in the quarter, four more than the 275 it issued in the three-month period last year. The months themselves were inconsistent, with 21% growth in July year-over-year, but a 16% decrease in August.
Neal Communities and Medallion Homes, a pair of locally based homebuilders, pulled a little more than half of the total permits issued in the quarter.
Source Interlink buys Grind
Bonita Springs-based Source Interlink has acquired action-sports publisher Grind Networks. Terms were not disclosed.
Grind publishes action-sports magazines such as Powder, Skateboarder and Surfer as well as Web sites such as Snowboarder.com and Skateboarder.com. Source publishes specialty publications such as Motor Trend magazine. Combined, the two publishers reach an estimated 10 million sports enthusiasts.
In a statement, Source said the acquisition will continue to strengthen the company's reach among people ages 18 to 35, an important demographic for advertisers.
Hodges teaches 3,000
Naples-based Hodges University's enrollment surged past 3,000 in the fall, driven in part by the lackluster economy.
Hodges, which has campuses in Naples and Fort Myers, targets working professionals, to help them in their careers. Founded in 1990, Hodges surpassed the 2,000-student market three years ago.
To keep up with the growth, the university is building a $12-million, 45,000-square-foot building on its Fort Myers campus that will be ready for students in 2012.
Lee's Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet, the publisher of popular travel guidebooks, will create a customized destination guide for the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
According to the VCB, Lonely Planet plans to produce an online version of the guide and a mobile-phone application.
In addition, Lonely Planet will create a Web site and produce eight short videos showcasing Lee County, two of which will be in German. The videos will be posted on Lonely Planet's Web site, YouTube and other undisclosed media.
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