Loading
Agencies name coordinator
Sarasota officials named Randy Welker the city's first economic development coordinator. Welker has worked in economic development in Florida for eight years.
Welker will be a liaison between the city, the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce and the Sarasota Downtown Improvement District. Leaders of all three groups created the position last year.
Welker will work out of the chamber's headquarters.
Welker previously worked for chambers and economic development organizations in Delray Beach and Citrus and Martin counties. He also worked in the field in the Cincinnati area for a decade before he moved to Florida in 2003.
Firm enters region
Houston-based insurance firm Bowen, Miclette & Britt Inc. will enter the Gulf Coast through its acquisition of an Orlando-based company with an office in Sarasota.
Bowen, Miclette & Britt, with $40 million in annual revenues, bought Orlando-based Huckleberry, Sibley & Harvey Insurance & Bonds Inc. Huckleberry Sibley, in addition to its Sarasota office and its Orlando headquarters, has operations in Maitland, Cocoa, West Palm Beach and Santa Rosa Beach. Huckleberry Sibley generates $8 million in annual revenues, according to a press release.
Bowen Miclette, founded in 1993, had offices in Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana prior to the Huckleberry Sibley purchase.
Budget cuts loom
Manatee County faces its fifth straight fiscal year of budget cuts, according to a report county officials presented to county commissioners.
County officials cut $122 million from the last four annual budgets, the result of a drop in taxable property values to $24.7 billion from $34.4 billion in 2007. Taxable property values in the county are projected to drop to $23.5 billion in 2012.
Roughly half of the expected 2012 fiscal budget shortfall, $4 million, could be covered by a reserve fund, county officials say. The other $4 million might be made up in decreased services or other cost cuts.
New test facility
Turbo Services is establishing a new test facility for turbo-gas generators overhauled from former aircraft engines at the Immokalee Regional Airport in eastern Collier County.
The Collier County Airport and the Economic Development Council of Collier County assisted the Margate-based company with fast-track permitting. Turbo Services plans to spend $680,000 on construction and equipment for the new 2,000-square-foot facility.
Turbo Services overhauls Pratt & Whitney FT4 industrial gas generators. The family-owned company overhauled 41 engines in 2010 and has 15 employees.
Air Berlin adds flights
Air Berlin plans to add a fourth weekly flight between Dusseldorf, Germany, and Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers this summer.
The European market has become increasingly important for hoteliers on the Gulf Coast who seek to fill hotel rooms during the slower summer months. European travelers tend to stay longer and spend more money than domestic travelers in part because of their stronger currency, hoteliers say.
Air Berlin carried 89,559 passengers between the two cities in 2010, a 13% increase over 2009. The top connecting cities were Berlin, Munich, Vienna and Zurich.
The German airline operates an Airbus A330 between Fort Myers and Dusseldorf.
Von Arx honored
Dolph Von Arx, the former chairman, CEO and president of Planters Lifesavers Co., and his wife Sharon Von Arx, were honored by Naples-based Hodges University as humanitarians of the year.
The Von Arxes were honored for their philanthropic endeavors in Naples, where they've lived since 1992. Dolph Von Arx currently oversees a venture-capital firm that provides angel investing to startup companies around the world.
Dolph Von Arx currently is the chairman of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and serves on the executive committee and the board of directors of the Economic Development Council of Collier County.
TRC sale certain
The planned sale of Clearwater-based Technology Research Corp. to Coleman Cable Inc. of Waukegan, Ill., appears more certain now that Coleman substantially increased its offer.
Coleman says it will pay $51.5 million, or $7.20 per share, for TRC, which makes electrical safety components. TRC has 45 days to consider offers from any other prospective buyers.
Coleman previously offered $5.50 a share in January, but the deal was resisted by Owen Farren, who at the time was TRC's chairman, president and CEO. Farren resigned abruptly in February.
Panhandle flights
Vision Airlines resumed offering daily flights between St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport and Northwest Florida Regional Airport near Destin.
Vision offers a round-trip flight four days a week, either on Boeing 737 or smaller Dornier 328 turbo-prop planes. Airline executives say the decision to add the Tampa Bay flight was based on the success of Vision's charter flights to and from the Beau Rivage resort in Biloxi, Miss.
Suwanee, Ga.-based Vision announced its new flight plan in January, selling 12,000 tickets within a few days. It extended its discount offer for tickets as low as $19 one way.
More RayJay concerts?
More concerts could be on the horizon at Raymond James Stadium based on the profitability of a March 19 show featuring country artists Kenny Chesney and the Zac Brown Band.
The Tampa Sports Authority says it netted just more than $1 million from the concert, which it promoted itself rather than leaving profit and risk potential to a private company. It's the first time the stadium operator made such an attempt, and officials indicated it might try again in the future.
The 65,890-seat stadium has hosted several concerts and non-sports events since opening in 1998. A 2009 concert by U2 and Muse set an attendance record, but only produced a small profit for the TSA.
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning business news.
Join thousands of executives who rely on us for insights spanning Tampa Bay to Naples.
