- March 28, 2024
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LeeSar starts building
A joint venture between Bonita Springs-based construction firm Gates and Jacksonville-based The Haskell Company won a contract to build a $27 million headquarters for LeeSar in Fort Myers.
LeeSar, a medical-supply cooperative owned by hospital groups including Lee Memorial Healthcare System and Sarasota Memorial Healthcare System, picked the Gates-Haskell joint venture to build a 205,000-square-foot facility.
Construction is scheduled to be completed in July 2012 and will include a sterile processing center and a food preparation area that will service Lee Memorial hospitals. LeeSar was formed in 1998 as a cooperative to manage supply expenses and has expanded services and clients as far as Huntsville, Ala.
Hotel revenues surge
Revenues at hotels and motels in Lee County rose nearly 18% in July compared with the same month a year ago, according to the Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau.
Revenue per available room, an important gauge of hotel finances that combines occupancies and rent, rose 17.7% to $66.69 in July compared with July 2010.
Higher occupancies drove most of that revenue growth, figures show. Lee County hotels and motels were nearly 59% full in July, a 16.3% increase over July 2010. Average daily rates rose just 1.2% to $114.08, reflecting hoteliers' reluctance to boost rates.
Denmark flights resume
Scandinavian tour operator Comefly plans to resume nonstop weekly flights to Fort Myers from Aalborg, Denmark, in December, according to the Lee County Port Authority.
The flights to Southwest Florida International Airport will resume Dec. 19 and run on Mondays through April 9. The tour operator uses a Monarch Airlines Airbus 330 to fly Scandinavian tourists to the area.
Comefly started service to Fort Myers this summer in a test of the market. Airport and tourism officials in Lee County have been actively courting international tourists because they spend more time and money than domestic travelers.
TIA debuts Cuba flights
On Sept. 8, Tampa International Airport launched the first flight connecting Tampa to Havana in almost 50 years.
Xael Charters Inc., a Miami-based travel company, partnered with Sky King Inc., which is headquartered Sacramento, to operate the soldout flight, says TIA CEO Joe Lopano.
The inaugural voyage is the start of weekly flights to Havana that will take place on Thursdays and Saturdays. Another weekly connection departing on Sundays will begin in October.
Lopano, who started as CEO on New Years Day, has conducted several economic impact studies to encourage expansion of international flights.
The Cuban Assets Control Regulations were altered earlier this year allowing airports outside of New York, Los Angeles and Miami to host flights to Cuba.
CompCare gets $1.8 million
A U.S. Securities and Exchange filing released this week states Comprehensive Care Corp., a healthcare firm headquartered in Tampa, received a $1.8 million investment Aug. 30.
The investment was made by Sherfam Inc., a holding company based out of Toronto, Canada, and two individual investors that were unnamed in the document.
The filing revealed that CompCare, which specializes in behavioral health services and products, sold common stock at 44 cents per share to the investors.
Third-quarter revenues for the firm were $18.5 million, according to a separate filing.
Airport budget decreases
The operating budget for the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport for the next fiscal year will drop slightly in what officials say is an impact of the recession.
The budget will drop from $18 million to $17.8 million, airport Executive Director Rick Piccolo says. Terminal rent fees the airport generates from airlines are up, and so too are parking fees. But those gains, of about $600,000, will be offset by a nearly $1 million drop in rental car fee revenues. New chillers in terminals and the use of LED light bulbs will save another $300,000.
Firm promises jobs
Global Components Inc., the American subsidiary of a British manufacturer, plans to hire 50 employees early next year when it moves into a north Manatee County facility.
Global Components' 16,000-square-foot plastic mold injection plant will be the U.S. headquarters for U.K.-based TCB-Arrow. In a release, the firm's president, Lindsay Rolfe, says Manatee County is a great “jumping off point for our expansion into Central and South America.”
Manatee County and the state of Florida approved $300,000 in performance-based tax incentives to support the move. Global Components also provides high-tech assembly and produces its own automotive ignition components, in addition to plastic mold injection.
College proposes growth
The State College of Florida, based in Bradenton, will seek approval to run a charter high school on its Venice campus.
The school would teach students in 10th through 12th grade, with an emphasis on a STEM education — science, technology, engineering and math.
Students would also be able to earn credits toward an associate degree at SCF while in the high school.
SCF, formerly Manatee Community College, already runs a charter school for sixth-grade students through high school on its Bradenton campus. The Sarasota County School Board will review SCF's charter school application.