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Results for:

  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Jay Brady |
  • April 30, 2010
Banking on a Business Plan

Florida CFO Alex Sink's campaign for governor includes a new business plan to revitalize the modern Florida economy. But she has not forgotten her tobacco farming upbringing.

  • Florida
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Brian Hartz |
  • March 29, 2023
Cannabis industry gears up for potential gold rush

If a ballot initiative succeeds next year, Floridians won’t need a medical card to buy cannabis, and legalization of the weed would be a business bonanza. But risks abound.

  • Strategies
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Brian Hartz |
  • May 23, 2019
Top Entrepreneurs: Family business patriarch's big risks have paid off

Richard Gonzmart has shepherded his Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, family business, the Columbia Restaurant Group, for decades while taking significant risks.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Mark Gordon |
  • June 12, 2025
3 accomplished Sarasota leaders set to retire — and get more sleep

Decades of top-level leadership will be taking a step back in the coming months with a trio of retirements: Roxie Jerde, Larry Thompson and Teri Hansen. Lessons learned are legion.

  • Leadership
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Brian Hartz |
  • September 8, 2022
Crippling teacher shortage looms over region's business climate

An acute, and growing, shortage of K-12 teachers in Florida threatens to disrupt the state’s quality of education.

  • Education
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • November 10, 2006
Corporate Report

OSI Restaurant Partners agrees to cash buy-out HealthCare Partners buys JSA Healthcare Corp.General Dynamics Ordnance signs deal to bring Thor to U.S.BB&T Insurance Services buying Wyman, Green & BlalockChico's October revenue up but comparable-store sales downChildren's Network contract dispute with DCF resolvedThird Quarter financials for Nicholas Financial, Coast Bank and Walter Industries.

  • Industries
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • March 4, 2005
Top 20 Projects

The following pages highlight the 20 largest private construction projects in the Sarasota-Manatee region. To qualify for the list, land must have been cleared for construction or construction started between March 10, 2004 and March 4, 2005. Both commercial and multifamily projects were included. The ranking is based on an assessment by The Construction Guide and independent research.

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • July 6, 2006
The Banking Issus: Charts

The Review breaks down Gulf Coast banks by assets, net income, return on assets and return on equity.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • July 20, 2006
Coffee Talk

WCI Communities: A buying opportunity?: At what point do the stocks of homebuilders become so ridiculously cheap that they're worth buying?Military salute: Sarasota resident Burt Bershon has been recognized for his efforts to bring military academies back to U.S. communities. Bershon, who founded the Sarasota Military Academy in 2002, was recently awarded an Eagle Laureate for creating The Charter Military Schools Development Corp. in late 2003.Former Buccaneer Warren Sapp is back: NFL Star Warren Sapp, a defensive tackle who helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win their only Super Bowl, plans to open a HipHopSodaShop on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, near the University of South Florida.Davis Lucas offers business-ethics insight: Davis Lucas, the chairman of Bonita Springs-based residential developer The Bonita Bay Group, makes few public appearances and when he does, it's usually for the benefit of a local charity.Condominium's loss is apartment's gain: So with the condo conversion market way down, is it truly gloom-and-doom time for the apartment market? Not completely.Paying premium prices at the pump: The high price of gas is reaching into entrepreneurs and executives' pockets yet again.Bleak showing for Florida venture capitalists:Just two Florida firms made Entrepreneur magazine's 2005 list of the top 100 venture capital firms, and both, Palm Beach Capital Partners and HIG Capital Management of Miami, are based in South Florida.

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • August 4, 2006
Coffee Talk

D'Alessandro deal may spell new opportunitiesMorgan Stanley still raising money for Babcock RanchFounder of SKY Sotheby's to depart?Ideal time to pick up speedAir conditioning business keeps on humming Pasco invites you to the 'Land of Opportunity'Group takes startup capital to the bank Bank bug takes a bite out of Charlotte County Condo project finds an elusive gem: BuyersNew Radiation Therapy COO quits after five monthsFast Lane Clothing Co. profiled in this week's Review is a finalist for the Tampa Chamber of Commerce's 2006 Small Business of the Year award.HSN's huggable hanger sells 100 million unitsChico's is 'heard on the street'The CEO of Pinellas County-based startup ForeclosuresDaily.com will serve hamburgers Aug. 12 to the firm's customers.Business investment grows, sales tax figures show

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • September 23, 2005
A Near-Death Experience

Leslie Flegel quadrupled Source Interlink's size in one year. But at one point, his acquisitions almost sank the company. Nonetheless, he's transforming the way magazines, CDs and DVDs are distributed.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • June 24, 2005
Siren Song

After blowing the whistle in the 1990s on his competitors and city officials, Frank Griswoldthought he'd finally gotten his chance in Tampa's ambulance industry. He was wrong.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • June 27, 2008
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

Shoot Straight plans Fort Myers gun shopLee County Port Authority buys 285 acres for airport connector Shaw-owned company buys two Winkler office buildingsWood Street owners explore third building CC Properties buys Prudential, Watch Connection buildingPort Manatee park owners sell land to development districtJackson Transformer buys warehouseBrandon Eye Associates move to Medical Oaks DriveTurbine Diagnostic Services buys Odessa warehouseBlackhawk Realty Advisors buy Sun Lake Apartments

  • Charlotte–Lee–Collier
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • August 27, 2004
Banker of the Year: John O'Neill

John O'Neill says Century Bank is on the way up because he stuck with the executives he found there - and they with him.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • November 12, 2004
Fear of Heights

How high is too high? The fight for the air up there.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Jay Brady |
  • March 4, 2011
Business Bills To Watch

Among the hundreds of bills, here are five that can improve Florida's business climate and one that can add a burden to companies' hiring.

  • Florida
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Mark Gordon |
  • November 28, 2025
Area's biggest homebuilders to seize opportunities in 2026 after rocky '25

Inflation, tariffs and of course interest rates have dented the homebuilding sector. But, says homebuilder Ian Schmoyer, a "good operator is going to find margin, find a way to get through it."

  • Florida
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • July 20, 2007
40 Under 40 (Tampa Bay)

Amy Leigh CarstensenMin K. ChoTrenton H. CotneyYaron M. DavidMichael T. DoyleLeigh Kellett FletcherAllison Beard LuzierTammy OnoratoKevin PliskaShannon Corcoran SteinAndrea GonzmartEric RoeHenry Gonzalez III

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • May 2, 2008
Commercial Real Estate Briefs

MAB Investments relocating to Bee Ridge sitePacific Tomato Growers buys Taylor & Fulton buildingsPennsylvania mover buys University storage buildingInvestors pay $11.5 million for Bank of Florida CenterPunta Gorda building leased for urgent care centerDeltona Corp. increases Cape Coral holdingsRENOVATION COMPLETED ON FIRST STREET CENTERHilltop Center sells for $3 millionTri-Tech Inc. acquires Tampa West buildingHealthy Vision buys Eye Institute building

  • Manatee-Sarasota
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • September 18, 2008
Coffee Talk

+ Gulf Coast investorbets big on Applebee'sBurton "Skip" Sack must really have a thing for Applebee's, the casual dining restaurant chain.+ Local builder's groupclose to naming new leaderOne of the leading pro-development groups in Sarasota and Manatee Counties, the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange, is getting ready to name its new executive director.+ Jabil stays in St. Pete,Lear leaves TampaThe news of Jabil Circuit deciding to stay in St. Petersburg was welcome news to Pinellas County, which worked with the state to provide more than $20 million in incentives to keep the electronics assembly company, which employs 1,880.+ Quest followsbike path to new HQQuest Corp. of America Inc., an advertising, marketing and public relations firm in Tampa, recently broke ground on its new Pasco County headquarters in Land O' Lakes.+ Survey: Businesses mustwork to regain consumer trustBankers and Realtors are among the professions on the wrong end of a new nationwide survey from the Better Business Bureau on how much - or more to the point, how little - consumers trust American companies.+ Branching out fromupscale jewelry to deliSuzanne Perry has built Jewelry Hauture, a two-year-old custom-made and designer retail jewelry business in South Tampa, selling high-end jewelry to affluent clients.+ From Neilsen managementto herbal entrepreneurDeserie Valloreo, a former business information systems professional, g

  • News
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