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Results for:

  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Brian Hartz |
  • July 20, 2018
Firm is fit to succeed, and so are its clients

Founded 30 years ago and headquartered in St. Petersburg, Corporate Fitness Works has quietly made a name for itself by helping companies reduce health care costs via employee wellness programs.

  • Strategies
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • October 30, 2008
Gulf Coast Week

Alaka'i expandsAlaka'i Consulting & Engineering Inc., a Largo-based defense contractor that makes bomb-detection devices, has moved from a Pinellas County business incubator to a new facility in Largo that will allow it to expand.Gymboree closesA Tampa Bay area franchisee of Gymboree Play & Music centers, who sought protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in March, has closed some of its Bay area locations.Another Indigo HotelA joint-venture partnership of Seaboard Hotel Associates LLC, Tampa-based BayStar Hotel Group and St. Petersburg-based Ballast Point Group plans to begin construction later this year on a 168-room Hotel Indigo in downtown Tampa's Channelside District.Bed tax for BoSoxLee County is considering diverting 20% of the taxes it collects on tourist accommodations to pay for a new stadium and training facility for the Boston Red Sox baseball team.Visitor count dropsThe number of visitors to Collier County in September declined 12.9% to 57,700 compared with one year ago, according to consulting firm Research Data Services.Airport traffic dropsThe number of passengers who traveled through Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers in September dropped 15% to 328,000 compared with the same month a year ago.Airport traffic decreasesTotal passenger traffic through Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport dipped almost 7% in September, but the drop wasn't as steep as officials thought

  • Finance
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Jean Gruss |
  • August 7, 2015
Back in the cape

Once the heart of the foreclosure crisis, Cape Coral's recovery is another sign of improving economic conditions in the region. A big selling point: It's got lots of land for future growth.

  • Strategies
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • January 5, 2007
Coffee Talk

Billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn isn't the only one paying close attention to Bonita Springs-based homebuilder WCI Communities.'s the proverbial case of good-news-bad-news with the American Tort Reform Foundation's 2006 Judicial Hellholes report.First, the good news: The Florida Legislature was one of five state governmental branches to make the 'Points of Light' list. Now, the bad news: South Florida came in second place on the overall nationwide Judicial Hellhole listDevelopment and homebuilding companies that scrambled to buy land during the residential boom are now rushing to unload it or restructure deals with sellers.The latest effort involves a huge land deal in Lee County between agribusiness giant Alico and Orlando-based luxury residential developer Ginn Development Co.St. Petersburg-based Lifestyle Family Fitness is resolving to fatten up, at least in revenues and the number of centers it operates. When the Review profiled Bradley Krohn, a scientist cum ethanol plant entrepreneur last summer, the biggest decision he was facing was where to build Florida's first large-scale ethanol plant: Tampa or Port Manatee. In building a new dinner theater in Lakewood Ranch, veteran director Robert Ennis Turoff, of the Golden Apple Dinner Theater, is stuck with a new headlining performer: Manatee County.

  • News
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • November 9, 2007
Corporate Report

Romark announces new drug testSun Hydraulics buys stake in California companyOdyssey Marine Exploration in National Treasure campaignBlood Bank Cryo-Cell collects menstrual stem cellsVerizon opens Tampa Fiber Solutions Center

  • Industries
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • March 29, 2008
In the Loop

Developer John Madden pioneered a Denver suburb and transformed it into a high-tech hub for major corporations. Now he's planning a major technology park in Southwest Florida.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • August 5, 2005
Who is Al Pina?

Florida newspapers portray the Tampa Bay area activist as a selfless defender of the poor. His ex-wife saw another side of him.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • August 6, 2004
Profitable Cause

Property-rights advocate Bill Moore, managing partner of Brigham Moore LLP, plans to organize a powwow of legislators to clear up Florida's eminent domain law, even if it means codifying redevelopment as a 'public use.'

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • February 22, 2008
Brand Builder

Colleen Chappell, the new CEO of Roberts Communications in Tampa, aims to strengthen companies through strategic partnerships.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • April 17, 2006
Walsh: Housing schemes will make the shortage worse

It's like the March of the Penguins.Throughout Florida, in county after county, city after city, elected representatives are marching one behind the other into the frozen idea that new laws mandating and coercing developers to build "affordable" houses will relieve the state's housing shortage in any meaningful way.

  • Opinion
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • April 18, 2008
Marinelli was the great American business tale

When the modern history of Collier County is written, Paul Marinelli Jr. will be regarded as one of the county's greatest visionaries, businessmen and leaders. Marinelli, chief executive officer of Collier County's most prominent company, the Barron Collier Cos., died April 10 at age 52. He was in New York City at the time undergoing medical tests related to a fight with cancer.

  • Opinion
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • April 16, 2004
Heavy Load

Richard Buckelew, president of RMC Florida Group Inc., juggles the hefty tasks of running a $100-million company in an industry strife with material shortages and staffing uncertainties.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Kevin McQuaid |
  • September 4, 2020
Of Amazonian Proportions

Amazon, the Seattle-based online retailer and already one of the largest occupiers of industrial space in Central Florida, is preparing to expand significantly.

  • Commercial Real Estate
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Kevin McQuaid |
  • April 3, 2020
Landlords, tenants seek middle ground in complicated situation

Tenants, landlords and lenders are scrambling to evaluate -- and possibly renegotiate -- lease and mortgage commitments amid Covid-19 outbreak

  • Commercial Real Estate
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Alicia Ceccarelli |
  • December 23, 2016
'Path to peace'

Bob Simpson has leveraged American medical resources to improve health care for children worldwide. Spoiler alert: The pope is a big fan.

  • Strategies
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • September 28, 2006
A plan to expand

Tribridge's founders plan to grow the company by at least 20% annually over the next five years. It'll hit $50 million to $100 million in five years, depending on how many more acquisitions it makes.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • February 3, 2006
How Bankruptcy Saved the Tidemark

Out of money, Nick Easterling and his partners saw one way to save the Tidemark Lodge and Marina: bankruptcy.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Adam Hughes |
  • February 24, 2006
Low-Ender

Warren Hickernell is profiting while working against the tide. 'I really see my job as preservng the low-impact mom-and-pop hotels.'

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Business Observer Staff |
  • April 23, 2004
Sarasota's Mr. Friendly

From Sarasota to Orlando, Steve Sandor and partners are opening new Friendly's restaurants and discovering success. Their first location, in Sarasota, is third in the national chain in annual sales.

  • Entrepreneurs
  • For Subscribers Only
  • By Jay Brady |
  • May 28, 2010
Twilight Zones

Enterprise zones may be in their sunset years, but they continue to grow in size and number even as their benefits and costs are questioned.

  • Florida
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