Corporate Report

Corporate Report

Two board members resign from Gevity

Bradenton-based human resources outsourcing firm Gevity is losing a pair of board members, including James Manning, a former CEO and one-time interim chairman.

Manning has served as a director of Gevity since October 2001, the company says in an SEC filing, and he will stay on the board until the annual shareholders meeting May 18.

The second director to leave the board is A. D. Frazier, who began serving in February 2005. Gevity says Frazier is leaving the board to focus on his new role as chairman and CEO of Danka Business Systems, PLC.

Paul R. Daoust, 58, CEO of Boston-based technology firm HighRoads Inc., has been nominated to fill one seat on the board.

Tampa Bay area is ranked

as a bargain for business

The Tampa Bay area was named one of the nation's least costly places to do business by KPMG's 2006 Competitive Alternatives Study. The area was ranked the second-most economical, slightly behind Atlanta, and ahead of 23 major cities, including Atlanta, Dothan, Ala., Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., Jackson, Miss., Nashville, Tenn., and Raleigh, N.C. Conducted once every two years, the report is a resource for corporate relocation.

USF Research Park

attracts new tenant

The University of South Florida announced its newest biotech tenant for the USF Research Park - the LifeLink Tissue Bank. The tissue bank is part of the Tampa-based nonprofit LifeLink Foundation, which is best known for arranging organ transplants.

But the 21-year-old LifeLink Tissue Bank, the largest not-for-profit tissue bank in the Southeast and one of the largest in the U.S., also creates grafts from donor bone, tendons and other connective tissues. It's one of the largest tissue processors in the country, LifeLink has partnerships with a number of cell-research and bioengineering companies and does its own research - an effort that could get a boost from its proximity to USF's health and engineering schools.

The partnership with LifeLink allows USF researchers to study human tissue and organs from the nonprofit. The new facility will increase research space at the park by about 25% and add about 200 employees to the 300 already there.

Pricewaterhouse adding

employees, facilities in Tampa

New York-based PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP plans to bring 320 new jobs to the Tampa Bay area over the next two years. It will add an organization called KSO to its existing facilities in Tampa Bay Park. The KSO will act as a research extension for the company.

KSR buys Fort Lauderdale

marketing agency

Coral Gables-based Kelley Swofford Roy Inc. (KSR), an advertising, marketing and public relations firm with an office in Port Charlotte, purchased Flywheel Branding, a Fort Lauderdale-based marketing strategy and branding agency. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Adam Kustin, president of Flywheel Branding, will become KSR's new president, and Susan Kelley will be promoted to chairman and CEO.

Flywheel clients moving to KSR include Carrera Toys, TAG Co., MOS Imaging Systems, Marimon Business Systems and Services On-Site.

KSR will retain Flywheel's Fort Lauderdale office, giving KRS a total of three statewide offices.

Chico's buys land next door

for corporate expansion

Chico's FAS Inc. purchased about 22 acres adjacent to the company's current headquarters site on Metro Parkway in Fort Myers for $25.6 million. The site will be the spot for expansion of the company's corporate headquarters. The property includes 200,600 square feet, including seven existing buildings with most of them already leased.

Halkey-Roberts nears

completion on facility

Halkey-Roberts Corp., a manufacturer of components and valves for the medical, inflation and container industries, is nearing completion on a new 160,000-square-foot facility in Pinellas County that includes a large clean room for its medical products.

A subsidiary of Atrion Corp., Halkey-Roberts' continued growth necessitated a larger facility but its current location was not suitable for expansion.

After considering a number of options in other counties and states, Atrion credited the plan put together by St. Petersburg and Pinellas County officials as being the deciding factor in selecting their new location and staying in St. Petersburg. The company's growth will create 79 new jobs and retain 187 positions in Pinellas County. The new facility is scheduled for completion in May.

HMA buys a Tenet

Hospital in Mississippi

Naples-based Health Management Associates Inc. will purchase the 189-bed Gulf Coast Medical Center in Biloxi, Miss., from a subsidiary of Tenet Healthcare Corp. The purchase price for the transaction, which should be completed by June 1, was not released.

HMA owns and operates acute care hospitals in non-urban communities throughout the United States. Upon completion of this transaction and with the recent purchase of an 83-bed Cleveland Clinic Naples Hospital, HMA will operate 62 hospitals in 16 states with approximately 8,817 licensed beds.

Tampa Roofing Co. moving

to new Clearwater headquarters

Suncoast Roofers Supply is moving its corporate headquarters from Tampa to Clearwater. Suncoast will join Haydon-Rubin Development Inc. and its affiliate, Rubin Real Estate, in the Triad South building, one of several buildings planned for the Triad Commons Office Park.

The building will be at 4592 Ulmerton Road, on the corner of Ulmerton Road and Automobile Boulevard, Clearwater. Originally zoned for an industrial lot, the office park has been recently upgraded to provide Class A office space to local businesses. The completion date for Triad South is January 2007.

MetLife awards building

contract to North Carolina firm

MetLife awarded Raleigh, N.C.-based Highwoods Properties Inc. the contract to build-to-suit lease at Highwoods Preserve in Tampa. Highwoods Properties will build a four-story office building with parking for about $19.7 million. MetLife will occupy the entire building, which is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2007.

The firm will invest nearly $7 million in construction, renovation and other equipment and will add 60,000 square feet to its offices to accommodate the growth.

Stevens Construction awarded

contract to expand office

Orthopedic Specialists of Southwest Florida awarded Fort Myers-based Stevens Construction a contract to manage the interior renovation and build-out of approximately 17,000 square feet to include radiology suites, exam rooms and administrative offices.

 Designed by Gora McGahey Associates in Architecture Inc., the Fort Myers orthopedic office is located on Cleveland Avenue.

Walter Industries to move

Canadian operations to U.S.

Tampa-based Walter Industries Inc. is closing its valve and hydrant manufacturing plant in Milton, Ontario, at the end of July. Mueller Water Products Inc., a subsidiary of Walter Industries, ran the plant. Mueller's Albertville, Ala., plant will take over hydrant production while it's Chattanooga, Tenn., facility will take over valve production.

Tropics finishes software update

for workers' compensation firm

Public Employer Risk Management Association Inc., New York's largest member-owned, municipal association providing workers' compensation for public entities, went live this week with Sarasota-based Tropics Software Technologies' Claims System. The data conversion from PERMA's legacy system to Tropics Claims System took four months. The ISO ClaimSearch allows users to catch fraudulent claims by cross-referencing ISO's database for possible matches.

Xcelicor hopes new group

means better performance

Tampa-based Xcelicor Inc., a human capital management consultancy firm, formed a distinct Learning Solutions group to assume and expand the learning activities currently performed by Xcelicor's Professional Services group. Xcelicor hopes the change means an expansion and increase in frequency of classroom course offerings and the introduction of an on-demand training tool for the Oracle E-Business Suite Human Resources application family.

Amanatee Group partners

with Trump University

Donald Trump's business education company, Trump University, formed a partnership with business development facilitator The Amanatee Group. The Sarasota-based company will create and redo Trump's online courses and track system for those courses. Amanatee will also create new ways to market the classes to prospective students.

Ritz-Carlton named

most prestigious brand

The Luxury Institute's Luxury Brand Status Index Survey, for the second year in a row, ranked The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. LLC first in the most prestigious brand category. The Chevy Chase, Md.-based company operates 61 hotels in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, including Sarasota and Naples. The category was made up of over 18 other hospitality corporations among consumers with a minimum net worth of $750,000.

The Luxury Institute is the independent and objective research institution that represents America's most wealthy. It provides a portfolio of publications and research that guide and educate high net-worth individuals and the companies that cater to them on leading edge trends, wealthy consumer rankings and ratings of luxury brands and best practices.

Creative Contractors selected to build

Heidt & Associates new headquarters

Heidt & Associates Inc. selected Clearwater-based Creative Contractors Inc. to build its new corporate headquarters. The design is by Curts Gaines Hall Jones Architects of Tampa. The four-story brick building will emulate the builidngs of Ybor City. The facility, located on 15th Street and 5th Avenue, will include 53,000 square feet of office space and a separate 2,200 square feet vehicle maintenance facility.

OFFICE OPENINGS

? SunCoast Community Mortgage, a joint venture between SunCoast Bank and Aclarian Mortgage, opened in the SunCoast Bank building, 5115 State Road 64 E., Bradenton.

? Buchanan Enterprise and Buchanan Automotive Group moved to 50 Central Ave., Suite 900, Sarasota.

ETC...

? Triton Cos., a Michigan-based real estate development firm, named Sarasota's CAP Creative agency-of-record.