Corporate Report

Corporate Report

First Watch adds 5 stores,

expands management

Bradenton-based First Watch Restaurants Inc., one of the country's largest privately owned breakfast-brunch-lunch restaurant companies, finished 2005 by opening five new restaurants and promoting and hiring several new executives. It opened locations in Bonita Springs, Tampa, Bradenton, Crestview Hills, Ky., and Columbus, Ohio. The company is considering opening new restaurants in Fort Lauderdale, Cleveland and Washington, D.C.  

To support its growth, First Watch hired Rick Akam, formerly the chief operating officer for Raving Brands and Hooters, to serve in the same position at First Watch. First Watch veteran Kevin Hall was promoted to vice president of brand, and Carol Newberry, formerly with Boston Market and Hops Restaurant Bar & Brewery, joined the company as vice president of people. Joel Peterson moved into the role of vice president of training and management development. Rod Hennig, Paul Pendery and David Lynch were all promoted to regional vice presidents, with Hennig overseeing Kansas and Missouri, Lynch overseeing Florida and Pendery responsible for Ohio, Kentucky and California.

McGarvey Development completes

Cape Coral Charter School

Bonita-Springs based-McGarvey Development Co. completed construction of the Cape Coral Charter School. The 77,500-square-foot school is the fourth built by McGarvey Development in Lee County for Charter Schools USA. The school will serve kindergarten through eighth-grade classes. The school is owned by Mid Cape Associates LLC and leased to The Charter Foundation Inc.

Ambo Pharmaceutical

distributing new Omega Cure

Osprey-based Ambo Pharmaceutical is now distributing Omega Cure, a new way to get omega-3 fish oil. Generally, fish oil is available in capsule or liquid form. Omega Cure is in a drinkable form, and, according to the company, it has a more pleasant taste than the normal liquid version.

Colliers Arnold forecasting

slower market growth

Clearwater-based Colliers Arnold Commercial Real Estate Services is forecasting growth and expansion in commercial real estate in 2006 at a slower rate than than in 2005.

J. Patrick Duffy, president of Colliers Arnold, said population growth will continue to be "the defining characteristic of Florida real estate. It drives demand for new retail, which tracks population growth pretty consistently," Duffy said, "but it also affects demand for industrial, office and multifamily." About 1,000 people a day move to Florida.

In some markets, Duffy said in a company press release, housing is just a little ahead of population or growth, and in some sectors there may be some overbuilding. That's especially true in the condominium sector, Duffy added.

Condo-conversions are also an issue. "Florida saw record condominium construction and rental apartment conversion last year," Duffy said. "The multifamily cycle is a one- to three-year process. We've got a lot of projects in the pipeline now that won't open for another two years, and in some regional and local markets, that's going to hurt some developers."

Colliers Arnold, an arm of Colliers International, was founded in Tampa By in 1974.

MarineMax Inc. acquires

Boca Ciega service facility

Cleawater-based MarineMax Inc., the nation's largest recreational boat retailer, has acquired a boat and yacht service facility adjacent to a marina that was simultaneously purchased by Brunswick Corp.

The service facility and marina, known as Great American Marine, is located just off the Intracoastal Waterway on Boca Ciega Bay near St. Petersburg. MarineMax will own and operate the service portion of the property while Brunswick will own the marina.

New bank to begin

operations in Fort Myers

Federal bank regulators have granted conditional approval to a group hoping to open Southwest Capital Bank NA in Lee County. The founders expect to open their initial office in downtown Fort Myers and a second branch in South Fort Myers.

Bruce Schultz is the new bank's president and chief executive officer. David Robbins will serve as a director of the bank and as executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Schultz, 44, and Robbins, 52, previously worked in leadership roles at SunTrust Bank: Schultz as president of the Citrus County market from 1997 to 2002 and of Lee County from 2002 to 2005; from 1993 to 2003, Robbins was responsible for administrative functions for the bank's southwest Florida branches, which included offices in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and DeSoto counties. Robbins has also worked as an independent commercial and residential loan consultant.

Ringling School to host

International design summit

The Ringling School of Art & Design announced it will host the inaugural Sarasota International Design Summit Oct. 9-11 at The Ritz Carlton, Sarasota. The event, which immediately follows a weekend of activities celebrating the Ringling School of Art & Design's 75th anniversary, will feature presentations from internationally renowned experts in business, product design, architecture, green building, urban development, politics and creative industries

DynEco Corp. acquires

Largo travel company

Tampa-based DynEco Corp, through its wholly owned subsidiary Dynamic Leisure Group Inc., bought Largo-based travel firm Changes in L'attitudes. In business for more than 20 years, Changes specializes in providing resort destination travel packages to the Caribbean and Eastern Mexico through its Web site. In 2005, Changes had annual sales of approximately $6 million with a customer base exceeding 5,000.

MobileStream, PSO Enterprises

enter merger agreement

New Port Richey-based MobileStream Inc. entered into an agreement to acquire PSO Enterprises Inc. PSO is an offshoot of Carbon Recovery Systems Inc., a New Jersey-based company founded in 2002 by inventor Frank Pringle.

CRC has uncovered the proper microwave technologies to heat and gasify various materials. This system has applications in solid waste for tires and plastics. The technology takes these materials back to their original components generating usable oil and other marketable components.

Creative Contractors selected

to build green center

Clearwater-based Creative Contractors Inc. signed a contract for $8.4 million with the City of Dunedin to build the new Dunedin Community Center. 

The 42,000-square-foot building includes a multipurpose room with a stage and basketball court, classrooms, kitchen, offices, dance and exercise rooms and fitness center. The new building will replace the previous community center adjacent to the Dunedin Fine Arts Center. The building has been designed to obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification upon completion. 

Nuevo Advertising renews

contract with Tampa Bay Storm

Nuevo Advertising Group has renewed its contract with Palace Sports & Entertainment to handle the Hispanic marketing efforts for the Tampa Bay Storm.

Nuevo Advertising Group last year secured a Hispanic radio broadcast agreement for the Tampa Bay Storm, and it continues this year with Super Q 1300 AM (WQBN) broadcasting all Storm Arena Football League home games.

Modex Design opens

U.S showroom in Sarasota

  Sarasota-based Modex Design, a manufacturer of custom doors and windows and subsidiary of the Polish-based Modex Holding Group, chose Sarasota to open its first U.S. showroom. The display shows more than 75 doors, a sample of the many designs available in the customized selections. This represents the first time that architects, builders and interior designers have been able to purchase the doors in the United States.

Etc. ...

? Sarasota-based CAP Creative was selected to join the Transworld Advertising Agency Network .

? Charlotte, N.C.-based Crescent Resources LLC negotiated a new lease agreement for 4,161 square feet of office space at Corporate Center Three at International Plaza, for Charlotte-based Bovis Lend Lease Inc.

? Extreme Innovations Inc. announced that it has secured Tampa as a Ridley Territory. Ridley is the world's first and only fully automatic cruiser motorcycle.

? BioSpace Inc., a Naples online information source for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, launched a new e-mail newsletter called Career Insider.