Corporate Report

Corporate Report

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.

BayStar Hotel Group buys

Tallahassee Holiday Inn

BayStar Hotel Group LLC has acquired the 150-room Holiday Inn, State Capitol East, in Tallahassee.  Located across the street from the Governor's Square shopping mall, the four-story hotel is home to the Tallahassee Ale House sports bar and features 2,400 square feet of meeting space.

The Tampa-based hotel company took over the Holiday Inn's management on Feb. 2. BayStar is investing $750,000 in a full cosmetic upgrade, which includes converting the fourth floor into an executive/club floor with microwaves and refrigerators in each room. 

Bonita Bay Group

releases 2005 home sales

Sales in The Bonita Bay Group's seven Southwest Florida master-planned communities totaled 1,296 homes and homesites in 2005. Introduced in January 2005, Sandoval, the company's first master-planned community in Cape Coral, had the highest number of sales, finishing 2005 with 433 home and home site sales.

First Advantage creates

group after adding companies

St. Petersburg-based First Advantage Corp. acquired Accufacts Pre-Employment Screening Inc. and SkillCheck Inc., both employment testing and screening companies. First Advantaged purchased the Longwood-based, Accufacts for $5 million cash and increased its market share in small and mid-markets. It was after the addition of the Burlington, Mass.-based SkillCheck that First Advantage announced a new group within its own company.

Rick Mansfield, executive vice president of the Hiring Solutions Group, and former chief marketing officer of First Advantage, will head this new group.

Pilot Air's Tampa station

sees 22.4% increase in 2005

Pilot Air Freight, a Lima, Pa-based provider of transportation and logistics services, said its Tampa station saw a 22.4% increase in revenue for 2005, compared to 2004. The 2005 revenues for the Tampa station totaled $5.39 million. The company also handled 8,421 shipments weighing 5,316,574 pounds. The Tampa station employs 10 people in a 3,500 square foot facility.

Oswald Trippe and Co.

purchases out-of-state office

Fort Myers-based insurance company Oswald Trippe and Co. Inc acquired Lake Insurance Agency in Cornelius, N.C. It's the company's first out-of-state venture. Oswald Trippe has 10 Florida offices. Denis Bilodeau, senior vice president and partner with Oswald Trippe, will head OTC of the Carolinas Inc. and manage OTC-The Lake Insurance Agency, serving both personal and commercial clients.

Taylor Woodrow gives first viewing of future headquarters

Taylor Woodrow unveiled its plans for an 18,000 square foot division office center and a 6,000 square foot design studio to be completed this year at the Corkscrew Palms corporate complex in Estero. The new buildings will house the builder/developer's headquarters and a location for community orientation and design selections.

New Taylor Woodrow communities currently underway encompass more than 4,000 new homes in Treviso Bay, Mediterra, Lucaya, Tortuga, River Hall, Portico, and Estero Palms.

Two Tampa lawyers earn honors

as 'Bet-the-Company Litigators'

The Best Lawyers in America 2006 edition named Marvin E. Barkin and William C. Frye as "Bet-the-Company Litigators." Both are attorneys for the Tampa-based law firm Trenam Kemker. The two were selected by their peers from 146 attorneys nationwide as the best attorneys in the practice area of commercial litigation. The Best Lawyers lists include 57 specialties and are compiled through a peer-review survey. The "Bet-the-Company Litigators" list is a new specialty created this year.

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.

Stock Development opens

new real estate unit

Naples-based Stock Development created a new company called Stock Development Real Estate Services. The new company will provide sales and marketing services to builders and developers. It will also consult on architecture, land planning, market analysis and amenity concepts.

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.

Creative Contractors selected

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

Fort Myers groundbreaking

opens the next Bass Pro Shop

Bass Pro Shop started the construction of its fifth Florida location during a groundbreaking ceremony in Ft. Myers. The 123,000 square-foot outdoor store will feature an over 8,000 square-foot Islamorada Fish Co. Restaurant.  The store, scheduled to open in October, will be the main store in the new 1.7 million square foot Gulf Coast Town Center development at Interstate 75 and Alico Road.

MobileStream, PSO

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.

CAP Creative earns

ADDY and AMY awards

CAP Creative, a Sarasota-based public relations and advertising firm, earned 21 ADDYs and two AMYs in the most recent contest recognizing the advertising industry. The awards included multiple Silver awards for Charleston Place, the new Venice residential community; four Silvers for their work for the Sarasota-Manatee Originals; several Silvers and an AMY for the hospitality group RockResorts; and a Silver and an AMY for the Vermont-based Bank of Bennington. The company also won a Gold ADDY for its website at www.CAPCreative.com.

Tampa-based web development firm Bayshore Solutions received a Silver ADDY for their work on the Jon Brunson Outdoors Television website: www.jboutdoors.com. This is the second award for Bayshore Solutions' work with Jon Brunson Outdoors, an outdoor reality television show that first premiered in July in both the U.S. and Canada.

US Home showcases new Oakmoor model

US Home celebrated Feb. 19 the grand opening of a new home model in the Covered Bridge Community in Ellenton.

US Home will complete 70 single-family homes in the community. In total Covered Bridge will have 500 homes when finished.

Homes range in size from 1,805 square feet to 2,592 square feet and range in price from the low $300,000s to the mid-$400,000s.

ETC...

? Sarasota-based UNI/CARE Systems Inc. will implement Pro-Filer for a formed consortium of three Georgia organizations providing services throughout Georgia.

? Udell Associates, a Sarasota-based subsidiary of National Financial Partners, licensed its estate planning process, The Wealth Enjoyment System to Cash and Associates PA of Orlando.

? Spotted Dog Fitness Studio celebrated its grand opening of its second facility located at the Terra Ceia Bay Country Club. 

? Axiom Professional Group opened a CPA firm in Bradenton. For more information visit: www.axiomcpa.com.

? The Neapolitan Chapter of the American Business Women's Association awarded Joyce Ricci the honor of 2006 Woman of the Year. Ricci owns Contemporary Accounting LLC in Naples. Ricci has served as Chapter newsletter editor for one term and treasurer for two consecutive terms.