Corporate Report

Corporate Report

Peach's sets sights on

Orlando for expansion

Bradenton-based Peach's Rise & Dine Restaurants is targeting the Orlando area for up to 12 franchise locations for its breakfast-lunch concept over the next two to three years.

Peach's Rise & Dine Restaurants is the franchise division of the Peach's Restaurant chain, also based in Bradenton. The 10 existing Peach's Restaurants are licensees of the franchise company and are owned by an affiliate, Peach's Restaurants Inc.

The company is negotiating several franchise agreements to open restaurants in Ohio and Michigan; it's also looking to enter the Denver market. The company plans to establish regional Peach's Performance Centers to provide training and support for franchisees.

French manufacturer opens

U.S. office in Pasco County

Jean Niel, the oldest French manufacturer of perfumes and flavors, will open its first manufacturing facility in North America in the Tampa Bay area. The 6,000-square-foot facility will open in June in the West Pasco Industrial Park in Odessa.

Coconut Point gets

two more businesses

Simon Property Group Inc. announced that California Pizza Kitchen and The Grape will open at the new Coconut Point development, a mixed-use, main street regional shopping center project in Estero.

Coconut Point will contain approximately 1.2 million square feet of retail space. The Market area of Coconut Point began opening stores in April. The remainder of the project is scheduled to open in November.

The two new food places join Ruth's Chris, Ted's Montana Grill and Ernest Hemingway's Island Grill.

SRQ gets approval for

flight to Washington D.C.

The Department of Transportation officially awarded US Airways authority to begin nonstop, year-round service between Sarasota-Bradenton and Washington, D.C.

The airline will operate one daily roundtrip flight starting Aug. 15. News of the flight had been previously reported and eagerly anticipated by SRQ officials. It had to be approved by federal officials first.

US Airways and America West's recent merger creates the fifth largest domestic airline employing nearly 35,000 aviation professionals. 

Florida's citrus

banned in six states

The U.S. Department of Agriculture imposed a statewide quarantine on the shipment of fresh Florida citrus fruit to six other citrus-producing states next season. The quarantine, an effort to prevent the spread of citrus canker, affects Alabama, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Louisiana and Texas. The quarantine will allow shipment of fresh fruit to non-citrus-producing states and other countries under certain restrictions. The rules governing the quarantine are expected to be published by the end of the summer.

The Florida citrus industry provides a $9.1 billion annual economic impact to the state, employs nearly 90,000 people and provides more than 650,000 acres of green space.

Horizon Holding gets

new name, ticker symbol

Horizon Holding Corp., a Sarasota-based security software firm, is changing its name to Inverted Paradigms Corp. Along with the name change, the public company's stock symbol will also change to IVPC. Inverted Paradigms Corp. developed Silent Sword software, a proprietary security process that prevents malware (viruses, Trojans, worms, and spyware).

McGarvey Development

relocates to Fort Myers  

McGarvey Development relocated its headquarters from Bonita Springs to Fort Myers. The company's new office is located at 9530 Marketplace Road in the Renaissance Center, which is a three-story 65,000-square-foot, Class A office building.

Colleges agree

to become 'sisters'

Yantai University in the Shandong Province, China, and Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers signed a Sister City partnership that will provide benefits to businesses, students and cultural organizations of both regions.

County commissioners of Charlotte, Collier, Hendry and Lee counties said the agreement is designed to build on the partnership already established between each region's universities.

Nationwide agrees to

produce TekVet SmartSensors

Palmetto-based design and development firm Nationwide Electronics Inc. entered into a five-year design and manufacturing agreement with North Salt Lake, Utah-based TekVet LLC. Nationwide will produce more than 5 million of its TekVet SmartSensors during the first six months of the agreement.

4th of July Grand Prix will have free wireless 'hot spots'

Laptop computer and personal digital assistant users at the annual Sarasota 4th of July Suncoast Offshore Grand Prix races will be able to access the Internet through a series of free wireless "hot spots."  It's part of the expansion of a program engineered by Southeastern Communication Service with the guidance of Sarasota-based technology forum 82 Degrees Tech; it's the first time the service will be offered at the event.

Hot spot antenna arrays are located at Marina Jack, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Siseta Key and Lido Beach, providing wireless access from virtually every offshore race vantage point.  In addition to private and business access, the system can be utilized for police, fire protection and emergency medical purposes.