Corporate Report: Gold Coast Eagle Distributing first in state to serve Birra Castello

Gold Coast Eagle Distributing, the Anheuser-Busch InBev and Corona distributor for Sarasota and Manatee counties, is the first in the state to have local rights to Birra Castello, the first Italian beer in the company's international portfolio.

Castello beer, brewed since 1868 and popular throughout Europe, only became available for export into the United States this year. Las Vegas Beverage Co. holds the exclusive importing rights. Gold Coast Eagle plans to make it available to the rest of Florida next year.

“The acquisition fills a very important void in our import portfolio,” company president John Saputo said in a press release. “We [now] carry a full line of imported beer from all over the world.”

Gold Coast Eagle will introduce Castello first by targeting the 53 Italian restaurants in the region, followed by local off-premise retailers. The line consists of Castello premium lager, plus a double malt amber and malt red.

Gold Coast Eagle Distributing has also purchased three specialty brews from the Downington, Pa.-microbrewery Victory Brewing Co. — Hop Devil Ale from India, Prima Pils pilsner, and Golden Monkey, a Belgian-style tripel.

Moorings Park appoints new CEO, executive team
Dan Lavender has been promoted to CEO of the Moorings Institute, the parent of Naples-based Moorings Park, succeeding Guenther Gosch, who held the position for 17 years.

Dr. John Little, chairman of the board of the Moorings Park Institute, said in a press release that the transition is the result of a five-year succession plan to “assure continued excellence in our management team so we can maintain the quality of our facilities and services, as well as our strong financial position.”

Lavender joined Moorings Park in 2006 as chief financial officer. In February, he was appointed executive vice president, CEO and chief financial officer as well as director of the Moorings Park Institute. He handled much of the major expansion of Moorings Park Community Health, a new home health care program.

Earlier, he was chief financial officer for Methodist ElderCare Services in Columbus, Ohio, and held key roles at Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services, one of the 15 largest, multi-site, nonprofit senior living organizations in the country.

The current executive team also includes Kent McRae, chief operational officer and senior vice president; Trish Biebricher, vice president of marketing and communications; and Xan Smith, recently appointed chief financial officer.

Gosch, who oversaw the growth of Moorings Park's assets from $60 million to $260 million during his tenure as CEO, will continue to serve on the board of the Moorings Park Institute, and will become a director of the Bower Chapel Advisory Board, The Foundation for Successful Aging and The Moorings Park Foundation.

Moorings Park is a nationally accredited, Medicare-certified, continuing care retirement community and the only one of its kind in Naples. It houses more than 600 residents in 365 independent living apartments, 74 licensed assisted-living apartments and 106 skilled nursing beds, plus has more than 560 employees.

United Technologies Corp. buys GE Security unit
Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies Corp. has agreed to buy the GE Security business in Lakewood Ranch from GE for $1.82 billion. The closing requires regulatory approvals.

GE Security, part of GE Technology Infrastructure, sells security and other safety technologies. The company has eight manufacturing facilities and 4,700 employees in 26 countries.

United Technologies President and CEO Louis Chenevert said in a press release the acquisition “strengthens our North America footprint and complements our existing fire and security businesses,” plus “brings additional world-class product lines to the UTC portfolio, improves our aftermarket revenue potential and will deliver solid long-term value for UTC shareholders.”

The deal is expected to start adding to the earnings of United Technologies in 2011.

UTC Fire & Security is a business unit of United Technologies Corp., which provides high-technology products and services to building and aerospace industries worldwide.

Airgas buys assets, operations of Tampa's Tri-Tech
Radnor, Pa.-based Airgas Inc. acquired the assets and operations of Tri-Tech, a Tampa-based distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases and related supplies with 16 locations throughout Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina and annual revenues of about $31 million.

Twelve of the acquired locations have been integrated into Airgas South, which serves customers in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, eastern Mississippi and southern Tennessee. Airgas National Welders, with customers in the Carolinas, eastern Georgia, and southern Virginia absorbed the other four facilities. In all, more than 110 Tri-Tech employees will join the two Airgas companies, which are among the 12 regional ones within Airgas' distribution business.

Airgas Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Molinini, said in a press release the acquisition “adds talent to the Airgas team, and provides the arriving Tri-Tech team with a significant increase in resources for serving customers.”

Airgas, through its subsidiaries, is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases including nitrous oxide and dry ice, and other hard goods, such as welding equipment and supplies; one of the largest distributors of safety products; the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast; and a distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants, and ammonia products.

Sunovia Energy Technologies to install LEDs on Fruitville Road
Sarasota-based Sunovia Energy Technologies Inc. has won a bid to provide LED street lighting for Fruitville Road, one of Sarasota County's main thoroughfares.

Sunovia will provide 148 EvoLucia-brand 120W LED cobra head-style streetlights. As the lights are extremely energy-efficient and require virtually no maintenance for 12 years, they are expected to save the county $14,000 a year in energy and maintenance costs, plus reduce carbon emissions by 710,730 pounds over 10 years.

The EvoLucia lights project more than 50 lumens per watt consumed.

The new cobra head streetlights also exceed the “Fitted Target Efficiency” criteria established by the U.S. Department of Energy for Energy Star certification. The aimed optics direct illumination method also allows fixtures to meet dark sky guidelines and LEED certification requirements by minimizing light trespass and reducing sky glow.

Sunovia estimates that if Sarasota implemented a city-wide LED street light retrofit of its 62,000 fixtures, the county would save more than $5.28 million annually in energy and maintenance costs and reduce carbon emissions by 223 million pounds over 10 years.

DemanData Systems relocates from Sarasota to Palmetto
DemanData Systems, a supply chain information technology company focused on the healthcare industry, has relocated its headquarters from Sarasota to a recently renovated building in the Gulf Coast Corporate Park of Palmetto in Manatee County.

It employs 100 people in four states; 40 will work in Manatee County. The Economic Development Council, a division of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, helped facilitate DemanData's relocation via the county's rapid response permitting program.

The relocation “is a prime example of how county government and the private sector can work together to bring more high-wage jobs to Manatee County,” County Administrator Ed Hunzeker, said in a press release. “We are focused on delivering [what] businesses need to locate and expand here, while maintaining our community's high standards for quality of life.”

Jim Walter Resources reports employee death
Tampa's Walter Energy reported the death of an employee James Chaney, 53, of Berry at the Jim Walter Resources No. 7 Mine near Brookwood, Ala.

On Nov. 23, two company employees were conducting a routine inspection of a non-production area of the mine when they missed a scheduled check-in point. Mine managers dispatched additional personnel to the area to investigate.

When the miners were located, Chaney was found to be unresponsive. Another miner was safely evacuated. Several members of the evacuation team exhibited signs of heat stress and were taken to the hospital as precaution.

“My deepest sympathies and the sympathies of the entire Walter Energy family go out to the family of the deceased,” said George Richmond, president and chief operating officer of Walter Energy. “We will order a full investigation as to the cause of [the] incident.”

Production at the mine was idled temporally.

Walter Energy is a producer and exporter of coking coal for the steel industry and also produces steam coal and industrial coal, metallurgical coke and coal bed methane gas.