St. Petersburg-based property management firm Weller Management has merged with Phoenix-based MEB management services and will operate under a new brand - Bryten Real Estate Partners. Phoenix will serve as the recently established venture's headquarters, with satellite offices in St. Petersburg and Denver. Company officials did not disclose financial details in the announcement.
Tampa Bay-based Ready Chapter 1, an Embarc Collective startup, offers an innovative platform to help writers improve unpublished stories and secure a publishing deal. That latter aspect is now guaranteed through a new partnership with California-based Bushel & Peck Books. The publishing firm will award a contract to an aspiring author who emerges from an upcoming Ready Chapter 1 contest. For more information, visit the website here.
The Tampa Bay Rays honored longtime broadcaster Dave Wills, who died unexpectedly at 58 in March 2023, before Sunday’s game at Tropicana Field. Owner Stuart Sternberg inducted Wills into the team’s Hall of Fame in front of about 100 of his relatives and close friends. The first 12,000 fans received yellow, tropical-styled shirts featuring a pocket patch with his name and a microphone. The Rays would go on to beat forming pitching ace Blake Snell and the San Francisco Giants 9-4.
Black Dog Venture Partners and ShopRaise will host a Nonprofit Fast Pitch event at 1 p.m. May 1 to help raise awareness and funding for charities. Stan Liberatore, chairman of Save the Kids Foundation, and Ambee Stephens, founder of EmpoweHERment, are among the local presenters who will pitch their cause to investors and donors. For more information, visit the website here.
The Tampa Bay Rays hosted a Clearwater Little League "takeover" Saturday at the Sid Lickton Complex with mascots and play-by-play broadcaster Neil Solondz calling the morning tee ball games. Team trainers also held a first aid event at the Burg Baseball Field in St. Petersburg Saturday morning and provided an automated external defibrillator and CPR training. Azalea Youth Soccer and the Police Athletic League also received CPR kits.
A new Japanese bakery and café has opened at 407 Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg. Samurai Cat occupies the 1,315-square-foot space that once housed Beans & Barlour. The menu features Japanese fruit sandwiches, avocado toasts, bagels, desserts and teas.
The Tampa Bay Rowdies secured their second win of the 2024 season after defeating Miami FC 5-2 Thursday night at Florida International University. The Rowdies remain unbeaten through their first five matches. Tampa Bay will return to Al Lang Stadium for an April 20 matchup against El Paso Locomotive FC.
The Wall Street Journal recently named Tampa Bay the nation’s fourth “hottest job market.” The publication analyzed workforce size, wage growth and unemployment rates to compile its rankings. Tampa placed first in wage growth and added about 12,000 jobs in the past year.
The City of St. Petersburg invites residents to join Mayor Ken Welch and council members at its annual Budget Open House at City Hall. The meeting is Tuesday, April 16, at 6 p.m. Attendees will hear an overview of the budget process and remarks from city officials and have an opportunity to express their thoughts. For more information, visit the website here.
Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas and West Pasco Counites celebrated providing six new homeownership opportunities this week, with four in St. Petersburg. The home dedications began Monday in Tarpon Springs before moving south. Habitat’s busy week follows a recent report stating that Tampa Bay households must now earn $116,000 annually to secure a mortgage.
The Dali Museum's new AI-fueled visitor experience "Ask Dali" debuts today. Created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the machine-learning company behind "Dali Lives" (2019) and the "Dream Tapestry" exhibit (2023), the new technological experience invites visitors to pick up a "lobster phone" and ask "Dali" a question. Museum director Hank Hine asked “Ask Dalí” what would a visitor to the Dalí Museum be sure to see? “Ask Dalí” responded: “In the labyrinth of the imagination that unfurls within the Dalí Museum of St. Petersburg, one must seek the melting clocks in ‘The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory,’ where time drips like a dream refusing to be contained.” "Ask Dali" was created using GPT-4 from OpenAI and Eleven Multilingual V2 from ElevenLabs.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area ranked 12th nationally in a study comparing inflation rates released Wednesday. Personal finance platform Wallet Hub utilized the recently released Consumer Price Index data to compare the 23 largest metros. Prices in the Tampa Bay region increased by .9% compared to two months prior and 3.3% year-over-year. That represents a .6% decrease from WalletHub’s report in March.
