Florida Funders, a Tampa-based hybrid of a venture capital fund and an angel investor network, are set to close on $50 million-plus of funds for its Fund 2 LLC on Oct. 31. Through its Fund 2 LLC, the investor network has invested in startups such as Intecrowd, Grow Credit and Kliken.
As part of the ongoing upgrades to the city's sewer system, St. Pete Beach is conducting construction along Gulf Boulevard and 55th Avenue. The construction will continue for about two weeks and is followed by PTSA installing a new bus stop south of 55th Avenue on the west side of the road. This will cause daily lane closures of the outside lane until the project is complete around Thanksgiving day.
Tampa Bay Rays rookie phenom Randy Arozarena may be home from the playoffs, but his little brother now awaits his turn to experience a professional sport's postseason. Arozarena's younger brother Raiko Arozarena made his professional debut with the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Wednesday night, and his big brother was there to cheer him on from the stands. Similar to the Rays before them, the Rowdies clinched their division and home-field advantage with the win against Miami FC. The Rowdies begin their postseason run on Nov. 6 in Al Lang Stadium.
The St. Pete City Council approved a resolution Thursday to financially support an affordable housing development to be located at 6090 Central Ave. The project, dubbed Sixty90, would receive $5 million in Penny for Pinellas funding for the development through the land acquisition program. The project is being developed by DDA Development in Tampa and Backstreets Capital in St. Petersburg. The 204-unit development would have 90% workforce housing. The Sixty90 developer is expected to start construction in the first quarter of 2022 and has estimated a total project cost of roughly $49.73 million.
Pinellas County is now accepting applications for two vacancies on its Historic Preservation Board. Commissioner Charlie Justice also has an appointment position available. Board members serve a three-year term that begins on Jan. 1, 2022. Service on the board is voluntary, and the board is comprised of nine members and two alternates. Each member of the county commission nominates one member, and the commission jointly nominates two at-large members and two alternates. Preservation Board members must be community advocates, municipal representatives and historic preservation professionals with expertise or knowledge of the historic preservation field. Applications can be found on the county website and are accepted until 3 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 12.
Those crossing the Corey Causeway bridge may experience delays for a few weeks, as the City of St. Pete Beach has announced a temporary lane reduction until Nov. 11. Westbound traffic on the causeway between Pasadena and St. Pete Beach is now reduced to one lane while a county contractor replaces a broken reclaimed water pipe. The pipe is attached beneath the bridge, and contractors are using barges for the project, which may also impact waterway vessels. The lane closure extends from Matthews Road to Sun Island Drive and will remain closed around the clock until contractors remove the pipe. The county has notified both the Florida Department of Transportation and the U.S. coast guard. Once finished, the Pinellas County Utilities project will provide reclaimed water service to about 4,300 customers south of the bridge in Pasadena, St. Pete Beach, and Tierra Verde.
On Thursday, the St. Pete City Council approved in a 6-1 vote, with Councilman Robert Blackmon being the sole no vote, for the disposition of city-owned property on the southwest corner of 6th Ave. South and 22nd Street South in the area known as The Deuces. The approved lease agreement is between the City of St. Petersburg and The Sankofa Vision Group LLC for the leasing of commercial space. The Sankofa facility is being designed to accommodate as many as 58 traditional and micro spaces for retail, office and food service tenants as well as entertainment venues. A digital and creative tech incubator is also part of the plan and is expected to help bridge start-ups into the city’s emerging venture capital pipeline. Sankofa will return to the city with a guaranteed maximum price for the right-of-work of Fairfield Avenue and then the overall cost of the project.
"Loves Shines," an mural art installation by Ya La'Ford at 330 Beach Drive, will be illuminated during a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The community project mural was commissioned for the 2021 SHINE Mural Festival.
Clearwater-based KnowBe4, Inc. (NASDAQ: KNBE), a provider of the world's largest security awareness training, announced that it has entered into a material definitive agreement to acquire California-based SecurityAdvisor for approximately $80 million. The purchase will be paid through a combination of cash and stock with both upfront and earnout components. The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2021. The acquisition will create a new category for KnowBe4. The innovative SecurityAdvisor technology utilizes integrations with over 50 leading vendors in the cybersecurity ecosystem to identify and correlate human behavior-driven security alerts. The new category of security would be called Human Detection and Response, or HDR. "The future integration of KnowBe4’s existing security awareness platform with real-time user behavior activity and micro-learning will be a new milestone in defending against social engineering attacks," the release read.
The Tampa Bay Rowdies look to close out another successful regular season against the Miami FC tonight. The match begins at 7:30 p.m. in Al Lang Stadium and will feature a matchup of two playoff teams. Miami FC recently clinched a spot in the playoffs but will have their work cut out for them against the Atlantic Division champs. The Rowdies are almost unbeatable inside the friendly confines of Al Lang Stadium, winning 12 of 15 matches in St. Pete this season.
Target Freight Management Inc., a leading freight logistics company based in Pittsburgh, is opening a new office in Tampa. The addition of the Tampa office brings Target Freight to six locations nationwide. “We searched multiple markets and found Tampa to be the most plentiful in terms of potential employees who had the best mix of experience, talent, and a strong desire to work,” Tim Carey, EVP of Strategy at Target Freight Management, said in a news release. “Some of our new Tampa Bay hires have previous experience in flatbed hauling or B2B sales, which is always helpful. But what really stood out to me was how quickly they developed a team mentality and a positive energy as they worked with our training team to help solve our clients’ ever-changing supply chain problems.” The Tampa Bay employees will augment the company’s real-time freight logistics, sales and customer service efforts. The new Tampa office also includes space for a future expansion.
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority will be applying for a $15 million federal grant toward growing its electric bus fleet. The entire project includes 12 electric buses and charging stations along with associated technologies, which will cost $18 million. While the grant, if approved, would cover a large chunk of the project, PSTA will request to use revenue collected through the tolls in the state to cover the financial gap. A PSTA representative said they expect this to be a highly competitive grant. PSTA is also seeking other grants for additional projects. For its bus rapid transit SunRunner line, PSTA already received a commitment for $2.7 million for operations and a study of the line when it rolls out in 2022. PSTA has applied for an additional $1.8 million for the SunRunner project. PSTA has also applied for a $25 million grant through the RAISE grant, formerly known as BUILD and TIGER grants. The ask is for its new 75,000-square-foot, high-tech transit hub in Clearwater.
