Happy 4th of July from your team at the St. Pete Catalyst. We'll be off for a couple of days. The next Daily Spark drops on Tuesday the 6th. Be safe!
Residents near Tyrone Square Mall may be able to enjoy some hot doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. Design and engineering consultant group Kimley-Horn has filed a permit application with the Southwest Florida Water Management District that reveals plans to redevelop a parking lot at 6901 22nd Ave. N. into a drive-thru Krispy Kreme restaurant. Site plans for the "Krispy Kreme Tyrone Square Mall" project call for the 2,975-square-foot doughnut shop to be built at the mall near the Hooters restaurant and Dillard's department store.
The red tide levels are slightly improving in certain parts of Pinellas County. Over the past week, K. brevis, the organism responsible for red tide, was observed at nearly nonexistent levels to high concentrations in and offshore of Pinellas County (in 29 samples). Water samples taken Tuesday at beaches from Pass-A-Grille to Fred Howard Park had low concentrations. However, high and medium concentrations were found off Fort De Soto Park beaches. Meanwhile, nearly nonexistent levels to high concentrations were found in Hillsborough County (in 36 samples), nearly nonexistent levels to medium concentrations were found in Manatee County (in 23 samples), which were also found in Sarasota County (in 13 samples). Stay updated on the latest red tide status here.
Announced in March, a merger between SYNNEX Corp. and Tech Data was originally valued at $7.2 billion. A bump in the SYNNEX stock price increased that number to $8 billion. The stock and net debt deal is expected to close later this year, following regulatory approval.
Quality Distribution Inc.’s sale of its Quality Carriers bulk liquid chemical truck transportation business to CSX Corp. became official on Thursday. In a related move, Quality Distribution, a Tampa-based logistics and transportation company, has rebranded to Boasso Global Inc., taking the name of its other wholly owned subsidiary business. Joe Troy, formerly the CFO of Quality Distribution, has been named CEO of Boasso Global, according to a news release. “We are tremendously excited about the future of Boasso Global and our ability to focus all of our efforts on continuing to expand our global footprint to better provide our customers with the market-leading services they have come to expect from Boasso Global,” Troy stated in the release. “At the same time, we wish continued success to our friends at Quality Carriers as they transition to CSX.”
Women’s Tennis Association player Danielle Collins, a St. Petersburg native, lost her second-round match at the Championships, Wimbledon, on Wednesday, suffering a 2-6, 0-6 defeat at the hands of Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland. In her first-round match at the All England Club in London, Collins gritted out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Polona Hercog of Slovenia.
Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was in a stingy mood Wednesday night during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena, allowing just one goal amid a barrage of more than 40 shots by the Montreal Canadiens. The Bolts were not nearly as prolific on offense but got goals from Anthony Cirelli, Ondrej Palat and Blake Coleman, whose diving, highlight-reel score in the final second of the second period broke a 1-1 tie, electrified the home crowd and seemed to deflate the visiting Canadiens, who, up until that point, had been the dominant team. The Lightning, now leading the series 2-0, travel to Montreal for Game 3, set for 8 p.m. Friday.
Earlier this week, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority unveiled four new electric depot bus chargers. The chargers, located in the bus lot at PSTA headquarters, were purchased through a federal grant along and nearly a $160,000 commitment from Duke Energy. Data collected from the PSTA chargers will be used for learning purposes about electric transit bus usage. PSTA now has a total of six chargers. The new chargers, which take about four hours to fully recharge an electric bus, come as PSTA is acquiring more electric buses for its fleet. PSTA is expected to have a total of eight electric buses by 2022.
Tampa-based innovation and coworking hub Embarc Collective has released its "State of Florida Entrepreneurship Survey." The annual survey is to gauge what the local startup ecosystem is and the current needs. Those who are entrepreneurs or aspire to be can take the survey here. The survey responses will be kept confidential and demographic information will only be used in aggregate.
Pro tennis player Danielle Collins, a St. Petersburg native, won her first-round match at the Championships, Wimbledon, on Monday, defeating world No. 77 Polona Hercog of Slovenia 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Wimbledon, the grass-court Grand Slam tournament played at the All England Club in London, was canceled last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Collins, currently ranked No. 124 on the Women’s Tennis Association tour, faces No. 121 Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland in her second-round match at the Championships.
The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-1 in the series opener Monday night at Amalie Arena. The teams stay in Tampa for game 2 on Wednesday.
St. Petersburg police are seeking information regarding the fatal shooting of Benjamin Goff, 41, who died on June 25 during an incident that occurred around 5 p.m. at the Landmark Hotel, 1930 4th St. N. A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered. To submit an anonymous tip, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS or or text “SPPD” plus your tip to TIP411.
