A $150,000 donation from Stoneweg US will help restore more than 25,000 acres of native forests and maintain native ecosystems in Florida and in Texas. Stoneweg US, a multifamily real estate investment and development firm headquartered in St. Petersburg, made the donation in a partnership with the nonprofit Arbor Day Foundation. The foundation will plant 150,000 trees in the Texas Longleaf Pine Forest and at Florida Eglin Air Force Base, a news release said. Stoneweg US will enlist its property management partners to help with activation by planting 10 trees for every new and renewed lease that is signed at the 44 participating properties with more than 10,000 apartments. The foundation's mission aligns with the principles and values held by Stoneweg, CEO Patrick Richard said. More details are here.
The St. Petersburg City Council meeting scheduled for Thursday has been canceled because multiple people who work at City Hall have tested positive for the coronavirus. The decision was made by Council Chairman Ed Montinari, according to Ben Kirby, Mayor Rick Kriseman’s communications director. Kirby, speaking to the Catalyst, said it’s his understanding that all agenda items for this week’s will be deferred to a later date.
With construction of the 1.8-mile, 14-turn track set to commence this morning, preparations are officially underway for the 17th annual Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Normally held in March, the race was rescheduled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year’s race was postponed at the last minute but eventually took place in October, with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden taking the checkered flag.
A federal jury has found Leslie Pagan of Tampa guilty of conspiracy to distribute over one kilogram of heroin and a quantity of fentanyl, distribution of fentanyl resulting in death and eight counts of distribution of heroin or fentanyl. Pagan, 40, faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 20 years, and up to life, in federal prison. She was indicted on Aug. 27, 2020, along with Jackylin Bonifacio and Steven Echevarria, with whom she was engaged in a conspiracy to distribute heroin. Prior to trial, Bonifacio and Echevarria both pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute over one kilogram of heroin, and Bonifacio testified against Pagan. The case was investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Tampa Police Department, the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, ranked No. 40 on the Women’s Tennis Association Tour, lost her second-round match at the Miami Open on Friday. She was defeated in straight sets by Veronika Kudermetova of Russia. The 25th-ranked Kudermetova faced no break points in the 6-3, 6-2 win. Collins defeated world No. 6 Kristina Mladenovic of France in straight sets in her first-round match at the tournament.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday announced the appointment of Nathan Stonecipher, owner of Green Bench Brewery in St. Petersburg, to the St. Petersburg College District Board of Trustees. Stonecipher is a graduate of St. Petersburg College and is also a member of the Florida Brewers Guild, Leadership St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. DeSantis also appointed Palm Harbor resident Jason Butts to the college's board of trustees. Butts, a vice president at SimplyIOA and Insurance Office of America, also serves on the board of the YMCA of North Pinellas and Greater Palm Harbor.
Concerned Residents of Carillon, a group opposed to the construction of a Topgolf facility in their northern St. Petersburg neighborhood, on Wednesday filed an appeal in Pinellas County Circuit Court that seeks to overturn last month’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the City of St. Petersburg and Topgolf developers. The Carillon group filed suit in November 2019 against the city, saying residents would be “irreparably harmed” by the project, which they argue would bring unacceptable levels of late-night noise and traffic to the area.
The City of St. Petersburg has hired an environmental firm to assess part of the Tropicana Field site to determine the location of an historic African American cemetery. University of South Florida researchers have said the site was home to St. Petersburg's Oaklawn Cemetery complex. As part of plans for redeveloping the Trop site, the city hired Cardo Environmental, Sophia Sorolis, the city's director of economic and workforce development, told the City Council Thursday. "They are embarking on doing an assessment of site starting today," Sorolis said. "We anticipate it will take two weeks and we want to be finished with the assessment prior to Rays opening day, April 9." The site is located west of the baseball stadium and west of 16th Street South, on a paved parking lot where Covid-19 tests currently are being conducted. The environmental firm is working around those tests.
Wilson Human Capital Group in Tampa has received a $120 million equity investment from 3i Group plc. The funding will accelerate WilsonHCG’s strategic growth initiatives and continued global expansion, a news release said. When British-based 3i Group announced the deal in February, it said WilsonHCG's recruitment process outsourcing sector has grown at a double-digit rate due to continued outsourcing adoption by new clients, further penetration with existing clients and increased hiring driven by greater employee mobility. Post the Covid-19 pandemic, the market is expected to return to historical levels of growth, 3i said in a news release.
AM Best, a credit rating agency specializing in the insurance industry, withdrew its ratings from American Capital Assurance Corp. AmCap, based in St. Petersburg, said it no longer wanted to take part in AM Best’s interactive rating process, according to a news release. AM Best downgraded the financial strength rating and the long-term issuer credit rating of AmCap earlier this month. AmCap, a commercial property and flood insurance company, had net underwriting losses from multiple severe weather events in the second half of 2020, particularly in Louisiana, as well as losses from the Texas freeze weather event in February, AM Best said. AmCap management has communicated near-term strategic initiatives that are designed to immediately improve risk-adjusted capitalization and stabilize operating results, according to AM Best. Demotech, another insurance industry credit rating agency, separately has withdrawn its rating from AmCap.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that the age-eligibility requirement for Covid-19 vaccination will be lowered to residents 40 and over on March 29. Ages 18 and older will be eligible for vaccination beginning April 5. As of Wednesday, more than 5.2 million Floridians had been vaccinated.
Dunedin-based Achieva Credit Union has topped, for the first time in its long history, $2 billion in total assets. Achieva was founded in 1937 by a group of Pinellas County teachers and now serves Gulf Coast communities from Pasco County in the north to Lee County in the south. According to a news release, the credit union’s total assets grew to $2.1 billion in 2020, good for an increase of 18.8 percent over 2019’s $1.8 billion. Achieve was an active participant in the Paycheck Protection Program, processing 989 PPP loans for area businesses worth a total of $39 million.
