Several hospitals and healthcare facilities in Pinellas County owned and operated by HCA Healthcare will unveil new names, signage and websites in September. The facilities include St. Petersburg General Hospital, Northside Hospital, Palms of Pasadena Hospital, and Largo Medical Center's three campuses. They will adopt the HCA Florida Healthcare brand, a news release said. The move is designed to unite 49 hospital campuses, 350 care sites, physicians and other employees across Florida. “A strong, statewide brand will help create a cohesive experience for our patients, physicians and communities," Chuck Hall, national group president at HCA Healthcare, said in the news release. The local facilities, along with others in the organization's East and West Florida divisions and in Tallahassee, will rebrand in September. HCA Healthcare facilities in the Panhandle, Jacksonville, Orlando and North Central Florida will be updated in 2022.
City Council member Robert Blackmon submitted his letter of resignation over the weekend, effective Jan 5, 2022. As Florida requires candidates to resign any public office before becoming a candidate for another public office, the move is a strong indicator that he will run for Mayor.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg area is among the markets where housing affordability declined in March, according to First American Financial Corp. First American (NYSE: FAF) compiles a monthly “real house price index” that measures the price changes of single-family properties throughout the United States, adjusted for the impact of income and interest rate changes on consumer house-buying power over time. Because it adjusts for house-buying power, it is a measure of housing affordability, First American said in a news release. Nationally, housing affordability on a year-over-year basis declined in March for the first time since January 2019, according to Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American. Kansas City, Missouri saw the greatest decline in housing affordability, followed by Phoenix and the Tampa metro area. Although mortgage rates are low and household incomes held steady, housing prices increased about 18 percent in the Tampa metro and outpaced those factors, according to a blog post by Fleming.
Effective June 11, more fans will be able to attend Tampa Bay Rowdies matches when Al Lang Stadium returns to full capacity for the team’s match against Loudoun United FC; however, according to a new release issued Monday, socially distant seating “pods” will remain available throughout the stadium. The Rowdies, who are off to a 4-0 start, also announced that facial coverings will be optional for fans who’ve been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. With more seating capacity available, single-game ticket sales open on Wednesday at noon. Season ticket holders and RowdieCoin holders will be able to buy single-game tickets starting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.
Wow Wow Hawaiian Lemonade has signed a multi-unit franchise agreement to open five locations in Florida. Franchisees Andrew and Anju Lynn, owners of XPLOR Inc., plan to open a Wow Wow location to Sarasota by the end of 2021, and will then expand to Tampa, St. Petersburg, Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch, a news release said. They also plan a Wow Wow food truck to visit events throughout the west coast of Florida, beginning in August. Wow Wow, a fast-casual restaurant, was founded in Hawaii in 2012 and specializes in craft lemonades as well as foods such as acai bowls, grain bowls, flatbread sandwiches, and multigrain avocado and nut butter toasts. It currently has eight locations in the United States and two international sites and was named to Fast Casual's "20 Brands to Watch" list in 2020.
IMCS Group will change its name to Ascellus Behavioral Health, effective Monday, May 24. IMCS is a St. Petersburg company that specializes in mental health treatment for workers who’ve been injured on the job. The company received an $8 million capital investment in July, with an additional investment of an undisclosed amount in November, and has been growing rapidly. In an email, CEO Lori Daugherty said technology advances and increased acceptance of the role of mental health in healing have driven the demand for integrated provider services. Although the company has expanded, renamed and redesigned its brand identity, the team will remain the same, she said.
A federal judge in Tampa sentenced former credit union employee Diamond Hamilton to two years in federal prison for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Hamilton and others engaged in a scheme to defraud the credit union by fraudulently obtaining money under the credit union’s control, a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida said. Hamilton accessed bank account information of the account holders at the credit union without their knowledge or permission and added email addresses controlled by other conspirators in the scheme, according to the release. Hamilton also added and/or changed online passwords associated with the victims’ accounts, then caused funds to be transferred from the victims’ bank accounts to accounts controlled by her and other co-conspirators. The funds were subsequently withdrawn and shared amongst the conspirators, the news release said. The name of the credit union was not disclosed. Hamilton pleaded guilty in February to the charges.
Breeze Airways, a brand-new airline created by JetBlue founder David Neeleman, has chosen Tampa International Airport as its inaugural market. The carrier's first flight is to Charleston, S.C. and will depart May 27. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Breeze Airways' debut network will be comprised of 39 nonstop routes between 16 cities in the Southwest, Midwest, Southeast and Eastern U.S. with Tampa, Charleston, New Orleans and Norfolk, Va. serving as its main hubs. Breeze will fly nonstop to 10 destinations, most of which are currently not served at TIA. These destinations include Charleston, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norfolk, Bentonville/Fayetteville, Ark., Akron/Canton, Ohio, Richmond, Va., Columbus, Ohio and Huntsville, Ala.
St. Pete's LLC has formally withdrawn plans to build a sports complex and apartments at 1501 72nd St. N. The company is considering other options that would be allowed under existing zoning and future land use map categories, according to a May 19 update on the city of St. Petersburg's website. Les Porter, president of Porter Development, which wanted to develop the project, told the St. Pete Catalyst Friday morning that he plans to buy the property and then reassess development options. "After spending two years of due diligence on this property, we are confident in the quality of the real estate we are purchasing," Porter said. The site formerly was occupied by Raytheon, an aerospace and defense firm that has been cleaning up groundwater contamination on site. The St. Petersburg City Council voted in February to back the project, despite fierce opposition from some neighbors. Forward Pinellas, a countywide land use and transportation planning agency, voted in March against recommending approval of the plan to the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners.
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the $64 million Imagine Clearwater public park, schedule for May 24, have been postponed. Mayor Frank Hibbard told Clearwater City Council that the delay was temporary, until commodities prices on lumber, steel and other construction materials decreased.
Two St. Petersburg hospitals will put their names on St. Pete Pier attractions under an ordinance approved Thursday by the St. Petersburg City Council. Bayfront Health St. Petersburg will pay $750,000 over five years for naming rights to the Tilted Lawn, while Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital will pay $250,000 over five years to put its name on the tram that travels the length of the Pier. Bayfront, acquired last year by Orlando Health, wants to demonstrate continuing support of and commitment to the city, while Johns Hopkins All Children's views the Pier as a healthy destination for youth, the St. Pete Catalyst previously reported. The city has been marketing naming rights opportunities for selected areas of the St. Pete Pier District to help offset future operating costs. In October, the City Council approved a 30-year agreement with the Glazer Vision Foundation, which made a $1.5 million donation to the city in return for naming rights for what is now the Glazer Family Pier playground.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman spoke out Thursday on speculation that he will run for the 13th District Congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Charlie Crist. Kriseman, who is term limited and will leave the mayor's office in early 2022 after eight years in office, said he's been involved in public service for 21 years. "I want it to be meaningful, where I feel I can make a real difference," he said during an impromptu media gathering. "If I feel ultimately in consultation with my family that we think that I can make a difference and change lives in a positive way, then that may be what's right for me ... If I get in, I get in to win." Kriseman said he knows both of the Democratic candidates who already have jumped into the congressional race, Rep. Ben Diamond and Eric Lynn, a former national security advisor to President Barack Obama. Crist announced he would run for governor earlier this month.
