Earth Fare, a specialty natural and organic grocery store and full-service supermarket, said it will close all its stores and its corporate office and liquidate its inventory. In a news release, the Asheville, North Carolina-based company said "continued challenges in the retail industry impeded the company's progress as well as its ability to refinance its debt." Earth Fare has four stores in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area: 7774 113th St. N. in Seminole, 3136 Tampa Rd. in Oldsmar, and 25535 Sierra Center Blvd. in Lutz. It also has a store at 11525 FL-70 E. in Lakewood Ranch. All employees have been notified, the news release said, but Earth Fare has not yet filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) in Florida.
Herr Valuation Advisors Inc., a Tampa-based real estate appraisal firm, has been acquired by BBG, a leading national commercial real estate due diligence firm in Dallas. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Herr Valuation is widely known for its extensive expertise in appraisals of various commercial property types in west-central Florida and elsewhere across the state, a news release said. Woodman Herr, Herr Valuation's founder and president, was named director at BBG's Tampa office. HVA's six employees will also join the BBG Tampa team at One Tampa City Center.
A $210,000 grant awarded to the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council was announced Friday in a release from Congressman Charlie Crist. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration, will go toward the development of a comprehensive economic development strategy for the Tampa Bay region. The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council includes Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco and Pinellas counties. The strategy process will bring together the public and private sectors to create a roadmap for economic development that is both stronger and more diverse. "Our fast growing region requires more and more collaboration at the county level because so many decisions, whether involving transportation or climate resiliency, are interrelated and need to be interconnected,” said Crist in the release. “This funding will allow the Regional Planning Council to create a roadmap for our economic future that maximizes our region’s strengths and prepares us for challenges down the road."
Cott Corp. has agreed to sell its S&D Coffee and Tea business to Westrock Coffee Company for $405 million. The S&D sale, along with the announcement of Cott's acquisition of Primo Water Corp. , positions Cott to be a pure-play water solutions provider, Tom Harrington, CEO of Cott, said in a news release. The S&D sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020. Cott (NYSE: COT), is a Tampa-based water and filtration service company that plans to change its name to Primo.
Shriners Hospitals for Children in Tampa and The Jackson Laboratory agreed to collaborate on research aimed at understanding the specific and individual genetic causes of orthopaedic conditions and disabilities. Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution in Bar Harbor, Maine. The research affiliation agreement calls for Shriners investigators to perform next-generation sequencing of DNA samples from its patient population. Investigators at Jackson will provide expertise on genomic data analysis tools, specialized knowledge bases and algorithms, and create mouse models to validate new discoveries and potential treatments for the targeted conditions, a news release said.
The CEO of the company that owns the Clearwater property slated to become a Lucky's Market before the grocery chain went bankrupt is confident in his prospects for the site. The property, at 2170 Gulf to Bay, has one of the highest traffic counts in Pinellas County. "Something else will come along," Paresh Patel, chairman and CEO of HCI Group Inc. (NYSE: HCI) told the St. Pete Catalyst. HCI subsidiary Greenleaf Capital owns the property, which was being developed as a Lucky's Market before Lucky's said last week it would close 32 of its 39 stores in 10 states, including a store at Tyrone Square in St. Petersburg. Lucky's has asset purchase agreements for 11 Florida stores with Aldi's and Publix Super Markets. The Clearwater property likely won't become a Publix, because there's already a Publix across the street, Patel said.
The city of St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg College are among the 330 employers named "Best Workplaces for Commuters." The 2020 list was released today by Best Workplaces for Commuters, a program managed by the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida with support from the Florida Department of Transportation. The list is made up of employers who meet the program's National Standard of Excellence by providing comprehensive commuter benefits. The complete list is here.
goPuff, a digital convenience delivery service headquartered in Philadelphia, said it would hire about a dozen operations employees and engage up to 50 driver partners as it launches in St. Petersburg. The St. Pete launch, effective Jan. 23, followed the 2019 launches of service in Tampa, New Port Richey and other Florida communities. goPuff stocks more than 2,500 products in centrally located facilities in each market in which it operates to bring products directly to the customer. In St. Pete, service is available from 12:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., seven days a week. Orders are accessible through the goPuff mobile app and can be delivered for a flat $1.95 delivery fee.
Tampa General Hospital reported $8.66 million in operating income for the three months ended Dec. 31. That was nearly 23 percent less than the $11.2 million in operating income the hospital reported in the same period a year ago, according to documents filed for bondholders. Operating revenue was $369.6 million for the just-ended first quarter of fiscal year 2020, up 7.6 percent compared to a year ago, but expenses jumped by 8.6 percent. The hospital's excess margin, typically used by hospitals cover investments in new technology and equipment, shrunk to 4.4 percent for Q1 2020, compared to 5.1 percent a year ago. Tampa General's parent company, Florida Health Sciences Center Inc., reported a 2.6 percent margin for Q1 2020, compared to 3.4 percent in Q1 2019.
he Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority was awarded $43,630 in federal grants to combat human trafficking. The funds, from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Authority, will be used to further train PSTA bus operators to better recognize indicators of passengers being trafficked and how to help them, a program PSTA began last year. The program, called "The Eyes of the City," consists of training such as looking for signs of a person being disoriented or confused, or showing signs of mental or physical abuse. To date, 117 bus operators have been trained, a news release from PSTA said. The program is a partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Truckers Against Human Trafficking and the Department of Homeland Security.
Verizon is providing a $100,000 grant to support St. Petersburg College’s African American Male Initiative, a program to help close the achievement gap for African American males. The initiative will help to build strategic programming focused on tutoring, mentoring, digital literacy and technology workforce development to prepare students for meaningful careers in our digitized workforce, a news release said. The City of St. Petersburg separately awarded SPC a $329,325 grant to provide focused educational and entrepreneurial training opportunities to African American male youth. The three-year city grant will support SPC’s PITCH program, which provides tuition assistance and mentoring for African American male youth to help them obtain workforce certificates and/or enroll in post-secondary programs, a news release said.
Tampa General Hospital is the new naming rights partner for the official training facility for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The facility, formerly called the Ice Sports Forum, is now the TGH Ice Plex. It's part of a multi-year partnership extension between the Lightning and Tampa General Hospital, a news release said. The partnership also includes in-ice logo placement at Amalie Arena. Financial terms were not disclosed. TGH Ice Plex, owned by Tom Bradley, is a privately funded, 18,000-square-foot, $6 million facility completed in 2018.
