All work has been completed on the Interstate 275 operational improvements in Tampa's Westshore area and the project has been final accepted by the Florida Department of Transportation. Construction on the $31 million design-build project began in June 2019 and was completed within contract time and budget, according to FDOT. The project has provided congestion relief to both directions of I-275 by adding lanes to eliminate traffic merges in the State Road 60 area. Additional pavement was also built to improve traffic flow on the northbound I-275 exit ramp to SR 60/Kennedy Boulevard, the eastbound SR 60 entrance onto northbound I-275, and the northbound I-275 area between the Westshore Boulevard and Lois Avenue interchanges.
Trellis at the Lakes, a 688-unit apartment community in north St. Petersburg, has sold for $114 million. The buyer was Stoneweg US, according to Multi-Housing News. Stoneweg is a multifamily real estate investment firm based in St. Petersburg. The seller, ESG Kullen, bought the property in 2016 for $80.9 million. Trellis at the Lakes is located at 11401 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N. It was built in 1981 and has 384 one-bedroom and 304 two-bedroom apartments, across 46 buildings. It also has a fitness and business center, a clubhouse, tennis and basketball court, six laundry facilities and two swimming pools. ESG Kullen was represented by Mark Meland and Bryan Vega of the Meland Budwick law firm in Miami.
In honor of Holocaust Education Week, the Florida Holocaust Museum will host two virtual events. The first, to be held tonight (Nov. 9) at 6:30 p.m., is the museum's annual Kristallnacht commemoration. Also known as the Night of Broken Glass, Kristallnacht was the night when Nazis burned synagogues, destroyed Jewish homes and businesses and killed Jewish people. Tonight's event features a discussion with Mark Wygoda, the son of a German-born Polish Jew who defied the Nazis throughout the war. To attend, click here. Friday at 11 a.m., students and educators can watch a 45-minute livestreamed event including a theatrical performance and concert based on the book The Children of Willesden Lane, which tells the story of the power of music and how one teenage refugee held onto her dreams, survived the Holocaust and inspired a generation. They will also have opportunities to interact with author Mona Golabek. To register, click here.
The Equal Justice Initiative, in partnership with the Pinellas Remembers Community Remembrance Project Coalition, has announced an essay scholarship contest and an art scholarship contest open to public high school students in Pinellas County. Both the essay and art contests require students to examine the history of a topic of racial injustice and to discuss or explore its legacy today. Submissions should explain the chosen topic using a specific historical event, explore how the injustice persists and imagine solutions for a future free from racial injustice. Students are also encouraged to reflect on how the topic impacts their own lives and communities. For more information, click here.
The Florida Department of Health reported 303 additional cases of Covid-19 in Pinellas County on Sunday, bringing the cumulative total to 27,675 cases. The number of new cases has topped 300 for two out of the last three days. No additional deaths were reported Sunday in Pinellas County as a result of Covid. The cumulative total of deaths stands at 831. The positivity rate has averaged 5.6 percent for the past two weeks. After jumping to 8.31 percent on Friday, it fell back to 5.98 percent on Saturday. Pinellas County hospitals as a group have about 31.1 available capacity as of Sunday, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration, although there is a wide range in capacity between individual hospitals, with the most open beds at Palms of Pasadena Hospital and the fewest at St. Anthony's Hospital.
The Florida Department of Health reported another 180 cases of Covid-19 Saturday but no new deaths, keeping the county’s total at 831 since the start of the pandemic. As of Saturday, the county now has 27,372 positive cases and a rolling two-week positivity rate of 5.6 percent, with an 8.36 percent positivity rate reported on Friday. Five percent is the number that some public health officials say should be a threshold for potential restrictions, although state and federal reopening guidelines cite a 10 percent threshold for imposing restrictions. The St. Pete Catalyst has a daily update on total cases by ZIP code, which you can find here.
Todd Jennings, a partner and attorney with Macfarlane Ferguson and McMullan, is one seven people appointed to the board of directors of the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation. The organization, known as the Able Trust, provides opportunities for successful employment to Floridians with disabilities. Jennings, who lives in Belleair, is the father of a child with autism, and has volunteered with Suncoast Tiger Bay Club, Rotary Club of Clearwater, University of Tampa Board of Counselors and the LiFT Academy Development Council, according to a news release from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who made the appointments.
Basha Ferdinand, accelerator program manager at Tampa Bay Wave, has been named to PCMA's "20 in their Twenties" class of 2021. The group represents 20 of the brightest and most talented global professionals from the next generation of business events leaders, PCMA, a global network for business event strategists, said in a news release. The “20 in Their Twenties” class of 2021, supported by PCMA Foundation and Experience Columbus, will be honored at the PCMA Convening Leaders conference Jan. 11 - Jan. 15. Ferdinand has worked at Tampa Bay Wave since 2018, and has been accelerator program manager since January 2019. Prior to Wave, she worked for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Best Buddies, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, will host its annual Champions of the Year Gala both virtually and in person at the Centre Club in downtown Tampa Thursday, Nov. 12. The derby-themed event will feature live and silent auctions and videos showcasing Best Buddies mission, along with a recorded message from Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. The nonprofit will also name its Champion of the Year at the event. For more information and to RSVP, click here. To read previous coverage of Best Buddies, click here.
The City of St. Petersburg will hold its seventh annual Veteran's Day celebration Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 8 a.m. at Williams Park Veterans Memorial. This year’s Honored Veteran Awards will be presented to the late Dr. Bill Heller, former dean at the University of South Florida's St. Petersburg campus and Army veteran and Jim Nixon, LGBTQ Liaison with the City of St. Petersburg who is a Navy veteran. Capacity at the event will be limited and attendees will be expected to maintain social distance and wear masks when within 6 feet of one another. For more information, click here.
A federal judge in Tampa has sentenced two Pinellas County men to federal prison, for their role in a property-sale fraud scheme. The men, Ronald Carapellucci of Clearwater and Manuel Parrado of St. Petersburg, pleaded guilty in July. They were accused of conspiring with others to take money from people who wanted to sell their timeshare or other properties, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida. Prosecutors said the conspirators impersonated attorneys and real estate professionals when they called victims and said they had buyers for their properties, then asked for advance payments for fees purportedly associated with the sales. The conspirators continued to ask for money until their victims ran out of money or became aware of the scam, prosecutors said. Carapellucci was sentenced to six years and Parrado was sentenced to two-and-a-half years. Several related defendants also have pleaded guilty in the case, which the St. Petersburg Police Department helped investigate.
