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.
The Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail is almost 30 years old, and Pinellas County is celebrating with a special social media campaign. The first five miles of the trail opened on Dec. 5, 1990. Beginning Friday and continuing for 30 consecutive days, until Dec. 5, 2020, the county’s Facebook page will feature photos from locations on the trail. A new photo will be posted every day at 12:05 p.m. and trail enthusiasts will be encouraged to test their knowledge and guess where the photo was taken. At 9 p.m. every day, the location will be revealed. The Pinellas Trail is a linear park that stretches for 54 miles, from St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs and East Lake, and is used by 250,000 residents and visitors every month. It provides recreation and safe and affordable connectivity to many county amenities and locations.
JLL has arranged the sale of the bulk condominium interest in Gull Harbor, a multifamily property in North Redington Beach. The seller, InvestRes, divested from 237 units of the 263-unit property, according to commercial real estate news site Connect Florida. The property is located across the street from the beach, at 17105 Gulf Blvd. N. The buyer was a limited liability company associated with General Services Corp., a Richmond, Virginia company that provides apartment homes and apartment management services. The property sold for $55 million, according to an Oct. 27 deed filed in Pinellas County. The buyer got a mortgage from Berkeley Point Capital for $41.5 million, county records show. Matt Mitchell and Zach Nolan of JLL represented InvestRes in the transaction.
Forward Pinellas will host a “Bike Your City 2020” webinar about biking and the Safe Streets Pinellas program Nov. 13 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. The event which will bring together bike advocates, researchers and leaders from throughout the state for a discussion on the bike safety measures and how we can improve our roadways to be more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. Participants will be also able to view a photo montage of the pictures taken throughout the Bike Your City scavenger hunt through Safety Harbor, learn how to get free bike lights and see the final community art project created by the Bike Your City participants. To register for the event, click here.
Raymond James Financial will hold its 2021 annual shareholders meeting on Thursday, Feb. 18 at 4:30 p.m. The meeting will be conducted virtually online, the company said, citing the public health impact of Covid-19 and visitor restrictions at the corporate headquarters in St. Petersburg. Shareholders of record as of Dec. 21, 2020 will be able to participate in the virtual meeting online, vote their shares electronically and submit live questions. Raymond James Financial (NYSE: RJF), a financial services firm, reported record annual revenue of $7.99 billion for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. The company's net income of $818 million was down 21 percent from the prior year. Raymond James laid off about 4 percent of its global staff earlier this year, citing the pandemic and corresponding economic conditions.
St. Petersburg has resumed in-person meetings at City Hall, including the St. Petersburg City Council meeting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. The Council and other local government bodies had been meeting virtually online since April, to limit contact because of the Covid-19 pandemic. A state order allowing virtual meetings expired on Nov. 1. With the resumption of in-person meetings, public comments no longer will be available through Zoom or virtual platforms, the city said in a tweet posted earlier today. Anyone who wants to provide public input at the meetings is invited to attend the in-person meeting. Special accomodations can be made by contacting the City Clerk's office, the city said. Safety measures are in place for in-person meetings and masks are required.
Cabot Properties, an international private equity real estate investment firm, bought a pair of distribution warehouses in Pinellas Park. The warehouses, at 12210 62nd St. N. and 12310 62nd St. N., were built earlier this year, according to the Pinellas County property appraiser's office. Each warehouse has about 105,000 square feet. Cabot, through a limited liability company called CIVF VI-FL4Mo1-M01 LLC, paid $26.7 million for the property, a deed filed on Monday in Pinellas County said. The seller was Cypress Business Park LLC, a Lakeland company associated with Blue Steel Holdings. Cabot invests in, develops and operates industrial properties throughout North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. Cabot targets established and growing population centers with developed distribution networks, according to its website.
Publix Super Markets reported net earnings of $917.6 million for the three months ended Sept. 26, a 59.9 percent increase over the same period a year ago. Sales for the just-ended third quarter were $11.1 billion, an 18.3 percent increase from the third quarter of 2019. Publix attributed about $1.25 billion of its Q3 sales to the impact of the coronavirus. Effective Nov. 1, Publix’s stock price increased from $54.35 a share to $57.95 a share. Publix stock is not publicly traded and is made available for sale only to current Publix associates and members of its board of directors. Publix, based in Lakeland, is one of the largest employers in St. Petersburg, with 2,000 workers as of 2019.
Pinellas County Schools will be hosting a Power Hour online workshop Nov. 10 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. These workshops are aimed at providing parents, families and the community with the necessary tools and skills to support students academically, socially and emotionally. The topic of the upcoming workshop is "Dear Overwhelmed Mom" and will cover coping strategies, tapping into energy sources and tips on how to check expectations. To register, click here.
