Florida is among the states with the largest growth in women-owned businesses in 2019, according to the annual State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, commissioned by American Express (NYSE: AXP). Only Michigan and Georgia had bigger gains, a news release said. Nationally, women-owned businesses represent 42 percent of all businesses, employ 9.4 million workers and generate revenue of $1.9 trillion. Over half of all women-owned businesses are concentrated in three industries: services such as hair and nail salons and pet care businesses; healthcare and social assistance, including child day care; and professional, scientific, and technical services, which takes in lawyers, bookkeepers, architects, public relations firms and consultants.
University of South Florida St. Petersburg has opened Support-A-Bull Market, a food pantry intended to fend off hunger for students living with food insecurity on and off campus. The campus community hopes the establishment of the pantry will provide benefits for students such as better nutrition and mental health as well as improved focus in class and higher GPAs, a news release said. Located at the Student Life Center, it has space to collect and distribute goods, from canned foods to pasta to toiletries, and it is open to all active USFSP students. A similar pantry, Feed-A-Bull at USF Tampa, has distributed more than 24,000 pounds of food to students in need.
Cogent Bank has hired longtime local banking leader Jackie McIntosh to head its Pinellas County operation as market president. McIntosh will open executive and commercial lending offices in Pinellas County next month, followed by a retail banking center in Clearwater next spring, a news release said. McIntosh, who most recently was market president, Florida division, for Valley Bank, is hiring experienced bankers with Pinellas roots to work at Cogent, an Orange City-based bank with $207 million in assets. Cogent also has expanded into Hillsborough County, with a retail office expected to open in Tampa's Westshore district this fall.
Greyhound has found a new home in Pinellas Park. The intercity bus transportation company will operate out of Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority's terminal at 3801 70th Ave. N. Greyhound transported nearly 20,000 passengers last year at its former St. Petersburg location on 9th Street North, but the pick up spot was not centrally located or well-marked. The new PSTA Greyhound terminal at the Shoppes at Park Place will be easier for passengers to spot. It also will generate new revenue for PSTA, as Greyhound leases the terminal, a news release said. Greyhound will operate seven days a week, departing from PSTA’s Pinellas Park center at 8:20 a.m., 3:15 p.m., 4:40 p.m., and 6:30 p.m., and will offer the first weekend service from St. Petersburg to Tampa.
One in five people who called a free public phone line established by WellCare Health Plans Inc. to provide social service referrals asked for help with family support services, including prenatal and parenting education, child care, and child welfare-related service. The next most common requests were for help with food access and transportation (16 percent each), utilities assistance (11 percent), medication assistance (7 percent) and housing (6 percent), a news release from WellCare (NYSE: WCG) said. WellCare, a Tampa managed health care provider, reviewed more than 106,000 social service referrals made through the company's Community Connections program in the first half of 2019. The data adds to a growing body of research around how social factors impact health risks and outcomes, WellCare said.
The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico approved $36 million in industrial revenue bonds and $250,000 in Local Economic Development Act funds for Jabil. The St. Petersburg-based electronics manufacturer plans a 3D printing center of excellence in Albuquerque and add 120 jobs at its plant in that city. New Mexico is expected to commit up to $750,000 in LEDA dollars, according to a report in commercial real estate journal Connect. Jabil (NYSE: JBL) intends to invest about $42 million in the new center of excellence.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area jumped slightly in August to 3.5 percent, from 3.4 percent in July. Job demand continued to be strong however, with the area adding 21,300 new private-sector jobs in the last year, according to an announcement from Gov. Ron DeSantis. The industries with the highest growth over the year in the Tampa area were professional and business services with 6,000 new jobs and construction with 5,200 new jobs. There were 58,697 job openings in the Tampa area in August, including 18,471 openings in high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations.
The St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport was awarded a$19.75 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration for its runway rehabilitation project. The project includes asphalt pavement rehabilitation and new edge lighting and is expected to be complete by spring 2021, the airport said in a news release. The airport received $900,000 from the Florida Department of Transportation for the project design and construction and the airport is committing $3.43 million to the project’s $24.1 million total cost. The Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to accept the FAA grant at its Sept. 24 meeting.
BayCare Health System has opened BayCare HealthHub, a 115,000-square-foot high-tech health and wellness destination at 2470 Bloomingdale Ave. in Valrico. The HealthHub integrates traditional health care services with wellness activities. There are no waiting rooms and patients check in only once at a central registration desk for multiple health and wellness services. The facility also has BayCare's second TechDeck, a resource for health and wellness technology which provides advanced and high-tech products that can be connected to personal digital devices. The first TechDeck opened in 2018 at the HealthHub facility in Largo.
Privately-held specialty pharmacy company AnazaoHealth Corp. has acquired 5401 Hangar Court, a 44,100-square-foot industrial facility adjacent to Tampa International Airport. The sale price was $6.4 million, according to ConnectFlorida, a commercial real estate news site. Thompson Cigar occupied the property for the last 40 years but closed the site earlier this year after Thompson was acquired. AnazaoHealth Corp. will occupy the property upon completion of interior improvements. JLL represented the seller, RMF Realty, in the transaction and Avocat Group represented AnazaoHealth.
Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas and West Pasco Counties has increased its minimum wage to $13.50 an hour and plans to increase it again to $15 an hour in 2020. Local Habitat leaders see the wage hike "as an opportunity to lead the way for nonprofits to do our part to ensure our talent is making a livable wage," Mike Sutton, president and CEO, said in a news release. Florida’s minimum wage is currently set at $8.46 an hour, and one in six families in the state spend more than half of their income on housing. "With these wage increases we aim to support our employees, who work tirelessly to create affordable housing solutions for others, with their own stability," Sutton said.
Bunker Labs, a national non-profit helping veteran entrepreneurs, has opened its first Florida chapter in Tampa. The local chapter has three volunteers leaders — Erik Maltais, Bill Quigley and Valerie Lavin — who have spent the last six months building momentum for the new chapter by establishing strong business connections and speaking with veterans and entrepreneurs throughout the Tampa area, a news release said. The organization plans a ribbon cutting ceremony and reception on September 26 at SOFWERX.
