USF Lakeland officials and members of the Tampa Bay Partnership met this week in Tallahassee with the Bay Area Legislative Delegation to discuss funding for the new USF Lakeland campus at the intersection of I-4 and the Polk Parkway. The Tampa Bay Partnership has made this project its No. 2 priority in the current Legislative session...
More than 100 regional leaders visited the University of South Florida Lakeland campus recently for the Tampa Bay Partnership's Chair's Leadership Breakfast on the PCC/USF Lakeland campus...
Gov. Charlie Crist met with University of South Florida and Polk County lawmakers today. But their pitch requesting $15 million to begin construction for a new USF campus in Lakeland was not necessary. Crist said he "loved" the idea, a reversal from last year when he vetoed the spending with little warning...
University of South Florida officials are hopeful that a new road being built helps pave the way for the creation of the school's Lakeland campus. Construction crews are widening Pace Road in Lakeland and extending it to the Polk Parkway, creating easier access to the proposed campus for the rest of the county...
Watson Clinic has begun construction on a 50,000-square-foot, three-story medical office building in Lakeland. Watson Clinic is spending $14 million on the project, according to a spokeswoman. The facility, at North Florida Avenue and East Bella Vista Street, will house the departments of otolaryngology, dermatology and dermatopathology. There will also be a medical spa with a private entrance and exit in the building and a hearing center. Eleven physicians and five...
By: Jane Meinhardt
LAKELAND -- Businesses and economic development interests expect a boost from a new MBA program planned by the University of South Florida Lakeland.
If all goes as anticipated, the university will offer the Polk County area's first masters in business administration program at a public institution in the fall. The university held focus groups and conducted surveys to gauge interest and the needs...
Since his arrival, USF Lakeland CEO Marshall Goodman's tagline has been "Dream no small dreams." Lakeland and Polk County listened and responded. President Judy Genshaft recently accepted two gifts totaling $10 million, given to support the construction of USF's new campus in Lakeland. Two of the region's premiere economic development organizations, the Central Florida Development Council and teh Lakeland Economic Development Council (LEDC), each gave $5 million...
If you're an industrial developer in Central Florida, you might find it difficult to imagine a time when Lakeland wasn't a hot spot for warehousing, and the name "Ruthven" wasn't a dominant force in that sector.But Joe P. Ruthven certainly remembers. The South Carolina native and former Lakeland mayor came to the city 50 years ago to sell tires and switched to warehouse construction when ...
Polk's commitment to the University of South Florida Lakeland Campus contines to grow. In September, the Polk County Commission gave $5 million toward the new school, and on Monday the Lakeland City Commission also came up with a plan to give $5 million over three years...
By: Kyle Kennedy
FedEx's $780 million purchase of Lakeland-based Watkins Motor Lines was one of the biggest stories in local business last year, but since closing the deal in September 2006, the Memphis-based shipping giant has kept a low profile in Polk County.Officials say they have completed a massive overhaul of Watkins' national trucking...
Pepperidge Farm Inc. announced Monday it will expand its high capacity bread production facility in Lakeland to a total of 320,000 square feet. The expansion will increase the plant's production capacity by 31 million loaves annually.
The Norwalk, Conn.-based company did not reveal the price of the expansion...
By: Kevin Bouffard
LAKELAND - Any financial institutions that want to be a player in Polk County business banking will focus on small business, the largest pool of potential clients. Even the local operations of the large regional banks, such as SunTrust, and the national banks, such as Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, concentrate mostly on serving small...
By: Kyle Kennedy
A New Jersey Investor has acquired the Summit Consulting Office Complex in Lakeland for $17.5 million. Officials with Baron Realty said Ken McDermott purchased the 130,000-square foot facility from C.C. Dockery and Thomas Petcoff, who started construction on the complex in 1981. Located at 2310 Commerce Point Drive...
By: Leslie Shepherd
Bruce Rumph built a career on hard work and good ideas. Throughout his twenty-year career in the service industry he longed to be combine a good day's work with something he truly loved. In 1992, the unique opportunity to act on such an
adventure presented itself when he, along with his father and brother, sold their family-owned business...
By: Jeremy Maready
LAKELAND -- Saddle Creek Corp. is building a $4.5 million, 98,600-square-foot facility to make room for more business. The decision by Saddle Creek to expand at its current location was based on two facts: the need to ship fresh baked goods quickly for a client and the price of the local commercial real estate market...
By: Kyle Kennedy
LAKELAND -- Publix Super Markets Inc. capped off 2006 by passing the $1 billion mark in annual earnings for the first time. The Lakeland-based company announced Thursday that its annual profit of $1.1 billion was a 10.9 percent increase from $989.2 million in 2005...
By: Kyle Kennedy
LAKELAND -- The Memphis-based shipping giant unveiled its sign in downtown Lakeland Monday outside the former administrative center of Watkins Motor Lines on East Lemon Street. FedEx finalized its $780 million purchase of Lakeland-based Watkins in September and rebranded the trucking firm FedEx National LTL...