Author

Carter Gaddis

Carter Gaddis is a freelance writer and graduate of the University of South Florida (BA, mass communications). He covered sports for the Tampa Tribune for 16 years, including four years on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and eight years on the Tampa Bay Rays beat. He publishes the parenting and social commentary blog, DadScribe, and is a contributing writer for the TODAY Show. He lives in Lutz with his wife and two sons. Carter can be found on Twitter @DadScribe.

Carter Gaddis's Latest Articles

IntegraClick Eyes Expansion On Sarasota Property

By Carter Gaddis

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Development News

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January 26, 2010

IntegraClick of Sarasota, one of Inc. Magazine's five fastest-growing companies of 2009, purchased a 12-acre campus at University Professional Park with an eye toward adding jobs and new marketing and tech businesses.Ravi Ghai, IntegraClick's vice president of corporate development, credited the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota for helping to keep IntegraClick and Clickbooth.com in Sarasota. Tampa and Miami were considered as sites for the eight-year-old company's corporate headquarters."IntegraClick represents the type of business we want to see grow in Sarasota County," says EDC President and CEO Kathleen Baylis. "Their expansion here not only adds high-paying jobs in the community, but signals that high-performing technology firms, capable of further diversifying our economy, can thrive in our county."Founder and CEO John Lemp has built IntegraClick and Clickbooth.com into a leader in the performance-based online marketing industry. In addition to a top spot on Inc. Magazine's annual list of fastest-growing companies, ClickBooth.com was named Website Magazine's No. 1 affiliate network worldwide.The company has doubled its workforce during the past year to about 100 employees. The new campus, located just west of Interstate 75 on University Parkway with two Class A office buildings offering 79,000 square feet, also will accommodate ClickBooth.com's sister divisions, Calculated Creavity and Authorise.com.A new office building for the site is being planned. When completed, the campus is expected to house about 500 employees, or enough room for IntegraClick to more than quadruple its work force of tech, marketing and communications professionals.The company is expected to begin the move from its current headquarters on Cattlemen Road in April.Writer: Carter GaddisSource: IntegraClick

Sweetbay Embraces Sustainability With Green Store In Tarpon Springs

By Carter Gaddis

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Development News

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January 26, 2010

Sweetbay Supermarket's first "green" store, which opened this past November in Tarpon Springs, expects its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification any day now.Having complied with the U.S. Green Building Council's checklist for environmentally friendly buildings, the LEED rating will be a formality, but it will mark a milestone for Tampa-based Sweetbay and for the city of Tarpon Springs."They wanted to have some green development in their community," says Sweetbay spokesperson Nicole LeBeau, "and we worked with them to make it happen."Among several environmentally friendly innovations at the store on Alternate U.S. 19 are low-flow toilets to conserve water; parking spaces designated for low-emission vehicles and car-poolers; and easy proximity to the Pinellas Trail to encourage bike-riding shoppers.The store also will use reclaimed water and has installed an air conditioning unit designed to be 30 percent more efficient than standard units."For starters, I think it's our corporate social responsibility to see what we can do to help save the Earth," says LeBeau. "We have a responsibility to our community to help save energy, help with recycling, several energy efforts we need to be making to be responsible to the Earth."The U.S. Green Building Council is a non-profit affiliation of companies nationwide committed to encouraging construction of cost-efficient and energy saving buildings. The LEED certification system provides a checklist for commercial and residential construction to address environmental concerns.According to a U.S. Green Building Council study conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton and released in November, green building is expected to support 7.9 million jobs in the United States during the next four years.Writer: Carter GaddisSource: Nicole LeBeau, Sweetbay

Brooksville’s Quarry Preserve Project Takes Another Step Forward

By Carter Gaddis

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Development News

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January 26, 2010

Quarry Preserve, a proposed 5,800-home development north of Brooksville, cleared an important hurdle this month when the Hernando Board of County Commissioners voted 3-2 to send the plan to the Florida Department of Community Affairs for review.Should the Quarry Preserve plan clear its review, it would return to the county commission for further consideration as soon as late spring or early summer.The county commission's decision to transmit the request to amend the county's comprehensive plan followed a similarly narrow approval in December by the county's Planning and Zoning Commission.This is the latest step in a process that began more than three years ago for developer Brooksville Quarry LLC."It's taken us that long to get here, but there were some challenges and opposition as relates to the property, so we've tried to put together a project that has all the right things associated with it," says attorney Jake Varn, who represents the developer.The 4,280-acre limestone quarry was owned by Jacksonville-based Florida Rock Industries, which was purchased by Vulcan Materials Company in 2007. Varn said mining activity continues on about 150 acres of the land, but the land is expected to mined out long before the Quarry Preserve project would break ground in 2014 or 2015.The developer predicts the project will create about 5,000 jobs, with an annual average earnings of about $158.4 million.The project is being termed a "sustainable development," with "smart growth" plans that include a golf course, grocery stores, banks, restaurants, retail shops and office space. More than 1,000 acres would be dedicated to greenways, pedestrian trails and wildlife habitat.It has faced opposition from local environmental activists and was recommended by the board of commissioners for transmittal despite reservations about urban sprawl raised by the county's planning staff.Writer: Carter GaddisSource: Jake Varn, Fowler, White, Boggs

Hey Mom, Dad: I Wrote A Book in Tampa Bay

By Carter Gaddis

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General

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January 19, 2010

And, I didn't even get wet! Corny humor, genuinely weird characters, Florida's colorful history, numerous hard lives and extended drama mix with imagination, creativity and nose-to-the-grindstone research to make plenty of fodder for the Tampa Bay region's plethora of writers and would-be authors.

Writers Groups, Authors Proliferate In Tampa Bay

By Carter Gaddis

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General

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January 19, 2010

Would-be authors, writers and hangers-on face lots of options in the Tampa Bay region when it comes to finding meet-up spots and successful mentors. If you're looking for inspiration or are just in need of conversation, check out these lists of writers and writers groups.