Largo

Largo Seeks Resurgence Through Redevelopment Of Downtown Core

The city of Largo's primary goal in seeking to shape the city's future is to increase density in the traditional downtown district. "We're not trying to recreate ourselves as a downtown St. Petersburg or Tampa," explains Teresa Brydon, economic development manager for the city of Largo. "We recognize our residents want moderate density. So what we're looking at is six-story buildings designed for mixed use; businesses with housing mixed in. "This process has been going on for a couple of years," Brydon continues. "We'd already started doing things before the plan was finalized. We added a Holiday Inn Express and a diagnostic clinic as part of the Largo Medical Center campus. So things have already started." According to Brydon, Largo is nurturing a medical community surrounding the hospital, its clinic and St. Michael's Eye & Laser Institute. But she says that whatever plans the city considers will ultimately be dictated by transit. "That will play a huge role in what we do." Brydon also shares that the city is attempting to attract the interest of developers, such as those attending this year's International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), which will hold an annual conference in Florida this year. "We're central," Brydon explains. "We're less than 10 minutes from the nicer beaches and the areas where most business employment is. The airports are close by. There's a lot going on and our downtown is the center of it all. We want to build a quality of life for all ages so they can work and live in the same area or catch a train to Tampa or wherever else they need to go to do business."Writer: Missy KavanaughSource: Teresa Brydon, City of Largo

New Eagle Lake Park Opens In Pinellas County

For generations, the property thrived as a family grove, where oranges grew and cattle grazed. And now it will be a place where dogs roam and children play. Eagle Lake Park, at 1800 Keene Road, is now open to the public. The 163-acre park hosts a dog dark park, six picnic shelters, a recreation trail with shell paths and a playground with a "grove flair." Its 2,000 feet of boardwalk snake through wetlands where fox squirrels, birds and gopher tortoises live. The land originally belonged to the Taylor family, who date back to the days when Largo was a pioneer settlement. The family lived there for almost 150 years before they sold the land to the county for $15 million in 1998.The county then raised an additional $8.4 million to build the park through the Penny for Pinellas tax and grants through Florida Recreation Development Assistance and the Southwest Florida Water Management District. "One of the things we did in the design of the park was to try to preserve that early pioneer feel that reflects the history of the property as a cattle and citrus farm," explains Paul Cozzie, spokesperson for Pinellas County Culture and Leisure. "The greatest indicator of how important this park is for this part of the county is that we had more than 3,000 cars pass through the gates on opening day. The response has been outstanding and we're very glad to have the park open." Anyone interested in volunteering as an auxiliary ranger, or helping with resource management or maintenance can contact the county at 727-582-2100.Writer: Missy KavanaughSource: Paul Cozzie, Pinellas County Culture and Leisure

Ultramatics Seeks High-Tech Workforce, Adds Jobs At Oldsmar Headquarters

Ultramatics, a company that provides innovative and strategic methods to enable organizations to deliver effective solutions faster, has several high-tech vacancies at its company headquarters in Oldsmar. Ultramatics is seeking "top quality experienced professionals who are highly motivated," according to its website. Current vacancies include sales executive, senior architect, senior business analyst, application support engineer, senior WebSphere commerce ceveloper, and WebSphere portal developer. Ultramatics now employs 40 and company leaders are optimistic about growing that number to 100 by the end of 2010. Future jobs are expected to be filled by highly technical workers including architects and developers in the WebSphere space. Lisa Martinez, director of human capital, says the company is among "the most successful, results-oriented providers'' of service-oriented architecture solutions and related services. "We are known for technological innovation based on proven SOA principles that help customers achieve ambitious business goals while preserving important infrastructure investments,'' says Martinez. "It's why IBM awarded its prestigious Beacon Award for SOA Innovation to Ultramatics in 2007, and it's why many leading companies in healthcare, finance, transportation and telecommunications continually turn to Ultramatics." "Our ability to seamlessly integrate Web 2.0, Enterprise Search and Security advances further differentiates Ultramatics,'' she adds. "We apply a flexible delivery model that gives our customers the option of relying on their in-house IT development resources and our training and consulting services – or to leverage our own high-quality, industry-certified development teams." Founded in 2001, Ultramatics is privately held and has offices in India. Clients include IBM, AT&T, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Bell South Corporation, CSX, Perot Systems, United Healthcare, Panasonic and others. Writer: Lisa Clementi Source: Lisa Martinez, Ultramatics

Koala Tee In Sarasota Adds New Account Manager For Florida Suncoast

Koala Tee, an apparel manufacturer specializing in embroidered items, promotional products and company gift items has added new Account Manager Rob Harman, for the Florida Suncoast region. Harmon brings 17 years of experience in the imprinted sportswear industry and is a 30-year resident of Sarasota.   Harman will be responsible for new business development for Koala Tee's products in a territory that ranges from Tampa to Fort Myers.   "We have a great base of long-time customers; however, we know our core concentration should be bringing small businesses who need help increasing their marketing/branding efforts," says Carmen Manley, VP of business development. Adding an additional experienced account manager will help this business focus, and, if increased outside sales efforts prove successful, Koala Tee plans to expand more outside sales force to further penetrate existing territory, she says.    Koala Tee, Inc, was started in 1983 in Sarasota as a trophy shop doing mainly team uniforms. The organization has since expanded and now occupies a nearly 11,000-square-foot facility in downtown Sarasota where a team of embroiderers does all made-to-order work in-house. Manley says quality control is one advantage of doing much of their production work in-house.   Koala Tee also owns and operates Life Safety International, a company that sells men's clothing to retail stores on military bases throughout the world. Koala creates catalogs that include military fashion designs that mirror current fashions. The company also started selling the Red Shirt Fridays " I support our troops" line of apparel and products.   Writer: Lisa Clementi Source: Carmen Manley, Koala Tee

AAA Auto Club South Rides The Recession, Posts Several Jobs

AAA Auto Club South, headquartered in Tampa with nearly 3,000 employees companywide, has a wide variety of professional level vacancies in the Tampa Bay region. Openings being filled in Tampa include positions in management, sales, marketing and publication production.    "AAA Auto Club South weathered the recession well and continues to grow,'' says Nanci Odom, human resources VP."We have many exciting career opportunities available at www.AAA.com that cover a wide range of fields, from travel & insurance agents, call takers and service technicians to IT, accounting and marketing professionals to just name a few,'' Odom says. "AAA has been around for over 100 years and we'll be here for another 100 and more. AAA is relentless in our commitment to provide the highest level of service to our members and the best work environment for our employees."   Founded in 1902 as the American Automobile Association, this association of independent clubs is a not-for-profit, fully tax-paying organization with more than 50 million members. Known originally for providing emergency road service, maps and travel publications, AAA has a wide range of travel services and member-benefit programs.   Writer: Lisa Clementi Source: Nancy Odom, AAA Auto Club South

Tampa Bay Trane Begins 2010 By Adding Jobs, Now Hiring

Tampa Bay Trane, the exclusive representative of Trane Commercial Air Conditioning Products and Services on Florida's West Coast, is currently seeking to fill three positions: commercial A/C technician, service estimator and outside sales representative. "Trane has a good, solid business because of its service and preventative work in the commercial business sector,'' says Sarah Davis, HR manager. "As the commercial sector improves, Trane will plan to continue to hire staff at a moderate level of growth." Tampa Bay Trane's workforce is a team of highly skilled project managers, sales and engineering professionals, and technicians, Davis says. Trane has already hired nine people this year, four in new sales and skilled technician positions. The company also transitioned one current part-time employee into a fulltime staff member. TBT's current workforce is at 150 employees; a vast majority are full timers. Davis forecasts future hiring in 2010 to possibly include more skilled experienced techs with solid commercial experience as well as another addition to the sales team. Tampa Bay Trane was established in 1969 and has franchises in 13 counties in Florida. Over the years, Trane's service offerings have increased from primarily supporting the sale of Trane equipment to many expanded services including operator training, system energy analysis, replacements, retrofits and repair contracting, emergency services, rental equipment, performance contracting and HVAC system on-site operations. Writer: Lisa Clementi  Source: Sarah Davis, Tampa Bay Trane

Pinellas Offers Classes On Better Finance Management, Better Future

Q&A: Michael Via And Stan Lifsey, Frantzen Tampa Bay Property Fund, LP

The newly formed Frantzen Tampa Bay Property Fund aims to buy, rent and sell distressed residential property in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties in Florida. The limited partnership was created by Frantzen Capital Management and Lifsey Real Estate & Holdings to take advantage of the subprime mortgage crisis and tight credit markets to put foreclosed homes back in circulation as rentals while returning a profit for investors.

Northwestern Mutual Hiring In Tampa Bay, Adds Professional Jobs