Plant City

Fab Food, Fine Art Fuel This Couple’s American Dream In Lakeland

She's a gifted cook with a masters in language and economics. He's a talented artist who mastered the art of showcasing his wife's skills at two defunct Plant City eateries. The third time may be the charm, though, for Berna and Erkan Nar, a couple of Turkish transplants whose recipe for success simmers in a busy little Mediterranean bistro near downtown Lakeland.

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.

Public Access To Hillsborough’s Cone Ranch Still Years Away

Cone Ranch, a nearly 13,000-acre parcel of undeveloped land in northeast Hillsborough County, has been used for little more than cattle grazing for the better part of a century. It soon will be under the protective umbrella of the county's land preservation agency, the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Preservation Program (ELAPP). The county commission voted 6-1 in January to transfer ownership of Cone Ranch to ELAPP from the water department. A proposal to sell the land to private investors with assurances that it would not be developed was opposed by environmental groups and was rejected late last year. Instead, the water department will receive $12 million, approximately what it paid for the land in 1991, and the land will be added to the approximately 48,000 acres already administered by ELAPP. No plan has been formulated for how the land will be used by the public, although the county parks, recreation and conservation department generally designates ELAPP land for hiking and outdoor activities. It could be years before that happens at Cone Ranch. "In the near future, Cone Ranch will not be open to the public," says Mark Thornton, Hillsborough County's director of parks, recreation and conservation. "At least probably the first year, maybe the second year, maybe the third year. When we will get it open as a typical ELAPP site, we really don't know." Thornton hopes eventually to add six new employees in the environmental and land preservation profession to the 22 already employed by ELAPP. The county budget won't support that kind of workforce increase at the moment, Thornton says. Writer: Carter GaddisSource: Mark Thornton, Hillsborough County

Gordon Food Service Brings 350 Jobs To Plant City

Hillsborough Schools Win Gates Grant