Posts filed under 'Commercial Developments'
Posted: April 17, 2008: 8:49 am
The Winter Haven Chamber has two great events scheduled for next week. You can RSVP at the links provided below.
FREE Chain of Lakes Breakfast Forum!
Tuesday, April 22, start your day with a free breakfast in one of Winter Haven’s most beautiful settings … at the Lake Hartridge Nature Park (pictured R at sunrise). Sponsored by Killebrew, Inc. and presented by Mike Britt and Rashelle Selser of the City’s Department of Natural Resources the breakfast is complimentary to the first 100 people who RSVP. Continental Breakfast will be served starting at 7:30 a.m. in the main picnic pavilion. The program will outline the our water resources and the City’s plans for a new aquatic and nature center to be built at the park. It’s one more step in the City’s quest to become a green community. Learn also how the nature park serves as a stormwater filtration marsh for Lake Hartridge. The program is open to Chamber members and the General Public. Free with your RSVP here.
Holiday Inn Hosts April 24 Showcase!
Join your friends at Winter Haven’s newest hotel … The Holiday Inn (200 Cypress Gardens Boulevard). Thursday, April 24 from 5:30 - 7 p.m. you can tour the beautiful new facility, impressive lobby (pictured below), restaurant and more. Enjoy great food, too! Shake the hand of the “Mystery Guest” and win $25. If you are this month’s “Name Dropper” chosen at random from our database you will win $200 — but you have to be present. Free to Chamber members and a guest with your RSVP here.
| See other posts filed in: Chain of Lakes, Chamber Events, Commercial Developments, Economic Development, Parks and Green Space
Posted: April 11, 2008: 10:24 am
The Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce has organized a fact-finding visit to Alliance, Texas for Polk County leaders. The group will tour the BNSF intermodal rail terminal and also the surrounding business park developed by Hillwood.
Participants include Polk County Commissioners, County Manager Mike Herr, Winter Haven City Commissioner Jeff Potter and City Planning Officials, Winter Haven Chamber leaders, Ron Morrow with CSX, East Polk Committee of 100 executive, Jack Barnhart. The City of Lakeland and Chamber have been extended an invitation to participate to get first hand knowledge of an operating integrated logistics center.
The group will depart Sunday, May 18 from Tampa. Monday, May 19 officials will meet and tour at the BNSF intermodal rail facility in the morning and Hillwood developer of the surrounding office park in the afternoon. An evening return to the rail terminal and office park area is planned to observe lighting and sound levels.
Up to twenty people are expected to participate. The Alliance integrated logistics center is much larger than ILC planned for Winter Haven and it involves a “reliever” airport as well. But the overall project has a proven track record for job and business park development and other economic factors that can be projected to the Winter Haven facility. Winter Haven also has the opportunity to plan its site in much the same way as the Alliance, Texas experience.
| See other posts filed in: CSX - Winter Haven, Chamber Events, Commercial Developments, Economic Development, Transportation
Posted: April 4, 2008: 8:35 am
Kevin Ward’s investments in production machinery and design software have allowed him to position his Winter Haven custom cabinetry company, A Ward Design for success in the high-end residential market. It has also landed him on the cover of Woodshop News, a national publication for professional woodworkers. The company’s growth and success are detailed in a feature article.
Kevin Ward (pictured at left on the magazine’s cover) hails from a family with a long history of construction. His father Ray was a builder here in Winter Haven until his retirement. He and his brother Roger then formed Ward Bros. Construction. His brother later moved to North Carolina and Kevin eventually founded A Ward Design.
About 60 percent of A Ward Design work is done in western North Carolina mainly in the town of Cashiers. Brother Roger is a general contractor there.
With Kevin’s long history in the Winter Haven area his business has had solid growth and the company completes about 20 large jobs a year in Florida from Polk County South to Palm Beach. A Ward Design grossed close to $1 million in 2007 building bathroom vanities, kitchens and woodwork for new homes.
Several examples of the company’s work appear below. Congratulations on bringing national exposure to Winter Haven.
| See other posts filed in: Commercial Developments, Economic Development, Success Stories
Posted: April 2, 2008: 12:33 pm
Phoenix Industries, LLC, an Atlanticblue Company based in Winter Haven is expanding into a facility in North Miami/Dade County.
The Phoenix presence in South Florida is inside a 200,000 square foot, multi-temperature campus owned and operated by Southeast Frozen Foods, and is located in North Miami.
“This location is strategically situated less than one mile from Interstate 95,” says John Fleming, Transportation Manager for Phoenix Industries. “It’s highly accessible to Ports Miami and Everglades.”
Space will be temperature controlled and Phoenix trucks will conduct pick up and delivery services for customers whose products pass through Miami via ship (container), truck and air. Phoenix’s terminal manager is James Nesbitt, a 37-year veteran of the supply chain industry.
“There will be daily service to Phoenix’s Miami customers, as well as next-day delivery service from Miami to all points in peninsular Florida,” says Phoenix Industries General Manager Bruce Bachman. “Phoenix will be providing cross-dock services, container loading and unloading, LTL distribution, truckload consolidation, and pool distribution for national and international customers.”
Phoenix Industries’ new South Florida operation is located within an AIB-certified “Superior” facility and will integrate directly with Phoenix’s 300,000 square feet of multi-temperature central Florida warehouses and Florida distribution system in Winter Haven.
| See other posts filed in: Commercial Developments, Economic Development
Posted: March 28, 2008: 11:02 am
The Chamber has learned that Shaner SPE Associates LP has site plans prepared to build a four story 104-room Marriott Courtyard Hotel on three acres of land fronting Cypress Gardens Boulevard across from the new Towne Center at Cypress Gardens.
Shaner Hotels is one of the foremost owner-operator companies in the hospitality industry. The current portfolio is made up of 20+ properties in 15 states and total assets that exceed $400 million. New properties are constantly evaluated as the division continues a conservative yet opportunistic approach to growth. Shaner plans to build 20 new Marriott properties over the next three years.
No start date has been announced. The hotel’s vicinity location appears below. Projected opening: Spring 2010.
| See other posts filed in: Commercial Developments, Cypress Gardens, Economic Development, Real Estate, Tourism
Posted: March 13, 2008: 7:12 am
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Central Florida’s Commuter Rail Project and ultimately the CSX Rail Terminal planned for Winter Haven are stalled in Tallahassee, “The biggest reason: opposition from Lakeland.” According to reporter Aaron Deslatte “At the center of the fight is Sen. Paula Dockery, a Lakeland Republican whose husband was the driving force behind the now-repealed constitutional amendment to build high speed rail between Tampa and Orlando.” A plan, we might add, that included a stop in Lakeland but nowhere else between Tampa and Orlando.
The Sentinel report goes on to say “Dockery wants the state to look at other ways to eventually bring commuter rail to her district and to the Tampa Bay area. But she also wants CSX to abandon its plans to move its switchyard — now in Taft, in south Orange County — to land it owns in Winter Haven.” (Surely Senator Dockery knows the proposed facility is no “switchyard.” An intermodal terminal bears no resemblance to the rail yard of yesterday. If she has not visited an operating Integrated Logistics Center (ILC), we invite the Senator to travel to Alliance with us as we take area leaders on a fact-finding mission following the current legislative session.)
This entire ugly and confusing episode is made even quirkier by the fact that last Friday in Orlando, Lakeland Mayor Buddy Fletcher told assembled leaders from myregion.org, the Tampa Bay Partnership, State DOT Officials, CSX and Central Florida Commuter Rail that “Lakeland supported the commuter rail plan and wasn’t opposed to the the Winter Haven rail terminal.” For sure the city wants DOT to study the feasibility of alternative routes or a Lakeland bypass, but if Mayor Fletcher supports the terminal why does Dockery want the plans “abandoned?”
Representatives from Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties as well as the City of Orlando voted unanimously to fund 25 percent of the costs of establishing commuter rail on 61 miles of former CSX track. State DOT officials noted that this phase of bringing commuter rail to Central Florida would be the key to adding later segments such as those sought by Lakeland as well as Winter Haven and other East Polk cities. The cross section of Central Florida leaders were also told repeatedly that if we jeopardize the Federal funding currently in place, Florida would not see federal money for commuter rail again in our lifetime.
Let’s review, while Polk County is faring better than most, nationally the economy is in a downward trend — possibly recession, residential real estate is in a major slump and both the News Chief and Ledger report the state economy may not rebound until 2010. In light of this, Senator Dockery dismisses the potential long term boost of 2,000 new jobs, billions in investment and the potential Fortune 500 companies it could bring to our market.
It’s time for a wake up call!
Lakeland, a town that the railroads helped to build, feels it will be “devastated” by four additional freight trains per day. For the sake of discussion, let’s say the 16 trains a day that currently travel through the city require 10 minutes each to pass through town. That comes to 160 minutes in a 24 hour day or an average of 6.6 minutes per hour. If the terminal adds four more trains per day that would be 200 minutes per day (20 trains x 10 minutes) or 8.3 minutes per hour on average … hardly a major imposition.
There must be some correlation as well between four freight trains as compared to the traffic generated by Lakeland’s current 26 million square feet of warehouse industrial space (soon to be 31 million). When you consider the existing traffic generated by the Lakeland space, the five million square feet of warehouse and industrial business park planned for south Winter Haven seems manageable and will evolve over a five to ten year period — time to plan and implement infrastructure improvements as it grows.
We all need to remember that our economies are inter-dependent. We all have occasion to do business in other cities within Polk. Jobs in one sector of the county can benefit many various cities. It is time we work together for the greater good.
One need only make a visit to Alliance, Texas to see what planning and determination can create … a model economic engine with new housing developments underway within a half mile. More than 60 Fortune 500 corporate citizens and 150-plus new companies in 16 years.
Senator Dockery wants these plans abandoned for Polk County. It’s time we let her and our other delegation members know that there are economic interests on the east side of Polk County as well.
Your business, your employment opportunities, our cities, schools and county stand to benefit immensely from the construction of this project. We believe we have the expertise and vision to make it a model facility and business park.
Don’t let those with personal agendas block this opportunity. Send a note to our elected leaders today … here are their email addresses:
US Representative, Adam Putnam, www.adamputnam.house.gov (then click on the first link in left column “Contact Adam”
Alexander, JD, (R) alexander.jd.web@flsenate.gov
Dockery, Paula, (R) dockery.paula.S15@flsenate.gov
Bowen, Marsha “Marty” (R) marty.bowen@myfloridahouse.gov
Ross, Dennis (R) dennis.ross@myfloridahouse.gov
Troutman, Baxter (R) baxter.troutman@myfloridahouse.gov
Attkisson, Frank (R) frank.attkisson@myfloridahouse.gov
You can read the entire Orlando Sentinel story here.
| See other posts filed in: CSX - Winter Haven, Commercial Developments, Economic Development, Perspective, Political Scene, Transportation
Posted: March 4, 2008: 9:33 am
A new day for the News Chief
The Ledger today announced the acquisition of the Winter Haven-based News Chief daily newspaper.
Nelson Kirkland, Advertising Director for The Ledger was named publisher. The purchase does not include the News Chief’s current building. The sale is expected to close within a week and the News Chief’s news operation will relocate to the current Ledger East Polk building which will be renamed for the News Chief. The production of the paper will be done in The Ledger’s Lakeland plant.
Further details are available here.
M. M.”Dad” Lee (left) founder of the News Chief.
History of the News Chief
The News Chief in Winter Haven, Fla., traces its beginnings to Sept. 28, 1911, when the first edition of the weekly Florida Chief was published by its founder, M.M. “Dad” Lee.
Everything originally was handset, but, within four years, Lee had moved the newspaper to larger quarters and eventually acquired three linotype machines. During its 10th anniversary in September of 1921, the newspaper went to twice-a-week publication, and three years later went to five days a week, Mondays through Fridays.
Lee continued the newspaper through two severe hurricanes (1926 and 1933), a fire (1930) and the Great Depression before selling the newspaper in January 1948 to W.W. Galvin of Ohio.
Galvin immediately acquired a weekly, The Winter Haven News, and combined it with the Florida Chief into the News Chief.
The newspaper passed to other owners who also acquired the weekly Auburndale Star. Then disaster struck on Nov. 13, 1954, with a major fire that destroyed the building and severely damaged most of the equipment.
A four-page Sunday edition was printed at The Winter Haven Herald to keep intact the record of not missing a scheduled publication day.
In March of 1964, the News Chief became one of the early leaders in Florida journalism in converting to offset printing.
In December of 1972, the News Chief moved from its downtown plant to new quarters.
The News Chief added to its holdings with the purchase of the Winter Haven Shopping Guide in 1978.
In 1995, the News Chief and its other holdings became part of Morris Communications Co. with the Morris purchase of the Stauffer Communications chain of publications. The News Chief had been a Stauffer publication since April 1990, when the newspaper was purchased from Multimedia Inc.
In late 2007, the News Chief and its other holdings, including the Polk Shopper, became part of GateHouse Media Inc. which placed the paper on the market and the New York Times made the purchase.
| See other posts filed in: Commercial Developments, News Media
Posted: February 26, 2008: 2:02 pm
We are pleased to announce the return of a fine dining establishment as Arabella’s has opened in the historic Times Square building. Seven months of renovations have returned long-hidden architectural features most notably the arches that graced the building when it was known as the Snell National Bank. Diners will find exposed brick walls framing the elegant decor. The restaurant also has a private dining area (shown below) with private entrance.
Arabella’s and its adjoining Avenue Bar is now open to the public. The restaurant features Mediterranean cuisine including both French and Italian fare. For now the restaurant is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5 - 9:30 p..m. It is contemplated that at some point, plans call to open for lunch as well. (Note: The restaurant opened for lunch beginning March 20, 2008) The restaurant is owned by Brian Rich and Franco Basalone.
Reservations are not required but suggested. 293-1797. Welcome them back!
| See other posts filed in: Commercial Developments, Dining, Downtown, Economic Development, General Announcements
Posted: February 22, 2008: 3:01 pm
Construction is underway on a new Kohl’s Department Store located on US 27 south of the intersection with Cypress Gardens Boulevard. The retailer will be located between Home Depot and the present Shoppes on the Ridge. The store plans a December 2008 opening.
| See other posts filed in: Commercial Developments, Economic Development, General Announcements, Real Estate
Posted: : 3:00 pm
Various bits and pieces of information indicate changes will soon occur in the area newspaper landscape. Our prediction is that a big announcement is forthcoming that will change the area media ownership and composition. Stay tuned.
| See other posts filed in: Commercial Developments
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