Featured Stories

As promised at an early July meeting, the Alachua County Commission has rolled out four public hearing dates on the topic of Plum Creek. Announced the morning of Aug. 25, the meeting schedule is as follows: Sept. 2, 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Hawthorne High School auditorium (21403 SE 69th Ave., Hawthorne) Topic: General...

A Gainesville-based human resources company is being acquired by a global corporate training provider. SumTotal recently announced it is in the process of merging with Skillsoft, an Ireland-based content provider that offers online classes and learning materials for employees and businesses. Jackie Funk, SumTotal’s senior vice president of marketing, said the two companies have been...

National cable and internet service provider Cox recently announced it will extend its discounted high-speed Internet service to low-income families with children who qualify for certain government programs. The program, Connect2Complete, was launched in April of last year and now services about 15,000 families across the country. Cox pledged $15 million nationally in support of...

Specialty health food store Lucky’s Market has chosen Gainesville as the site of its first Florida store. The location is set to open its doors in November at 1459 NW 23rd Ave., just west of 13th Street, according to a statement from the company. It will create about 200 jobs. The Colorado-based grocery store chain...

The first medical isotope manufacturing facility of its kind in the United States will be making its home in Alachua County. Coqui RadioPharmaceuticals announced Aug. 19 that it will be moving into a to-be-built facility in Progress Park in the City of Alachua by 2020. The announcement was made at an afternoon ceremony at the...

Local startup Sharpspring recently announced its merger with publicly traded corporation SMTP, Inc. SMTP, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMTP) became a leader in commercial and consumer email delivery in the ’90s, and it continues to be a market leader for mass-email delivery. That’s why Sharpspring founder Rick Carlson says the merger will be beneficial. “Email delivery is core...

Dana Clayton has been appointed interim president and CEO of the United Way of North Central Florida. Clayton, who also directs United Way’s six-member campaign team, joined the organization in May 2011 as the director of leadership giving and affinity groups. She was quickly promoted to vice president of resource development in August of that...

Sonny Tillman stood at the restaurant door calling people “darlin’” and “honey” and hugging customers’ necks as the smell of smoked meat wafted into the August humidity. Tillman, the founder of the southeastern barbecue chain that bears his first name, returned to the original Waldo Road restaurant Thursday to celebrate his 85th birthday. For the...

Gainesville Regional Airport officials talked expansion plans at a Wednesday meeting, forecasting changes such as an extended runway, a taller control tower and a revamped passenger terminal. Airport authority chairman Brian Scarborough said that the expansion, enabled by changes to the FAA-required Master Plan, are due to growth in travel volume. Indeed, the number of...

Drotos Ryals Group: Year in Review 2014 Wow, what a year! Our team certainly had a busy and productive 2014, although this does not hold true throughout all asset classes and market sectors. The local commercial real estate (CRE) market has absolutely turned the corner and is on the upswing in both number of deals...