►St. Petersburg-based Salt Palm Development broke ground on its latest project, The Royal, at 545 Fourth Ave. S., on the edge of the St. Pete Innovation District. (Pictured above)
► Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI) facilitated the sale of Sand Cove Apartments, a 72-unit apartment property located in St. Pete Beach, for $14.5 million.
► Marriott International, Prime Hospitality Group and Shaner Hotel Group opened the 95-suite, Residence Inn by Marriott St. Petersburg Tierra Verde at 214 Madonna Blvd.; the all-suite Prime Hospitality Group-owned and Shaner Hotel Group-operated Residence Inn St. Petersburg Tierra Verde operates as a Marriott franchise.
►Freedom Bank, based in St. Petersburg, named Amanda Gilroy a senior vice president in its commercial lending division.
► Tampa Bay Water awarded $25,500 in source water protection mini-grants to Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, Keep Pinellas Beautiful, Pinellas County Schools’ Journeys in Journalism program and the Coffee Pot Bayou Watershed Alliance for projects that help protect the region’s drinking water sources.
► Chicken Salad Chick is opening at 1221 Fourth St. N., St. Petersburg.
► The SPC Workforce Institute has partnered with CareerSource Pinellas, to assist individuals with their re-employment and training needs by opening a new CareerSource Center at the St. Petersburg College EpiCenter at 13805 58th St. N., Clearwater.
► Envestnet (NYSE: ENV), a Chicago company that provides technology for wealth managers, has taken a minority stake in Dynasty Financial Partners, a St. Petersburg firm that provides wealth management and technology platforms for independent financial advisory firms
► The Quality Inn at 655 S. Gulfview Blvd., Clearwater, is undergoing a complete transformation and will relaunch in the spring as Dolphin Sands Beach Club.
► The Bilmar Beach Resort named Harmony Miller, Beach Café manager and Kenny Anderson, restaurant manager.
► Spectrio, an in-store marketing company headquartered in Oldsmar, will acquire two Louisiana firms, Profit On-Hold and Airwaves Scenting.
► St. Petersburg ranked No. 7 on a SmartAsset study, ranking the best cities to work from home, with 7.8 percent of St. Pete workers having worked from home in 2018, up 3.2 percent over the past five years.
►The St. Petersburg Free Clinic appointed Glenn Parkinson as director of homeless programs.
►Blo Blow Dry Bar will move into an 840-square-foot space, on the ground floor of 930 Central Flats, in St. Petersburg.
► Bentzel Mechanical, a privately-held mechanical contracting company, has purchased a 7,920-square-foot industrial property at 12001 31st Court N. in St. Petersburg for $850,000. ► St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport had its biggest year ever in 2019, as 2,288,692 passengers flew to or from 57 non-stop destinations.
► Verizon and St. Petersburg College announced a $100,000 grant to fund SPC’s African American Male Initiative to help close the achievement gap for African American males.
► Darla Otey has been named the new executive director of Girls Inc. of Pinellas.
►Albany Road Real Estate Partners bought a three-building, 150,633-square-foot flex office portfolio, at 4400, 4600 and 4800 140th Ave. N., within Meridian Concourse Center, near the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport for $15.4 million.
► The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International honored Paradise Advertising & Marketing with four Adrian Awards, for advertising and digital marketing excellence, in the 63rd annual Adrian Awards.
► Stuart-based Seacoast Bank has acquired Freedom Bank, a locally owned bank headquartered in St. Petersburg, for $63.6 million.
► Office Pride Commercial Cleaning Services Founder and CEO Todd Hopkins will serve as president of the Building Services Contractors Association International this year.
