►Cogent Bank opened its new banking center at 1715 N. Westshore Blvd., Suite 150, Tampa. (Pictured above)
►Burr & Forman added Tampa-based associate Sadie Craig to the firm’s consumer finance group.
►Marcus & Millichap Capital, a provider of commercial real estate financing, arranged a $9.75 million conventional loan to acquire an 84-room Hampton Inn & Suites near Busch Gardens, in Tampa.
►Mindi M. Richter, a partner with Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, has been selected to participate in the leadership council on legal diversity fellows program.
►Arthur Savage, president of A.R. Savage & Son in Tampa, has been elected president of the U.S. division of the Association of Ship Brokers & Agents.
►Bemetra Simmons joined United Way Suncoast as chief strategy and operations officer.
►Frederick O’Malley has been appointed chief operating officer of Carlton Fields in Tampa.
►Cott Corp. sold its S&D Coffee and Tea division for $405 million to North Little Rock, Arkansas-based Westrock Coffee Co.
►Trey Carswell and Lisa Ross joined Cushman & Wakefield’s Tampa office.
►Real estate developer BTI Partners named Smith & Associates Real Estate as the exclusive listing broker for Marina Pointe, a Tampa condominium development with direct access to a new marina and the Westshore Marina District’s dining and retail development
►The Tampa office of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, a civil defense litigation law firm based in Philadelphia, named Samuel Higginbottom and Lindsay McCormick shareholders of the firm.
►The Florida Aquarium named Kara Wagner as chief development officer.
►VersaTech, a technology services company based in a Columbia, Maryland, and Lumina, a Tampa predictive analytics company, announced a strategic partnership focused on providing innovative, artificial intelligence-driven technology solutions to government agencies.
►Tampa litigation lawyer André Sesler joined the Tampa office of the Hinshaw & Culbertson law firm as an associate.
►The University of South Florida is one of the top producers of Fulbright scholars in the United States for 2019-20, according to a list released by the U.S. Department of State, first published by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
►Ciminelli Real Estate Services officially took over the property management of Tri-County Business Center, located at 13300 McCormick Drive, Tampa.
►Erika Zipfel Thompson of The Dikman Co. represented Advanced Roofing in the purchase of a 30,000-plus square-foot industrial building at 4909 W. Knollwood St., Tampa, which sold for $2.4 million.
►Feeding Tampa Bay will receive $640,500 from the Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana.
►Axiom Bank, a Maitland-based community bank, named Susan Maurer as senior vice president and market executive, and will be developing relationships with Axiom’s commercial partners and create opportunities for growth in the Tampa Bay area.
►Plaza Advisors announced the sale of the 73,250-square-foot Walden Woods Shopping Center in Plant City.
►Alicia Caridi-Smith, shareholder in the Tampa office of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, has been elected to join the board of directors of the International Amusement & Leisure Defense Association.
►Cushman & Wakefield represented GTE Financial in the sale of a 91,000-square-foot, three-story office building and parking garage property in Tampa; BayCare Properties acquired the asset for $7.7 million.
►Erin Aebel, partner with Tampa law firm Shumaker Loop & Kendrick, joined the board of directors of Brain Expansions Scholastic Training.
►Tampa General Hospital is the new naming rights partner for the training facility for the Tampa Bay Lightning, which is now called the TGH Ice Plex.