One Liners Pinellas: AmeriLife Group, Tampa Bay Rays and more

►Grand Central Brewhouse, a microbrewery and beer garden under construction on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, signed restaurant tenant LaLa Karaoke Box.

►The Pinellas Arts Community Relief Fund has been established and will be distributed through the Pinellas Community Foundation, where grants will provide urgent financial support for local artists, arts organizations and creative businesses that face immediate needs in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frank Bozikovich

►Commercial Partners Realty team member Frank Bozikovich represented Almased in the sale of its 11,189-square-foot office building located at 2861 34th St. S., in St. Petersburg for $1.5 million.

►AmeriLife Group, an insurance and retirement services distributor and marketer, acquired a majority stake in Jack Schroeder and Associates, an insurance marketing company based in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

►Harvey Golub, retired chairman and CEO of American Express, was named interim non-executive chairman of the board of Dynasty Financial Partners in St. Petersburg.

Philadelphia investment firm, The Arden Group, bought the Bay Tec Center near Carillon Office Park, in St. Petersburg, for $13.9 million.

St. Petersburg’s Mexican Nueva Cantina created a spin-off virtual restaurant called Louie’s Italian Eatery, which will operate with delivery through UberEats, curbside pickup and inside takeout.

Kahwa Coffee Roasters entered into a partnership with Kathy Ireland Worldwide.

►Kahwa Coffee Roasters, based in St. Petersburg, entered into a partnership with Kathy Ireland Worldwide, in which proceeds from all Kahwa coffee product sales will help serve and support the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, a national nonprofit organization that funds lifesaving research of pediatric cancer.

►The Tampa Bay Rays were valued at $1.05 billion in a new report from Forbes.

►Brian Lamb, a Tampa-St. Petersburg civic leader and former regional president for Fifth Third Bank was named global head of diversity and inclusion at JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM).

►Plasma-Therm, a manufacturer of plasma-process equipment for the semiconductor industry, opened a specialty process engineering group facility in Somerset, England.

►Spatial Networks, a St. Petersburg company that uses geography to solve business problems, has closed on additional funding from CIBC Innovation Banking, which brings the total amount raised in 2020 to $47 million.

►Franklin Street brokered a $21 million sale of Northridge Apartments, a 203-unit rental community located at 6522 54th Ave. N., St. Petersburg.

Kristin Hallamek

Engel & Völkers Belleair’s Kristin Hallamek, broker associate and leader of the Hallamek Team, received a Diamond Elite Top Producing Advisor Award from Engel & Völkers America,  presented to EA advisers that achieved the highest net commissions and sales closed within the network.

►Kate Tiedemann and Ellen Cotton, longtime supporters of The University of South Florida, have given USF $50,000 to provide emergency financial support to students on the USF St. Petersburg campus facing hardships due to the coronavirus epidemic.

The city of St. Petersburg committed $6.8 million to the Fighting Chance Fund, an emergency grant for locally owned and independently operated small businesses in the city that were affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The portfolio of Stoneweg US, a St. Petersburg-based affiliate of a Swiss investment firm that buys and develops workforce-targeted multifamily rental properties, surpassed $1 billion in assets.

Cardiologist Robert Sanchez was named to St. Petersburg’s Northside Hospital Board of Trustees.

►Kenneth Wicker was appointed CEO of St. Petersburg General Hospital.

►Rita Lowman, president of Pilot Bank in St. Petersburg, has been elected as chair of the Board of Directors of The Outback Bowl New Year’s Day college bowl.

►Catalina, a St. Petersburg-based technology firm that collects and analyzes shopping data, partnered with St. Petersburg-based Valpak to distribute valuable savings and promotional offers to consumers nationwide.

►Robert Reich, former executive vice president and chief financial officer at Tampa technology company Syniverse Holdings was named chief financial officer at Catalina in St. Petersburg.

►SPCA Tampa Bay in Largo expanded its capacity and services during the COVID-19 pandemic to rehabilitate sick, injured and orphaned wildlife.

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