TAMPA / ST. PETERSBURG / SARASOTA / FORT MYERS / NAPLES / LAKELAND
The startup Haddy — which opened its first microfactory in St. Petersburg in April 2025 — was built around AI-powered robots pumping out 3D-printed furniture. The company is now scaling to serve more industries from entertainment to defense to maritime, according to co-founder and CEO John “Jay” Rogers. The expansion started last summer when Haddy completed the Disney Accelerator program. By the end of the year, it had signed an agreement to craft products for Walt Disney Co. theme parks, while maintaining its hospitality, molds, lighting and defense work. It now boasts around 30 contracts and is considering new facilities in Los Angeles, Georgia, Chicago and Virginia.
- BayCare Health System kicked off construction for its $650-million Pagidipati Children’s Hospital at St. Joseph’s in Tampa.
- Speros — the 775-acre life sciences campus in Pasco County anchored by Moffitt Cancer Center — launched the Florida Oncology and Radiopharmaceutical Growth Engine, or FORGE, a regional coalition for building a $2.6-billion radiopharmaceutical ecosystem with 4,000 high-wage jobs.
- Lee Health broke ground on a 60,000-sq.-ft. pediatric surgery center and family medicine clinic to open in Fort Myers by early 2028. The health system also started building a 100,000-sq.-ft. outpatient medical center to open mid-summer 2027 in Cape Coral with cancer, heart and musculoskeletal services.
- Healthcare Network opened its two-story, 20,000-sq.-ft. Van Domelen Community Health Center in Orangetree, easing the healthcare desert in eastern Collier County.
- Hillsborough County Public Schools broke ground on a 135,000-sq.-ft., $77-million elementary and middle school campus in West Tampa — a new iteration of Just Elementary, which closed in 2023, that will host 1,000 middle schoolers and 500 elementary schoolers by 2028.
- Naples Airport added a new hangar to train around 70 aviation airframe mechanic students from Lorenzo Walker Technical College.
- Nearly four years after Hurricane Ian devastated the Bahama Beach Club, the Fort Myers Beach waterfront community received its first elevated modular homes via crane. The revived property, originally established in the late 1960s and early 1970s, will feature 22 condo units with colorful coastal architecture inspired by the spirit of Old Florida.
- The Fort Myers City Council approved Sarasota-based developer Palm Riverview Holdings’ plan to build a five-story, 279-unit apartment complex in east Fort Myers.
- Brandon-based builder PulteGroup will develop 400 acres of Parrish land into Explore by Del Webb at North River Ranch, a Neal Land and Neighborhoods community with around 900 single-family homes and villas.
- Arizona-based national developer Alliance Residential Company opened The Carmina, a 360-unit apartment community in Plant City.
- Port Tampa Bay is designing a new terminal that could add around 200 cruise ship calls annually. It also opened its improved Cemex Aggregate Terminal in May after a $36-million expansion.
- Longtime Tampa banking executive Al Rogers became St. Petersburg-based BayFirst Financial’s president and CEO in April, coinciding with an $80-million capital raise.
- The Motorcoach Store — a luxury motorcoach and RV dealer in Bradenton — has acquired Central Florida’s Millennium Luxury Coaches, secured $60 million in capital and effectively doubled in size.
- Juice company Peterson Brands closed its Fort Myers plant in June, affecting 135 jobs.
- Jacksonville-based fiber-optic internet service provider IQ Fiber opened a sales, engineering, operations and technology facility in Clearwater.
- A 160-piece traveling exhibit celebrating British street artist Banksy will run at the Straz Center in Tampa this month.
- Part of a decade-long town center project, an Autograph Collection Hotel condo hotel dubbed the Beachmaker will bring 171 units to Madeira Beach.
- Local developer McKibbon Hospitality started constructing AC Hotel and Moxy Hotel Tampa Downtown, a 13-story dual-flag building with 310 units opening by early 2028.
- A joint venture between Sarasota-based Floridays Development and local restaurateur Mike Evanoff plans to bring a four-story, 120-key Margaritaville-branded hotel to Sarasota by next fall.
- Collins Aerospace is investing $26.5 million to expand its Largo facility, creating 100-plus jobs and accelerating its production of aviation radars and security systems.
- Two local defense contractors — Quiet Professionals and Spathe Systems — consolidated into a new Tampa-based defense tech firm called Endurion, which has secured an $85-million, five-year contract with U.S. Special Operations Command.
Drone Deal
Israel-founded and Tampa-based autonomous drone firm XTEND secured a $1.67-million contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defense to deploy its operational drone systems.
Swapping Schools
After much speculation and debate, state lawmakers agreed to transfer the University of South Florida’s 32-acre Sarasota-Manatee campus to New College of Florida, including its property ownership, leases, fixed facilities, equipment and around $53 million in dorm-related debt. USF plans to retain its roughly 250 faculty and staff members. Its 1,000-some enrolled students will receive priority access to campus facilities and instruction during a four-year transition period before USF programs are phased out.
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