Crossman & Company Helps Organize Fashion Square Mall Retailers to Support Jobs Partnership of Florida

ORLANDO - Crossman & Company, the Orlando-based commercial property firm that ranks as one of the largest third-party retail leasing and management firms in the Southeast, recently helped organize retailers at Orlando Fashion Square mall near downtown Orlando in support of the Jobs Partnership of Florida – a coalition of churches, business and community organizations that inspire and equip underemployed and unemployed individuals in the area of life skills, job skills and Bible-based decision making skills.

John Crossman, president of Crossman & Company, recently spoke to Jobs Partnership of Florida volunteers and organizers at the Summit Church, located near Orlando Fashion Square.

“Gainful employment is one of the most important resources any person can achieve,” Crossman told the group. “Jobs are the building blocks of every community. If we want to improve our communities, our lifestyles and our business relationships, we have to look at jobs as a shared responsibility, not a competitive edge,” he said.

Crossman & Company helped organize Orlando Fashion Square retailers including Olive Garden, Sbarro’s, Subway, Panera Bread, Chic-Fil-A and Fuji Express to support Jobs Partnership of Florida.

“Our passion is to revive the American work ethic by reconnecting the church to the public square,” Crossman explained.

“The Jobs Partnership of Florida is helping to provide a framework for local churches to equip individuals to work and support themselves and their families,” he said. “Our goal is to help transform the world one community at a time.”

For more information contact: John Crossman, CCIM, President, Crossman & Company, 407-581-6218; Molly Delahunty, Crossman & Company, 407-581-6220 mdelahunty@crossmanco.com; Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142

About Crossman & Company: Crossman & Company is one of the largest third-party retail leasing and management companies in the Southeast with over 16 million square feet under leasing and/or management. Founded in Orlando in 1990, Crossman & Company is a full service commercial real estate firm that advises its clients in leasing, management, development and investment sales of retail and office properties and serves clients including Publix Super Markets, Inc., Lake Nona, PREIT, and LaSalle Investment Management. Please visit www.crossmanco.com, or call 407-423-5400 for more information.

President Obama’s Jobs Initiative a Small Step in the Right Direction, Says Mercantile Capital Corporation President Chris Hurn

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. --- Christopher Hurn, president of Mercantile Capital Corporation, the region’s most active provider of U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans for small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities, appeared on Fox Business News recently to comment on President Obama’s efforts to stimulate job growth in the U.S.

“Some of the things being discussed -- like tax credits for new hires and a payroll tax holiday for employers -- are a good step in the right direction,” Hurn explained, “but I’m not entirely convinced that the Obama Administration has figured out how to truly stimulate our economy and actually create jobs.”

Economic stimulation starts with taxation, Hurn asserted. “You have to put money in people's pockets and then trust the American consumers and businesses to do what is best with it,” he said.

“You can't stimulate job growth without stimulating spending,” he said. “The tax credits that have been proposed are marginally beneficial, but tax credits for new hires were included as part of the original recovery bill. It’s easy to see that they haven’t had the impact we all hoped,” he said.

Hurn unveiled his own four-point plan to jump-start the national economy:

1. Implement a meaningful payroll tax holiday for both employers AND employees (Jan. 1 to July 1, or better yet, all of 2010);

2. Permanently abolish the capital gains tax on any investments made in eligible small businesses (fewer than $100 million or under 500 employees) during 2010;

3. Repeal or drastically modify Sarbanes-Oxley, as it has hampered business growth and hasn't done nearly as much good as was intended;

4. Get health reform right---the plans in circulation are still missing two very important things: tort reform and the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines.

* * *

For more information, contact:

Chris Hurn, CEO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Larry Vershel, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142

University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program Marks 10th Anniversary Creating 1,653 Jobs

ORLANDO, Fla., --- The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program, which operates incubator facilities in the Central Florida Research Park and the UCF campus in Orange County, in Orlando, Winter Springs, Sanford and Leesburg and plans to open new incubators in Osceola County early next year, recently marked its 10th anniversary

The UCF Business Incubation Program helps young companies become successful. These successful companies in turn create new jobs and generate local economic expansion and development.

UCF Business Incubation Program’s founder and executive director Dr. Tom O’Neal, who also heads the Office of Research and Commercialization at UCF, said the decade-long business incubation effort has helped more than 130 client companies create 1,653 new jobs and generates more than $190 million annually in local economic impact.

For more information about this release contact:

Dr. Tom O’Neal, Executive Director, UCF Business Incubation Program, 407 882-1120, oneal@mail.ucf.edu;

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142 or LvershelCo@aol.com

About the UCF Incubation Program:

Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 130 emerging companies (including nearly 80 current clients) create over $500 million in annual revenue and more than 1600 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. With six facilities across the Greater Orlando community, the Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic development between the University of Central Florida, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the City of Winter Springs, The City of Sanford, Lake County, the City of Leesburg, and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. For more information, please visit http://www.incubator.ucf.edu/.

University of Central Florida Business Incubator to Open at Stevens Plantation in St. Cloud Early Next Year

University of Central Florida Business Incubator to Open at Stevens Plantation in St. Cloud Early Next Year

New Facility to break ground Thursday, Aug. 13, opening set for early 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. - The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program, which currently serves nearly 70 client companies at facilities in the Central Florida Research Park adjacent to the UCF campus, on East Colonial (S.R. 50) near downtown Orlando, in Winter Springs, Sanford, and Leesburg, has formed a joint partnership with the City of St. Cloud and Osceola County to develop a Business Incubator facility at Stevens Plantation in St. Cloud.

Dr. Tom O’Neal, executive director of the UCF Business Incubation Program, said a groundbreaking for the new St. Cloud Business Incubator is set for Thursday, Aug. 13, from 2 to 3 p.m. at West Nolte Rd. and Budinger Ave. in St. Cloud.

Successful business incubators have proved to be the most cost-effective strategy to generate local economic development, according to a recent national study.

Dr. O’Neal said the UCF/St. Cloud/Osceola County Business Incubator has leased 14,000 square feet of office space in the new facility, which will open during the first quarter of next year.

“Our goal in developing the UCF/St. Cloud/Osceola County Business Incubator is to empower new business and industry in the local area and to generate new jobs,” Dr. O’Neal said.

For more information about this release contact:
Dr. Tom O’Neal, Executive Director, UCF Business Incubation Program, 407 882-1120, oneal@mail.ucf.edu

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142 or LvershelCo@aol.com

About the UCF Incubation Program:
Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 100 emerging companies (including nearly 70 current clients) create over $500 million in annual revenue and more than 1600 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. With five facilities across the Greater Orlando community, the Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic development between the University of Central Florida, the City of Orlando, Orange County, Seminole County, the City of Winter Springs, Lake County, the City of Leesburg and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. For more information, please visit www.incubator.ucf.edu.

UCF Business Incubation Program Identifies More Than 1,600 Area Jobs it helped to create with Earnings of More than $70 Million

UCF Business Incubation Program Identifies More Than 1,600 Area Jobs it helped to create with Earnings of More than $70 Million

ORLANDO, Fla. - The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program, which currently supports nearly 70 startup companies at five Central Florida incubation sites in downtown Orlando, east Orlando, Winter Springs and the UCF campus, reports its efforts have helped to generate more than 1,600 new jobs in the Central Florida region with combined earnings of more than $70 million.

Dr. Tom O’Neal, founder and executive director of the UCF Business Incubation Program, said that’s just a start. “Currently, client companies of the UCF Business Incubation Program employ 340 professionals,” O’Neal said.

Thirty-one Central Florida companies that have graduated from the program currently employ 490 individuals, O’Neal added.

The net effect of that job growth creates almost the same number of “ripple” jobs to support these new businesses, O’Neal said.

Orlando-based Real Estate Research Consultants, Inc. conducted a study of the economic impact of the UCF Business Incubation Program job growth in the region, O’Neal said, and used an industry standard calculation known as RIMS II multipliers to determine the number of “ripple” jobs created.

The UCF Business Incubation Program’s area economic impact goes beyond job growth, O’Neal explained.

“The job growth we helped to create here will generate as much as $14 million in new ad valorem revenues over the next 20 years in Orange County alone,” O’Neal said. In Seminole County, new ad valorem revenues resulting from the UCF Business Incubation Program are estimated at almost $4 million.

In addition, Orange and Seminole County schools will collect more than $28 million from the new job growth, O’Neal said.

The UCF Business Incubation Program, which initially focused on emerging technology companies, has expanded to include startup businesses of almost every stripe except retail and lifestyle.

“Most startup companies can benefit from a successful incubation program, but not all,” O’Neal said. “We aren’t equipped to adequately serve consumer product retail or lifestyle companies because the dynamics of those businesses don’t fit well in an incubator environment,” he said.

The award-winning UCF Business Incubation Program, which opened its doors 10 years ago, now ranks as one of the most successful incubation programs in the U.S.

For more information, contact:

Tom O’Neal. Ph.D, UCF Associate Vice President for Research and Commercialization and Incubation Program Executive Director, 407-882-1120, oneal@mail.ucf.edu

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142 Lvershelco@aol.com

About the UCF Incubation Program:

Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Incubation Program has helped more than 100 emerging companies (including nearly 70 current clients) create over $500 million in annual revenue and more than 900 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. With five facilities across the metro Orlando community, the Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic development between UCF, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the City of Winter Springs, and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. For more information, please visit http://www.incubator.ucf.edu/.