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Talk of the bay: The clean, green, luxury airport travel machine?

By Times Staff
Published June 13, 2007

They're hot, they're cute and they're green. But can a tiny Toyota Prius hybrid make it as a limousine? Moshe Leib thinks so and will ask Hillsborough County regulators this morning to let him run a Prius as a "baby limo" from Pinellas County to Tampa International Airport. The owner of TB Limo Black Car Service in Redington Beach, Leib now uses Lincoln Town Cars. A Prius would save $8, 000 a year on gas, he says, allowing him to waive his 12 percent fuel surcharge to customers. County rules require limo operators to use luxury cars, says Greg Cox, executive director of the Public Transportation Commission. The Prius doesn't qualify, he says, but commissioners can grant a waiver.

Plans for tower haven't collapsed

Is the obituary for Trump Tower Tampa premature? Three weeks after Donald Trump yanked his name from the proposed condominium high-rise, Tampa partner SimDag LLC declared its unwillingness to give up the ghost. "Despite published stories to the contrary, we never stopped in our efforts to secure funding to build the tallest and most luxurious residential building on the Gulf of Mexico, " SimDag's Frank Dagostino said in a press release Tuesday. It's the first real peep out of SimDag since Trump sued last month to recover more than $1-million in licensing fees. The $270-million project at 111 S Ashley Drive has failed in its two-year hunt for financing. In the eyes of project critics, the money troubles, combined with Trump's defection and a crimp in the condo market, spell R.I.P.

All is well with Tampa's WellCare

WellCare Health Plans CEO Todd Farha's message to stockholders Tuesday was short and simple: It's been a pretty good year for his company. So good that even former U.S. senator and Florida governor Bob Graham signed on as a director in April. Speaking at WellCare's annual stockholders meeting, Farha said the Tampa-based managed-care company doubled in size last year, has more than 2.2-million members in eight states and projects $5.2-billion in revenue this year. Good news travels fast. WellCare's stock closed Tuesday at $90.52, up $2.02, giving the company a market value of a whopping $3.74-billion.

[Last modified June 12, 2007, 23:06:30]