oTECH Student Wins National Title

St. Cloud is a breeding ground for great talent. This past May, several students and adults from all over Central Florida competed at the iBuild USA Invitational 2022 Construction Job Fair, Skills Competition, & Signing Day.

iBuild U.S.A. is a registered 501c3 nonprofit that collaborates with over 400 partners and multiple school districts, technical colleges and state colleges. One of their priorities is building the workforce development pipeline for the construction industry.

Congratulations to Justin Quezada of Mr. Tudor’s HVAC Program at oTECH Main Campus and Juan Pena of Mr. Avant’s Building Construction Technology Program at our oTECH St Cloud Campus. Each competitor took 1^st place in their categories.

oTech has several certificate programs in leading industries i.e. automotive service & maintenance, diesel systems, CNC production and cybersecurity--to name a few. These programs create opportunities in emerging pipelines for future high wage, high quality jobs in St. Cloud.

According to an economic modeling forecast launched by Lightcast Q4 2022, the number of jobs increased by 12.5% in St. Cloud zip codes in the 4th quarter of 2022. This growth outpaced the national growth rate by 10.6%.

Orlando Health Opens Oncology Suite

The Orlando Health Cancer Institute Oncology Suite St. Cloud just made it easier for cancer patients in the St. Cloud area to receive cancer infusions and treatments after opening their new office in the Orlando Health Medical Pavilion – St. Cloud, located on Budinger Avenue and 13th Street in St. Cloud.

Dr. Simi George, a board-certified medical oncologist at the Orlando Health Cancer Institute, who helps diagnose and treat all cancer types with a special expertise in gastrointestinal cancers, will head up the St. Cloud Office.

“We’re very excited to be here in St. Cloud at the new Orlando Health Cancer Institute Oncology Clinic and Infusion Center, where we’re able to see almost all cancer patients as well as those experiencing non-cancer blood issues, and provide complete cancer care, including cancer-related infusion, chemotherapy, chemo pills, IV iron infusions, and immunoglobulin infusions,” Dr. George shared with Positively Osceola. “Orlando Health has a great track record of providing state-of-the art cancer care in Orange County, and now for the first time they’re bringing it to Osceola County and St. Cloud, so I’m very excited to be part of that.”

BankFlorida Breaking Ground in St. Cloud

BankFlorida, feeding off the success of its ‘community banking’ location in Kissimmee, has broken ground on its St. Cloud location.

The new bank building, at East U.S. Highway 192 at Old Hickory Tree Road near St. Cloud, is schedule to open in late spring of 2023.

“I appreciate the City of St. Cloud, St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce and (state Rep.) Fred Hawkins coming to celebrates this with us today,” said BankFlorida Market President Tom White.

He has spent many years working in the community back model, where all decisions at the local level. At larger regional banks, decisions are made out of town, or state, which can take more time.

“They need to make a call to get a decision made,” White said. “They talk about being, ‘Your community bank,’ but they talk a big game. Their hierarchy is different.”

The BankFlorida has already grown to $115 million in loans and deposits since May 2021. “It’s been strong,” White said. “Now we’re going to bring the model to St. Cloud.

“In a community bank all of your decisions are made at the local level, which means faster service. And, being a community bank, we get to know our customers — if we don’t already know them.”

White said he’s looking for more local locations to open in the coming years.

*This article was originally featured in the Osceola News Gazette on 12/5/2022.

HCA To Open New Free-standing Emergency Room

Osceola Regional Medical Center continues to expand its emergency services free-standing emergency room on U.S. 192 in St. Cloud.

The HCA-owned hospital has filed plans with the City of St. Cloud for a 10,860-square-foot emergency center in the St. Cloud Marketplace shopping center just east of Narcoossee Road.

RRB Partners is developing the 10-acre site, which also will be home to a 10,000-square-foot Learning Experience daycare center, a sit-down restaurant, a quick-service restaurant, a drive-thru coffee concept and a multi-tenant retail building. Marco’s Pizza and Jeremiah’s Italian Ice have already signed leases for the multi-tenant building, according to Alexie Fonseca with Colliers International. The leasing team is in discussions with various users for the remaining 3.3-acre lot, which could be for a senior living or multifamily concept or a big-box retail user, she added.

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