Business Reports

+ Pottery studio celebrates anniversary
Arts A Blaze celebrated its five-year anniversary April 18 with special festivities at the store.
Owners Dan and Theresa Barion, with their son, Nick, assisted customers with making create-your-own pottery.

“I can’t believe we’ve been here five years,” Theresa Barion said. “As we’ve grown, we’ve watched the children who have come in grow along with us. That’s exciting.”

The shop is located at 8111 Lakewood Main St., Unit 107, Lakewood Ranch.

+ London Bay Homes constructs ‘Adalia’
London Bay Homes’ new Adalia model is a maintenance-free villa in the Matera section of The Lake Club, in Lakewood Ranch.

The home, which is now under construction, will have three bedrooms and 2,800 square feet of living space once finished in May.

The floor plan includes a den, a great room, a dining area and three full baths, for a total of 4,087 square feet, including a 459-square-foot outdoor living area and two-car garage.

For more information, visit LondonBay.com.

+ Neal ends strong in first quarter
Neal Communities finished first-quarter home sales with a new sales record, selling 92 homes.
The total beat Neals all-time sales record from March 2013 by 11 sales.

“With the winter season starting later and lasting longer this year, we’ve seen a delay of visitors and potential homebuyers traveling to Florida,” said David Hunihan, director of sales for Neal Communities. “We expect the late, but strong, season to continue on through May.”

March sales occurred in 16 communities, spanning from Manatee to Lee counties. In the East County, Neal’s Central Park community boasted nine home sales, while Fairfield had seven sales and Woodbrook had six.

EMPLOYEE NEWS
Chris Tennant joined Fairway Funding Group, in Lakewood Ranch. Tennant specializes in residential mortgage loans, as well as reverse mortgages.

Willis Smith Construction promoted Robbie Gronbach to director of preconstruction. Gronbach has worked for the company for four years, successfully working on projects such as LECOM School of Dental Medicine and Bayside Community Church.

Kristie O’Kon and Jen Raymer have joined the team at Grapevine Communications as client relations managers. Each will coordinate project development, communication and process management for select clients. Kristen Raynor will intern with the company.

Donna Hartzler joined the RE/MAX Alliance Group as a sales associate in the University Park office, located at 8027 Cooper Creek Blvd., Sarasota. Hartzler has worked with RE/MAX for 10 years, previously serving as a broker-associate with RE/MAX Ocean Realty, in North Carolina.

John Briggs has joined SouthTech as a voice engineer.

TreeUmph! Adventure Course has added Jason Pitsas to its team as operations manager.