Business

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SPAC-ulation: Strong but unconfirmed speculation is circulating around town that island-born billionaire Tilman Fertitta is planning to re-net the Joe’s Crab Shack chain.

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The Wharves Board of Trustees met on Monday for its regular monthly meeting. Here are a few business transactions and items the wharves board approved or discussed.

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Supply side: Did Santa Fe plow past other mainland cities to lure the largest retail farm and ranch store in the nation? It sure looks that way.

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A&A Machine & Fabrication has completed an order of more than 100 high-pressure tubes in record time, a feat that likely will lead to more projects, as the mainland company breaks into a market recently dominated by European suppliers.

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Boeing Space Exploration, based in the Clear Lake area, is continuing its long-term partnership with NASA in developing the agency’s next-generation spacecraft.

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Nicaragua in 1978 was wracked by the final throes of a bloody revolution that in the following July would bring to an end the despotic, three-generation Somoza family regime.

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For nearly 40 years, the Stewart Mansion sat empty, serving as a canvas for vandals, while many of its architectural elements were destroyed or looted.

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Island home sales saw a healthy bump in the first six months this year, rising 6 percent over last year as consumers sought places to sink their cash.

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The scoop: Sometimes, the best business opportunities come in unexpected ways. Just ask Mike and Kathy Bouvier, owners of Hey Mikey’s Ice Cream, 2120 Postoffice St. in the island’s downtown.

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Raise your steins: Texas City-based Del Papa Distributing was established on the island in 1910 and is widely known for distributing national brands, particularly Anheuser-Busch products. In 2014, Mark Dell’Osso established Galveston Island Brewing, a burgeoning company working to introduce the world to its craft beers.

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On the half-shell: Gilhooley’s, the iconic San Leon restaurant famous for oysters, has a new owner — the man who for years has supplied the business with the bivalves for which the eatery is famous.

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Another ship has come in for the Port of Galveston.

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Biz brewing: The revival of Texas City’s Sixth Street is about to get caffeinated.

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Time of the Seasons: It’s happening. Seasons Gourmet Food & Grocer, 2701 Broadway, opens 7 a.m. Friday, just a little more than a year after announcing plans to set up shop in Galveston.

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Gulf Greyhound Park owners, who are seeking ways to generate revenue at the 210,000-square-foot behemoth after ending live dog racing last year, announced this week a major lantern festival would lease space for several months beginning in the fall.

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On the menu: As promised, Galveston Restaurant Group has opened Taquilo’s, 2101 Postoffice St. downtown.

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An oil and gas transportation and storage company that operates pipelines in Texas City is seeking a permit to use 150 acre feet of water per year — the equivalent of about 70 Olympic-sized swimming pools — to test and flush its equipment.

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The Galveston Regional Chamber of Commerce will honor the recipients of the inaugural George P. Mitchell Regional Entrepreneurs of the Year at an awards celebration from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. June 10 at the Galveston Island Convention Center, 5600 Seawall Blvd.

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Supermarket speculation: Inquiring readers want to know about all that activity at the vacant Baywood Foods grocery store, 6721 Main St. in Hitchcock. The store closed in September 2014, leaving Hitchcock residents without a supermarket of their own.

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Does Beaumont-based Jason’s Deli intend to bite into the market? Rumor has it that the purveyor of sandwiches, soups and salads is planning a League City eatery.

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A series of issues slowed Seasons Gourmet Food & Grocer, McCutcheon said this week, although declining to cast blame at anyone in particular.

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No one at the Port of Galveston expected the Galveston Transit Terminal, primarily a bus depot for the city, to generate shiploads of revenue. But waterfront managers obviously want and need it to make money.

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Crews have begun framing the building that will house the much-awaited Marais restaurant rising at 2015 FM 517 in Dickinson.