Tampa Bay

ECONOMIC LIFE

Corporate Headquarters

• Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has announced plans to open its North American Shared Services headquarters in Tampa. Expected to be fully operational by mid-2016, the shared services center will house the company’s finance, human resources, information technology and procurement departments. A capital investment of $23.5 million and 500 new jobs are anticipated. Founded in 1886, Johnson & Johnson is known for such brands as Tylenol, Band-Aid and Visine.
• Global outsourcing and product support services firm iQor has relocated its New York City headquarters to St. Petersburg. The firm, which has 32,000 employees in 17 countries, purchased the Aftermarket Services business of St. Pete-based Jabil Circuit in 2014, and several top iQor executives are former Jabil employees.
• Data risk consulting firm Sunera is growing in Tampa, adding more than 40 jobs to support its burgeoning cybersecurity practice and expand information security and data privacy functions.
• Accusoft, a global provider of document, content and imaging solutions, will add 25,000 square feet to its Tampa headquarters and create 125 new jobs by 2019.
• Power Design, a family-run electrical contracting business serving clients nationwide, will expand its headquarters in St. Petersburg, retaining 196 jobs and creating 60 more.

Business/Financial Services

• Gateway One Lending & Finance, a subsidiary of TCF National Bank, has opened a new auto lending service center in Tampa, creating 115 new jobs.
• Bottled water provider DS Services, a subsidiary of Cott Corporation, will consolidate its customer contact operations in a single facility with the opening of a 72,000-sq.-ft. center in Lakeland; 400 new jobs are anticipated.

Logistics/Distribution

• Port Tampa Bay, named among the nation’s top 20 ports by Global Trade magazine, is prepping for completion of the Panama Canal expansion with two new gantry cranes for loading/unloading larger container ships. Port Manatee, closest U.S. deep water port to the Panama Canal, welcomes Manatee Ship Repair and Fabrication, providing on-site repair services for a full spectrum of commercial vessels.
• Amazon is already doubling the size of its workforce at distribution centers in Ruskin and Lakeland that only just opened in fall 2014 with the addition of 2,000 more jobs.
• Total Quality Logistics is opening a new carrier services division at its Tampa office — the first non-sales division outside of its corporate headquarters in Cincinnati — and creating 200 new jobs over two years.
• Blue Grace Logistics will expand its headquarters in Riverview and add 100 new technology, accounting, legal and professional services jobs..

Life Sciences/Healthcare

• Xcelience, an international contract firm servicing the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, will expand product development and manufacturing operations and create 100 new jobs at its Tampa headquarters.
• All Children’s Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine in St. Petersburg is among the top 50 in two medical specialties on U.S. News & World Report’s “2015-16 Best Children’s Hospitals”: cardiology and heart surgery (No. 26) and pulmonology (No. 48).
• University of South Florida’s new College of Pharmacy, which graduated its first class in May 2015, has received full accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.

Manufacturing

• Tampa Tank and Florida Structural Steel plans to invest $18.3 million in an expansion that will add 108 jobs — 24 at its Ybor City headquarters and 84 at a facility in south Hillsborough County.
• Clearwater-based Hercules Fluid Power Group, an international distributor of hydraulic and pneumatic seals, seal kits and cylinders for all heavy equipment brands, plans to open a new manufacturing and distribution center in Hillsborough County with 50 new jobs anticipated.
• Micro Matic USA, maker of beverage dispensing devices, is building a new 60,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility near the Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport, and Clear Power Systems will take over an existing 11,800-sq.-ft. building at the airport’s Technology Center to manufacture a product for turning waste heat into electricity

Technology

• Electronic security monitoring firm Enerva Systems will expand its Sarasota-based operations, adding 30 jobs.
• GeniusCentral Systems, providing retailers and manufacturers with software support for product/sales tracking, branding, e-commerce and rewards programs, will relocate to St. Petersburg and create 40 new jobs.
• With the expansion of its Tampa headquarters, technology services firm Tribridge will add 200 IT jobs to its existing local workforce of 240.
• LabTech Software, billed as “the only remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform developed by an IT service provider for IT service providers,” will expand its Tampa-based operations and create 100 new jobs.
• Star2Star Communications, providing cloud-based telecommunications systems for business phones, video conferencing and instant messaging, has added 30,000 square feet to its Manatee County headquarters and plans to hire another 350 employees over five years.
• Rejecting offers from three other states, IT security firm ReliaQuest will remain in Tampa, expand its headquarters and create up to 55 new jobs.
• Internet security software firm Vir-Sec, short for “virtual security,” will consolidate existing operations in Maryland and Virginia at a new headquarters in downtown Clearwater; 200 jobs are expected.

Tourism

• Pinellas County set a bed-tax record in 2014 by collecting more than $35 million, up 12.7% from the previous year. Likewise, Polk County collected $7.7 million in tourist taxes, topping 2013’s revenue by 12% and breaking the previous record of $7.3 million set in 2008.
• Ground was finally broken in Clearwater Beach in early 2015 for the 15-story, 700,000-sq.-ft. Wyndham Grand Resort that had been on hold since the economy crashed in 2007. Construction on a 174-room Hyatt hotel in downtown St. Petersburg is expected to begin in spring 2016.
• Busch Gardens opened its long-awaited face-first drop ride, Falcon’s Fury, in fall 2014 and the new 70-foot-high water slide — Colossal Curl — debuted at its adjacent Adventure Island water park in March 2015.

Tags: Business Florida