What’s not to like about Tampa Bay? With four seaports and three international airports providing ready access to global markets, plus a labor pool of 2.1 million workers supported by 19 not-for-profit public and private colleges and universities, including three University of South Florida campuses, this eight-county region is brimming with business potential. The proof is in the roster of companies already here: 23 firms with billion-dollar revenues — four of them among the Fortune 500 — have corporate headquarters in Tampa Bay. And thanks to Duke Energy’s Site Readiness Program, communities in two Tampa Bay counties — Pasco and Polk — are better equipped to attract new and expanding businesses now that prime parcels of land within their jurisdictions have been identified as well suited for specific types of industrial development.

In addition to these business assets, Tampa Bay boasts a superb quality of life. Daily sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico, a healthy mix of vibrant downtowns and wide open spaces and world-class venues for arts and culture, shopping, dining, recreation and professional sports make this an especially appealing place to work and live. Of particular interest is a resurgence in urban development, including the transformation of Tampa’s downtown waterfront district known as “Channelside.”

WHO LIVES HERE

Innovators The University of South Florida is the state’s most prolific patent earner. With a record 104 U.S. patents granted in 2014, USF ranks 1st in Florida, 10th nationally and 13th among universities worldwide, according to a report from the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association.

Millennials Once considered a haven for retirees, St. Petersburg is today the top city in Florida for drawing millennials based on job availability, salaries, affordable rents and the number of millennials already living here, according to the website Nerdwallet.com. Since 2010, St. Pete’s millennial population has increased 6%. Close behind, at No. 3 nationwide, is Tampa, where millennials now make up 24% of the total population.

Female entrepreneurs Tampa Bay’s business community is a welcoming place for women. In a 2014 report commissioned by American Express OPEN, Tampa Bay ranked 7th among the 25 largest U.S. metro areas for the economic clout of women-owned businesses, a factor determined by averaging the number, revenue and employment of women-owned firms. Since 2002, the number of women-owned businesses in Tampa Bay has increased 50%, and the number they employ has risen 38%, compared to 40% and 10% nationwide.

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.

NOTABLE ADDITIONS/EXPANSIONS

Corporate headquarters Feld Entertainment, which moved its global production headquarters to Ellenton from Virginia in 2013, is now relocating its Motor Sports Division from Illinois and adding 200 jobs. Feld produces many well-known live entertainment brands, including Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Disney on Ice, and Feld Motor Sports.

Technology Cognizant, an IT company based in Teaneck, N.J., plans to add more than 400 new jobs and invest approximately $5.7 million in its Tampa operations over the next four years.

Logistics/distribution Walmart plans to construct a $200-million distribution center — two buildings, each about 1 million square feet — in eastern Polk County. A late 2016 opening and at least 400 new jobs are anticipated. Nearby, FedEx is building a 300,000-sq.-ft. distribution center with 38 new jobs expected.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Happy and healthy The website 247wallst.com has dubbed the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton MSA “happiest city in America,” based on its strong showing on the 2014 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton ranked No. 1 on the Index, which studied the nation’s 100 largest metro areas on five essential elements of well-being: physical, social, financial, community and purpose.

Flying high For the second consecutive year, Tampa International Airport ranked No. 2 overall on Travel + Leisure’s “World’s Best Airports: Domestic” survey of readers. The airport, which served 17.6 million passengers in 2014, is currently undergoing a $934-million renovation and continues to add new airlines and destinations. Lufthansa begins non-stop service to Frankfurt in September 2015.

Educational excellence Two Tampa Bay high schools earned gold medals in U.S. News & World Report’s “2015 Best High Schools” rankings: Pine View School in Osprey and Henry B. Plant High School in Tampa. Meanwhile, three Tampa Bay counties — Hernando, Pasco and Pinellas — have launched the Tampa Bay Advanced Manufacturing Skills Initiative, an apprenticeship program patterned after one in Germany that combines classroom education with on-the-job training to ensure a ready supply of skilled workers for manufacturing jobs.

Plenty to see and do Bask in the sun on a Gulf Coast beach; five in this region were named among “Florida’s 10 Best Beaches” by readers of USA Today. Browse the collection of fine art, antiques and circus memorabilia at The Ringling in Sarasota, ranked among TripAdvisor’s “Top 25 U.S. Museums.” Peruse urban spaces where up-and-coming artists live and work at Bradenton’s Village of the Arts and St. Pete’s Warehouse Arts District. Walk/run/bike across Old Tampa Bay on a newly completed 12-mile trail alongside the Courtney Campbell Causeway. Or just go shopping: Sarasota’s University Town Center Mall, one of only two enclosed malls to open nationwide in 2014, offers 880,000-sq.-ft. of “shop-‘til-you-drop” entertainment.

NOTABLE EMPLOYERS

Distribution

• Home Shopping Network| St. Petersburg
• Publix Super Markets| Lakeland
• Tech Data Corporation | Clearwater

Finance & Insurance

• Citigroup | Tampa
• JPMorgan Chase | Tampa
• Progressive Insurance | Tampa
• Raymond James Financial | St. Petersburg
• United Services Automobile Association (USAA) | Tampa

Healthcare

• BayCare Health System | Clearwater
• HCA West Florida | Tampa
• Moffit Cancer Center | Tampa
• WellCare Health Plans | Tampa

Hospitality/Tourism

• Bloomin’ Brands | Tampa
• Busch Gardens | Tampa
• Legoland | Winter Haven

Manufacturing

• Jabil Circuit | St. Petersburg
• The Mosaic Company | FishHawk
• PGT Industries | Venice
• Tropicana Products | Bradenton
• Sun Hydraulics Corporation | Sarasota