Tampa Bay

ECONOMIC LIFE

Life Sciences/Healthcare

• Bristol-Myers Squibb Company has opened its North America Capability Center in Tampa with the anticipation of 579 new jobs within three years.
• Medical testing services provider Quest Diagnostics opened a national operations center in Tampa to enhance customer service and support human resources activities nationwide; 350 new jobs are anticipated.
• Covidien, known for such medical advances as pulse oximetry, electrosurgery and laparascopic instrumentation, has established a medical device manufacturing facility in Riverview with plans to create 165 jobs.
• Construction is under way in Tampa on the USF Health Heart Institute, a $50-million facility combining research and cutting-edge cardiovascular care. Anticipated completion: 2015.
• All Children’s Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine in St. Petersburg is among the top 50 in three medical specialties on U.S. News & World Report’s 2014-15 “Best Children’s Hospitals”: cardiology and heart surgery (No. 34); orthopedics (No. 37); and cancer care (No. 48). All Children’s welcomed its inaugural class of 12 pediatric residents in July 2014.

Logistics/Distribution

• The Port of Tampa has a new name — Port Tampa Bay — and easier access thanks to the newly completed I-4/Selmon Expressway Connector. Port Manatee — Florida’s closest port to the Panama Canal — is developing an international trade hub to better assist companies with global distribution.
• Polk County solidified its position as a distribution hub with the opening of the Central Florida Intermodal Logistics Center in Winter Haven. The 318-acre terminal is expected to process up to 300,000 containers a year.

Growing companies in the sector include:

• O’Reilly Auto Parts: The operator of 90 retail auto parts stores in Florida and plans for 250 total has opened a 388,000-sq.-ft. distribution center and warehouse in Lakeland.
• PLS Logistics Services: The Pennsylvania-based logistics management and freight brokerage firm expects to create 120 new jobs with the opening of a sales office in Tampa.
• BlueGrace Logistics: Ranked No. 20 on Inc. 5000’s 2012 list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S., BlueGrace added 55 jobs at its Riverview headquarters in 2014.
• Tech Data Corporation: Tampa Bay’s largest public company by revenues, will expand its Clearwater headquarters with construction of a 45,000-sq.-ft. office facility.

Manufacturing

• General Electric Energy Management has announced plans for a new 190,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing Center of Excellence in Clearwater. The COE, which will include the firm’s existing instrument transformer facility and a new capacitor manufacturing plant, is expected to create 250 new jobs and be operational in 2015.
• At $225 million, the expansion under way at Mosaic Company’s New Wales fertilizer plant in Mulberry is being touted by company officials as Mosaic Phosphates’ largest-ever capital project. Two new storage warehouses and infrastructure modifications to accommodate new equipment are planned.
• Sun Hydraulics Corporation has opened its third manufacturing facility in Sarasota-Manatee. The maker of high-performance hydraulic valves is one of three Florida-based companies named to Fortune magazine’s 2013 list of the world’s 100 fastest-growing companies.

Two Plant City-based firms are growing:

• Dart Container, the world’s largest manufacturer of foam cups, will spend $14 million to construct a 400,000-sq.-ft. distribution center and add 24 new jobs;
• James Hardie Building Products plans to invest $80 million on new machinery/manufacturing space and create 100 new jobs to accommodate increased demand for its fiber cement siding products.

Tags: Business Florida