Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay — Florida’s second most heavily populated region — is both dynamic and affordable. At No. 15 nationwide, Tampa is the only Florida metro to make WalletHub’s 2019 list of the top 20 “Best Big Cities to Live In,” based on economics and amenities. On the 2018 Cost of Living Index published annually by the Council for Community and Economic Research, Tampa Bay scored an average annual index of 89.1 — nearly 11 points below the national average. All this, plus seamless connections and outstanding educational options, makes Tampa Bay a favored relocation choice among corporate executives and their families.
Headquarters
Tampa Bay is home to more than 20 corporate headquarters, five of which have been named to the Fortune 500 list for 2019: Tech Data, Publix Super Markets, Jabil, WellCare Health Plans and Raymond James Financial. Other heavyweights in this region include Roper Technologies, Bloomin’ Brands and, coming soon, The Mosaic Company.
Among recent activities regionwide:
Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets is expanding its headquarters by 200,000 square feet and adding 700 new corporate jobs by 2027. Founded in 1930, Publix has grown from a single store in Winter Haven to more than 1,200 stores across Florida and six other Southeastern states.
As part of a $67-million expansion at its St. Petersburg-based headquarters, Jabil is tearing down the original structure and building a bigger one with 170,000 square feet in four stories for offices and support. In March 2019, the company, which designs and manufactures everything from appliances and computing hardware to medical devices and telecommunications equipment, unveiled the first of four phases — a 40,000-sq.-ft. research and development center. All work is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.
S.S. White Technologies, developer and manufacturer of flexible shafts for aircraft and automobiles, has moved its headquarters from New Jersey to Seminole in Pinellas County, bringing 125 jobs.
UPC Insurance is purchasing a city block near its present headquarters in downtown St. Petersburg to build a new headquarters and parking garage with the promise of adding 300 high-wage jobs.
New York City wealth management firm Dynasty Financial Partners is relocating its headquarters to Priatek Plaza in downtown St. Petersburg with the expectation of having 35-40 employees, including some new hires, in place by the end of 2019.
Plant City-based berry grower and shipper Wish Farms has broken ground on a new headquarters campus east of Tampa near I-4. The 158,000-sq.-ft. combination office and warehouse complex will include a treehouse conference center, adult-sized indoor slide and rooftop deck.
KEY PLAYERS: Jabil, St. Petersburg; Publix Super Markets, Lakeland; Roper Technologies, Sarasota; Tech Data, Clearwater
Logistics and Distribution
Tampa Bay has all the elements required of a successful logistics and distribution sector: the state’s largest seaport and one of the nation’s closest deep-water ports to the Panama Canal; a top-rated international airport; superior rail connections; and an extensive interstate highway network that puts 34 million consumers within an eight-hour drive. As a result, many of the most readily recognizable names in distribution — Gordon Food Services, O’Reilly Auto Services, Amazon, Walmart and Wayfair — are already here, and more are on the way. Third-party logistics providers like Blue Grace Logistics, Integrity Express Logistics, Quality Distribution and Total Quality Logistics have also chosen to site facilities here.
So why Tampa Bay? Two words: superior connections …
By air: Three commercial airports serve this region. Tampa International is the largest, handling 21.3 million passengers and 208.9 million tons of cargo in 2018, and offering 252 aircraft departures daily, including non-stops to most major U.S. cities and to London, Zurich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Panama City, Cancun and Toronto. Also providing air passenger and cargo service: Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, serving close to 1.4 million passengers in 2018, and St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, which set its fourth consecutive record with 2.2 million passengers in 2018.
By sea: Port Tampa Bay, Florida’s largest port by physical size (5,000+ acres) and cargo tonnage, is among the nation’s most diversified, handling all major cargo categories, including liquid and dry bulk, containers, commodities and automobiles. In FY2018, 34.1 million tons of cargo passed through the port, including 87,526 TEUs of containerized cargo. On the southern edge of Tampa Bay, Port Manatee — one of the nearest U.S. deep-water seaports to the expanded Panama Canal — continues to break records. In FY2018, the port handled an all-time high of more than 9.3 million tons, a 19.1% increase over the previous year, and containerized cargo tons were up by 6.1%, reaching a new pinnacle of 385,247.
By rail: Tampa Bay offers 500 miles of active railroad and siding tracks operated by Florida-based CSX, which maintains a major rail yard, intermodal terminal, TRANSFLO terminal and automotive distribution center in Tampa.
By road: Interstate systems I-4, I-75 and I-275 directly link Tampa Bay to Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, Pensacola and all points in between and beyond. A truck ramp from Port Tampa Bay leads directly to and from I-4, which connects to I-75 less than 10 miles away.
Newly active players in Tampa Bay’s logistics and distribution sector include:
• IKEA – leasing warehouse space in Lakeland to serve as an e-commerce fulfillment center supporting the Tampa, Orlando and Miami markets.
• Amazon – investing $100 million to create a 285,000-sq.-ft. air cargo complex at Lakeland Linder International Airport; Amazon currently operates fulfillment centers in two Tampa Bay locations: Lakeland and Ruskin.
• Home Depot – planning to build an 800,000-sq.-ft. distribution center in Plant City to provide same- and next-day delivery service in more key metro areas.
KEY PLAYERS: Amazon, Seattle, Wa.; Blue Grace Logistics, Riverview; Integrity Express Logistics, Cincinnati, Ohio
Life Sciences and Health Care
Tampa Bay is home to 14% of Florida’s biotech companies and 22% of its pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing workforce. While familiar names like Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Quest Diagnostics and Medtronic enjoy success in this region, smaller companies also thrive:
• TouchPoint Medical, a leading producer of automated medication dispensing, will open its new 142,000-sq.-ft. headquarters in Odessa in early 2020.
• MHK, which oversees patient data for health care and managed care providers, opened a new 30,000-sq.-ft. Tampa headquarters in 2019.
• Miami-based Concept Medical, which develops medical devices for cardiac care, is moving its headquarters to Tampa.
• Vycellix, a cancer-therapy development company founded by researchers at the famed Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, has established its U.S. headquarters near Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.
Tampa Bay’s thriving health care sector also includes a medical education component. In downtown Tampa, University of South Florida’s CAMLS — Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation — provides hands-on learning opportunities for practicing physicians and medical students and USF’s Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute is scheduled to open in early 2020. In Clearwater, The Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine at Nova Southeastern University’s Tampa Bay Regional Campus welcomed its first students in fall 2019.
Access to health care is growing too:
• Tampa-based Moffitt Cancer Center has partnered with AdventHealth to open a 28,000-sq.-ft. outpatient treatment facility at AdventHealth Wesley Chapel.
• Oak Hill Hospital in Spring Hill will undergo an estimated $38.5-million renovation, expanding its emergency department and adding 70 private rooms to bring its total bed count to 350.
• Sarasota Memorial Health Care System has begun construction on a 350,000-sq.-ft. hospital in Venice that is expected to open in 2021 with 110 beds, 90 private acute-care suites and 28 emergency room beds.
Two Tampa Bay hospitals are among U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals 2019-20”: Moffitt Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Tampa General Hospital, which in fall 2018 performed its 10,000th organ transplant. Also cited: Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg as a “Best Children’s Hospital 2019-20” in two specialties.
KEY PLAYERS: Bristol-Myers Squibb, New York, N.Y.; Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, N.J.; WellCare Health Plans, Tampa
Clean Energy
In July 2019, Tampa Electric Company became the first investor-owned utility in Florida to offer a shared solar program to its customers. With the launch of “Sun Select,” residential and small business customers may subscribe to receive their power from solar energy at one of three levels: 25%, 50% or 100%; large commercial customers may participate in the program in 1,000 kilowatt-hour increments. Sun Select draws solar energy from a 17.5-megawatt portion of TECO’s newly constructed Lake Hancock solar plant near Bartow in Polk County. There are no upfront costs or contracts to participate in Sun Select; however, once all 17.5 megawatts are reserved by customers, others interested in participating will be placed on a waiting list.
In fall 2018, Duke Energy opened its long-awaited $1.5-billion combined-cycle natural gas plant near Crystal River in Citrus County. The plant serves an estimated 1.8 million customers in 35 Florida counties.
In March 2019, Florida Power & Light Company announced plans to build what it describes as “the world’s largest solar-powered battery system” on a 40-acre site in Manatee County. According to FPL, when the future FPL Manatee Energy Storage Center begins serving customers in late 2021, it will have 409 megawatts of capacity — the equivalent of approximately 100 million iPhone batteries — and will be charged from an existing solar power plant in Manatee County. It’s all part of FPL’s plan to retire two 1970s-era natural gas generating units and replace them with clean, renewable energy.
Meanwhile, construction continues on FPL’s Southfork Solar Energy Center in Manatee County, one of 10 solar power plants the company plans to open in early 2020 as part of its “30-by-30” plan to install more than 30 million solar panels throughout Florida by 2030.
KEY PLAYERS: Duke Energy Florida, St. Petersburg; Florida Power & Light, Juno Beach; TECO Energy, Tampa
Education
University of South Florida – Tampa Bay’s largest university and one of three statewide designated a “Preeminent State Research University” by the Florida Board of Governors — ranked No. 1 among Florida universities and 16th worldwide for patent production with 96 new U.S. utility patents in 2018. And with $568 million in total research expenditures, a National Science Foundation report puts USF among the nation’s top 25 public universities for research spending.
Other Tampa Bay educational institutions are making news too. At Florida’s newest accredited university — Florida Polytechnic in Lakeland — construction has begun on a second academic building. Slated for completion in 2021, the 85,000-sq.-ft. Applied Research Center will house research and teaching laboratories, student design spaces, conference rooms and faculty offices. And thanks to a new partnership between two post secondary schools, students who graduate with an associate of arts degree from Polk State College may enjoy a seamless pathway to completing four-year STEM degrees at Florida Poly. Elsewhere in the region, Florida Southern College — best known for being home to the world’s largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture — is ranked No. 20 among southern regional universities by U.S. News & World Report, and in Sarasota County, Cross College Alliance allows students enrolled at one of four area colleges — New College of Florida, USF Sarasota-Manatee, Ringling College of Art & Design and State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota — to cross register for classes at another on a space-available basis.
At the high school level, Pine View School in Osprey is once again Florida’s top-rated high school in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best High Schools 2019” rankings; nationwide, Pine View jumped four spaces to No. 15 from No. 19 a year ago. Hillsborough County’s Plant, Steinbrenner and Newsome high schools were also cited among the nation’s top 875. And while many public school systems choose to offer heavily STEM-oriented curricula, in Sarasota, the arts have a role to play in all classes, including math and science. And every Sarasota County public school, grades K-12, has at least one arts and one music teacher.
Life & Leisure
Downtown Alive!
The 50-acre mixed-use Water Street Tampa project aimed at revitalizing downtown Tampa’s waterfront continues to take shape. In November 2018, the property between the Florida Aquarium and Amalie Arena formerly known as Channelside Bay Plaza began its new life as Sparkman Wharf, a combination dining garden, craft beer garden and “recreational lawn.” And nearby, construction has begun on what is described as Tampa’s first “trophy” office tower in more than a quarter of a century. The new 20-story structure is located next door to the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute. When completed in 2021, the trophy tower will have about 380,000 square feet of office and retail space, a green plaza shared with the USF medical school and a rooftop terrace.
Live as a Local, Play like a Tourist
Tampa Bay is a great place to visit; it’s an even better place to live because there’s just so much to see and do. You can: Get up close and personal with manatees at Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge; see live mermaids perform underwater at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. Catch an old movie classic at the historic Tampa Theatre and grab a café con leche at a Cuban café in Ybor City. Say hello to movie-star dolphins Winter and Hope at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. View the works of a renowned artist at The Dalí Museum in St. Pete, then drive the Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay to browse affordable art at Bradenton’s Village of the Arts. Run away to the circus — aka, the art and circus museum complex in Sarasota that bears the Ringling name. Dive into a crystal lagoon, play a round of golf or, if it’s spring, catch an Atlanta Braves Grapefruit League game at the team’s brand new CoolToday Park in North Port. Be a kid again at LEGOLAND or a daredevil adult aboard the new Tigris coaster at Busch Gardens. Hunt for sharks’ teeth along Venice Beach. And come late afternoon, simply turn west, find a sandy beach and just stop … because nothing beats a sunset over the Gulf of Mexico.
Beaches Worth Bragging About … Again
Three Gulf coast beaches in the Tampa Bay region have been singled out for recognition on TripAdvisor’s 2019 “Top 25 Beaches, U.S.” list. For the second year in a row, Clearwater Beach takes the top prize. No. 4 goes to St. Pete Beach just a few miles down the road, which is praised for its “silky” sand, and Siesta Beach on Siesta Key in Sarasota County follows close behind at No. 6 nationwide. Incidentally, Clearwater Beach is ranked No. 6 on TripAdvisor’s 2019 “Top 25 Best Beaches, World” list, the only U.S. beach to make the global cut.