Florida

Florida Offers Hertz $19M for Headquarters Relocation

The Hertz Corporation (NYSE: HTZ) announced that it plans to relocate its global headquarters from Park Ridge, New Jersey to Estero in Lee County, Florida.

Hertz

Hertz (photo – Hertz/wikipedia)

The ostensible reason given for the relocation is that they need to consolidate operations in one location after their acquisition of Dollar Thrifty, which is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

As the company moves its corporate operations to Estero, Florida will gain 700 high-paying jobs with average annual wages of $102,000, not including benefits.

The company’s current employees in Park Ridge will be able to retain their positions in the new headquarters in Florida. Dollar Thrifty and Hertz together have more than 2,000 employees in New Jersey and the NYC metro area, who will remain there, including about 150 in Park Ridge.

The company will retain eCommerce and other financial services functions in New Jersey, while Oklahoma will retain IT, customer care and some financial support functions.

Hertz chairman and CEO Mark P. Frissora said the relocation should not be taken as slight of Oklahoma or New Jersey, because both states have undertaken significant job creation and business climate improvement efforts.

He added that New Jersey would have continued to be their home indefinitely had it not been for the Dollar Thrifty acquisition. Frissora specifically singled out the New Jersey Partnership for Action (NJPAC), which he said had been very active in their efforts to get Hertz to stay in New Jersey.

But NJPAC was never going to win this one, because relocating to Florida allows Hertz to be in the middle of America’s biggest travel and tourism market. Florida rents more cars per capita than any other state, and Orlando is the largest car rental market in the world.

More specifically, Lee County was chosen because of its diverse community, easy accessibility to the major tourism markets, and an available workforce. The county also recently agreed to reduce the impact fees they charge for development work on new projects, which makes it easier for Hertz can get all the site improvement infrastructure they need.

State and local authorities in Florida have been working on the Hertz project for nine months, and have offered the company $19 million in incentives for the relocation.

As per the agreement the company has entered into with Lee County and Florida, Hertz will invest $46.25 million by the end of 2014 for the relocation and construction of a new corporate headquarters in Estero. They will also create 350 jobs by Sept 30, 2015. In return, Lee County has approved $4 million and the state is chipping in with another $14.4 million.

Hertz will get $7 million right away from the state, and another $2 million from Lee County when it fulfills the aforementioned investment and job creation commitments by Sept 2015.

To receive the balance from both Lee County and the state, Hertz would have to add at least another 350 jobs for a total of 700, and must make a capital investment of $60 million.

While the new corporate campus in Estero is being built, Hertz is looking at three other locations for a temporary headquarters.

MyHouse Maker Priton to Add 200 Jobs in Santa Rosa County, FL

Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that Priton, LLC will be creating 200 new jobs and making a $2.9 million investment on setting up a facility in Santa Rosa County, FL.

Santa Rosa EDO

Santa Rosa EDO (photo – santarosaedo.com)

The Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based Priton currently produces the “MyHouse” prefabricated homes which are exported to customers in Mexico, the Caribbean and other parts of South and Central America.

They now plan to set up a manufacturing facility in Santa Rosa that will make wall panels thrice as strong as the minimum requirements specified by Miami-Dade county code regulations.

The panels will then be loaded up into containers along with everything else (roofs and floors, appliances, plumbing, wiring, windows and doors, etc.) required to assemble and occupy the home.

To this end, Priton has purchased the former 84 lumber plant and will be hiring 200 employees over the next three years. The average annual wage for these jobs is s $35,110. The county estimates the project will create another 380 indirect jobs.

Jeff Selph, director of operations and partner for Priton, said their site selection team was thankful to the Santa Rosa Economic Development Office staff for all their assistance and the resources provided.

The Santa Rosa EDO worked with Enterprise Florida and the Department of Economic Opportunity to secure the Priton project.

Late last year, Priton started looking for a manufacturing site based on close proximity to a container shipping port ideal for sending its products across the seas to its markets in South and Central America.

They settled down on the Santa Rosa Industrial Park because the location was ideal for their shipping requirements, and also because of the availability of skilled workers and veterans. Not to mention the fact that the state and local incentives offered to Priton add up to $3.45 million.

This includes a $2.35 million IRREF (Industry Recruitment, Retention and Expansion Fund) grant, and another $600,000 under the state’s QTI (qualified target industry) tax refund. Priton is additionally eligible for a $500,000 brownfield redevelopment bonus refund.

The IRREF program is administered by the Univ. of West Florida and provides grants to businesses relocating or expanding in one of the eight Northwest Florida counties most severely impacted by the BP oil spill. The grant approved for Priton is the first IRREF grant awarded within Santa Rosa County.

BP to Fund $340M in Restoration Projects in Louisiana

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced that BP would be funding approximately $340 million for early restoration projects in Louisiana.

Deepwater oil spill NRDA

Deepwater oil spill NRDA (photo – noaa.gov)

Gov. Jindal said the investments would be a part of the $1 billion NRDA early restoration proposal agreed to by BP to provide funding for projects in the Gulf Coast states affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

This $340 million is the single largest funding announcement approved by BP for restoration. Until now, BP had approved around 10 projects worth $70 million.

Gov. Jindal said that even though three years have passed since the oil spill, Louisiana still has 200 miles of oiled shoreline that is causing increased erosion, reduced production of oysters and drop in the reproduction rates of shrimp and tuna. He said it was critical for BP to live up to its promise to make things right.

Apart from $320 million for four barrier island components involving restoration of beaches, dunes and back-barrier marshes, BP will also provide $22 million to establish Fish Stock Research and Enhancement Centers in Lake Charles and Point a la Hache to keep fisheries informed and help improve their management.

The billion dollar disbursement agreed to be BP is a “down payment” for the Clean Water Act violation fines it will eventually have to pay when the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process is completed.

However, since this process could stretch on for quite some time, the early restoration agreement is a critical breakthrough that allows the affected states and the federal government to get started with restoration projects well ahead of time.

As per the agreement announced last month, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas will each get $100 million for selecting and implementing their own restoration projects.

At the federal level, NOAA and the Department of the Interior will each get $100 million to select and implement their own projects. The remaining $300 million will be allocated by NOAA and DOI for projects submitted by state trustees.

Florida has additionally filed a $5.48 billion lawsuit against BP for tax revenue losses to the state caused by the oil spill. BP has so far ignored settlement offers for this lawsuit, but the Florida legislature has already started planning how to spend it.

SB 1024, an economic development bill approved by the Florida Senate Appropriations Committee, includes an amendment to establish an endowment that would control any BP funds the State of Florida gets and disburse them over a 30-year period for recovery projects in the eight counties most affected by the spill.

Florida Senate President Don Gaetz (R-Niceville) said that funds provided by BP need to be treated as an inheritance to be invested with the intent of benefiting the state’s economy and environment.

Mobile App Developer Mobiquity Selects Gainesville, FL for Expansion

Wellesley, Massachusetts-based mobile solutions and application development company Mobiquity announced that it has chosen Gainesville, Florida as the site for an expansion that will create 260 new tech jobs.

Mobiquity

Mobiquity (photo – gainesvillechamber.com)

The new jobs being created in Gainesville will have average annual wages of around $49,000.

Mobiquity, which is barely two years old, already has 150 employees and is generating annual revenues worth around $20 million.

Gainesville and Alachua County successfully competed for this expansion project against sites in Massachusetts, Nebraska, Washington, Colorado and Rhode Island.

The two main draws for Mobiquity that tilted the scales in favor of Gainesville were the possibility of a partnership with the University of Florida to attract talent, and the existing presence of Mindtree Inc., which has a close working relationship with Mobiquity.

Bill Seibel, founder and CEO of Mobiquity, said that they were attracted to Gainesville because of the “combination of highly educated students, graduates and professionals, and an ideal location.”

Cammy Abernathy, dean of UF’s College of Engineering, said they were proud that the caliber of faculty and students was a key ingredient in helping recruit Mobiquity to Gainesville.

The Council for Economic Outreach (CEO), Alachua County’s economic development organization, worked closely on this project with UF, Alachua County, the City of Gainesville, Enterprise Florida and other stakeholders.

CEO has been negotiating with Mobiquity since Dec 2012, and has offered a significant incentives package for Mobiquity of more than $2 million.

The city and county commissions each approved $208,000 tax rebates to be paid out over a four year period under the state’s Qualified Target Industry (QTI) program. The city and county contributions are 10 percent each, with the State of Florida providing the remaining 80 percent as a matching tax incentive.

Gainesville Mayor-Elect Ed Braddy said the new jobs would be an economic boon for the city, and said that Mobiquity’s selection of Gainesville was a testament to the Council for Economic Outreach’s outstanding work in partnership with so many stakeholders to showcase the city’s potential and talents.

The exact location for the project within Gainesville has not been finalized, but Mobiquity expects to set up shop in Innovation Square, which is located between downtown Gainesville and the UF campus.

iStorage Makes Winter Garden, FL HQ Relocation Official

Last year in Oct, then California-based storage company iStorage, also known as the Storage Management and Leasing Co., had announced its decision to relocate its headquarters to Winter Garden, Florida, and subsequently moved into a short-term lease space in Winter Garden.

Winter Garden, FL

Winter Garden, FL (photo – Joe Shlabotnik/flickr)

iStorage has now made the move official and announced that it will establish a permanent corporate headquarters in Winter Garden, invest $3.02 million and create 36 new jobs.

The company already has 12 employees in Winter Garden. The 36 new jobs will have average annual wages of $46,638, not including benefits.

Enterprise Florida, the City of Winter Garden and the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission all teamed up to lay out the red carpet for iStorage, which has quickly grown into a $200 million company with more than 26 properties across the U.S.

Florida and Winter Garden successfully competed for the project against San Diego, Calif. and Austin, Texas. iStorage was offered $270,000 in tax incentives under the QTI (Qualified Target Industry) Tax Refund program.

The City of Winter Garden’s share of the QTI refund was $54,000, with the state picking up the rest of the $216,000 tab as a matching incentive. These are performance-based incentives which will not be paid out until the company actually creates the required number of jobs.

The city also affirmed designation of the proposed iStorage headquarters site as a Brownfield area, which makes them eligible for a Brownfield Development Bonus, which is again a performance-based incentive.

Mike Bollhoefer, Winter Garden’s city manager, said the downtown area was attractive for startups and entrepreneurs in search of a quality urban location and environment for their business.

FL Gov. Rick Scott added that iStorage’s selection of Winter Garden for their headquarters offered further evidence of business-friendly policies that were creating more jobs in Florida.

The company has said previously that they chose Winter Garden, located in Orange County about 14 miles west of Orlando, because of the quality of life and business friendly policies.

iStorage CEO Christopher Miller said they were excited to be developing their headquarters in Winter Garden, and stressed on the city’s “terrific” quality of life, family-oriented ties and healthy lifestyles.

San Francisco, Sarasota Receive APA ED Planning Awards

The City of San Francisco, California and Sarasota County, Florida were jointly awarded the Donald E. Hunter Excellence in Economic Development Planning Award yesterday evening during the American Planning Association (APA) 2013 National Planning Conference currently underway in Chicago.

SF OEWD

Photo – SF OEWD

The award is named after the late Donald E. Hunter, who was a member of the APA and served on the boards of the International Downtown Association (IDA) and the International Economic Development Council (IEDC).

Members of the APA Economic Development Division were part of the awards committee that chose San Francisco and Sarasota as co-winners for this year’s award.

The San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) was chosen for its Central Market Economic Strategy to revitalize San Francisco’s Central Market District.

This is supposed to be an artsy neighborhood with galleries, retail outlets and entertainment options, but suffered from blight, low occupancy levels and difficulty in attracting private capital. Not to mention social illnesses including homelessness and proliferation of drug addicts.

The Central Market Economic Strategy was developed after nearly a year of research, community outreach and collaboration with stakeholders to develop a unified plan. As a result of this unified plan involving a dozen entities, the district has gained nine tech companies and a venture capital firm as new tenants in the past year, occupying a million square feet of space.

Eight new small businesses have set up shop and two existing ones have expanded, and nine new performance and gallery venues have opened or are in the process of doing so. There are 3,300 residential housing units now under construction in the Central Market District.

Sarasota won the award for its master plan to develop the 600-acre Nathan Benderson Park as an aquatic and nature center. The core part of the plan involved creation of a rowing venue that would provide health benefits, improve quality of life and enable Sarasota and Florida to pitch it as a venue for international competitive aquatic events.

The project to convert the borrow pit lake into a sports tourism magnet involved a diverse set of interested parties including the local economic development corporation, state and county officials, a property developer, rowing clubs, recreation experts, schools and local residents.

Sarasota estimates the project will generate $13 million in direct spending by attendees and participants who come for events, and the total economic impact on the region will be about $25 million.

Last year’s winner of the APA Excellence in Economic Development Award was Innovation Square in Gainesville, Florida. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in Nevada received a honorable mention for finally coming up with an economic development plan that was accepted and adopted. They had previously tried and failed seven times over 22 years to come up with an economic development plan for the reservation.

Depository Trust Selects Tampa for Expansion With 255 Jobs

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation announced plans for an expansion of its operations in Tampa, Florida.

Foyer of DTCC operations center in Tampa

Foyer of DTCC operations center in Tampa (photo – dtcc.com)

The organization will invest $4.8 million for the expansion, which is expected to create 255 new and high-paying jobs over the next three years with average annual wages of around $100,000, including benefits and bonuses.

The New York-based DTCC is owned by several Wall Street firms, and is the primary organization providing clearing and settlement services for securities trades. Last year, they processed US$1.6 quadrillion worth of securities transactions (1 quadrillion = 1000 trillion).

DTCC first came to the Tampa Bay area in 2004, as part of a strategy to decentralize its operations support and processing after 9/11. The strategy involved setting up a “Southern Business Center,” which came down to a choice between Atlanta and Tampa. Florida secured the project by offering a $6 million incentives package.

DTCC started out with 300 jobs in New Tampa, and currently has 530 employees, not including the 255 new jobs.

For this latest expansion, Tampa was competing against existing DTCC operations in New Jersey, New York, Washington D.C. and Dallas. In November 2012, DTCC said that the choice had been narrowed down to either Jersey City, NJ or Tampa.

This time, DTCC has been approved for $4 million worth of incentives. This includes $1.79 million in local and matching state incentives under the QTI (Qualified Targeted Industry) program, and another $1.23 million to help close the deal under the Quick Action closing Fund.

Of the existing DTCC positions in Tampa, almost 300 have been filled by employees relocated from New York. However, a majority of the 255 new jobs are likely to be filled through local hires.

In fact, the company cited the quality of life and recruitment potential as factors that helped make the decision in favor of Tampa. Over the years since they first came to Tampa, DTCC has built up working partnerships with the Univ. of South Florida and other educational institutions in the region that enables it to attract trained talent.

Another major factor that sealed the deal for Tampa was Hurricane Sandy. DTCC transferred trades from its hub in New York to Tampa during the storm, and their operations continued uninterrupted even as the entire Northeast was shutdown and without power. This demonstrated the importance of their decentralization strategy, and the efficiency of the Tampa facility in implementing it.

Eric Miller, managing director and head of DTCC Tampa, said that Tampa offered an excellent environment for businesses to grow, and it had proven to be the right choice for DTCC.

Navy Federal Credit Union to Add 1500 Jobs in Pensacola, FL

Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) announced that it is planning a $200 million expansion in Pensacola, Florida.

NFCU

Photo – NFCU

NFCU will be constructing two new buildings on 240 acres adjacent to their existing campus to house the 1,500 new corporate and operational jobs being created.

Apart from the 342,300 square feet of office space spread across two buildings, the construction also includes a new auditorium, recreation and parking areas, and an energy plant.

Cutler Dawson, president and CEO of NFCU, said the Pensacola expansion was a critical element of their continued growth, and they were proud that NFCU was contributing to the region’s economic growth too.

Gray Swoope, Florida Secretary of Commerce and president and CEO of Enterprise Florida, added that the credit union’s growth plans include creation of 2,000 new jobs in the next five years, which he said is an indicator of the NFCU has in Florida’s business climate and its workforce.

This latest expansion comes on the heels of a previous expansion in August 2012 when NFCU announced a $6.5 million investment and the creation of 640 new jobs.

The notable part of that expansion was that it was the first economic development projected funded under the Industry Recruitment, Retention & Expansion Fund Grant Program (IRREF).

The IRREF program, administered by the Office of Economic Development and Engagement at the Univ. of West Florida, offers grants (in addition to state and local incentives) for relocation or expansion projects in one of the eight Northwest Florida counties in that were badly affected by the BP oil spill in 2010.

Rep. Jeff Miller, who represents Florida’s First District in the U.S. House of Representatives, said Navy Federal had proven to be a good corporate neighbor and had shown their commitment for the community.

Over the past 10 years, NFCU has invested $225 million and created 2,800 jobs in Pensacola, Florida. The credit union has a total of 10,000 employees spread across 229 branches and facilities. It is the world’s largest credit union with four million members and $54 billion in assets.

Actavis Expands Manufacturing Facility in Broward County, FL

Actavis, Inc. (NYSE: ACT) announced expansion plans for its pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Davie, Broward County, Florida.

Actavis

Actavis (photo – actavis.com)

The expansion project calls for an investment of $40.5 million by Actavis, and will create 220 new jobs.

The company plans to expand its warehousing operations at the Davie site by 13,000 square feet, and will be expanding the manufacturing operations by another 16,700 square feet.

The Town of Davie was assisted in securing the expansion by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance (GFLA) and Enterprise Florida Inc.

Davie Mayor Judy Paul said Actavis had a vital part of the community and they were happy to work with the company for their expansion. Bob Swindell, president and CEO of GFLA, expanded on that by talking about Actavis as one of the leading employers in Broward County.

Swindell added that the expansion was an indication that their efforts aimed at growing the “strong South Florida life sciences cluster continues to pay off.”

That, and the fact that Actavis was awarded a total of $2.81 million in state and local incentives. This includes $1.1 million under the Qualified Target Industries (QTI) program, with 20 percent coming from Davie and the remaining 80 percent from the state as matching funds.

In addition to the QTI tax refunds, Davie is separately providing $440,000 and the State of Florida is chipping in with another $690,000. Actavis has also been approved for $584,500 as a training grant.

Paul Bisaro, president and CEO of Actavis, Inc., said the company was honored to have such support for its expansion from the Governor’s Office, Enterprise Florida and locally from town officials in Davie.

Bisaro hinted that this kind of support would help them expand in other Florida locations. Actavis currently has 1,400 employees in Florida, with additional facilities in Sunrise and Weston. They have a packaging and distribution facility in Sunrise. Weston has the company’s R&D operations and their huge Anda, Inc. distribution division.

The Davie manufacturing facility, which produces 2.2 billion units annually, has been operational since 1992, but only came under Actavis management in 2006.

Parsippany, New Jersey-based Actavis, Inc. was known as Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. until January 2013, and changed its name to reflect its acquisition of Actavis Group last year. Their global headquarters is in Zug, Switzerland.

The company is the world’s third largest prescription drug maker, and generated revenues of $ 5.9 billion last year. They have 17,000 employees around the world in 30 manufacturing plants and 17 R&D facilities, in addition to other distribution and sales offices.

Deutsche Bank Gets $1.94M Incentives for Jacksonville, FL Expansion

The City of Jacksonville, Florida has put together a $1.94 million state and local incentives package to secure an expansion project by Deutsche Bank.

Jacksonville, FL

Jacksonville, FL (photo – coj.net)

As per the economic development agreement, Deutsche Bank will invest $10 million and create 300 new jobs by 2016. Deutsche Bank already has 1,349 employees in Jacksonville.

The new jobs will have average annual wages of $62,063, which is 150 percent more than the state’s average annual wage for the private sector.

The agreement, executed between the City and DB Services New Jersey Inc., DB Services Americas, Inc., and Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc. calls for the expansion project to be approved as a QTI (qualified target industry) business. These are the American subsidiaries of the parent company – Germany-based Deutsche Bank.

As QTI business, Deutsche Bank will be approved for with QTI tax refunds to the tune of $360,000. The State of Florida will chip in with $1,440,000 in matching funds. The total QTI Refunds worth $1.8 million for 300 jobs means that Deutsche Bank is getting a $6,000 grant for creating each new job.

The City of Jacksonville is additionally offering Deutsche Bank a $140,000 REV (recapture enhanced value) grant that will be paid out in annual installments over a five year period. This puts the city’s local incentives package offering at $500,000.

This latest expansion by Deutsche Bank comes right on the heels of the completion of a previous $10 million expansion of their Southside campus in Dec 2012 which added 30,000 square feet and 260 new jobs at average annual wages of $52,722, which works out to an additional payroll of $18 million.

For this previous expansion, Jacksonville provided Deutsche Bank with a similar incentives package worth $5,000 per job. This included a $145,000 REV grant and another $260,000 as 20 percent of the QTI Refunds, with the remaining 80 percent provided by the state as matching funds.

At that time, Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown said that the Deutsche Bank expansion was part of a hopeful trend towards better days. “Jacksonville is open for business. Unemployment is falling. We’re cutting ribbons. Jobs are coming back – but these aren’t just jobs. They are good-paying career opportunities. And they have the potential to make a serious impact,” added Mayor Brown.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7  Scroll to top