Window dressing
A somewhat more obscure company is putting Pinellas on the map in a different way. Serving as Santa's workshop this summer, Creative Arts Unlimited has dedicated its 40,000-square-foot Pinellas Park facility and 35 employees to making Christmas unforgettable in locations throughout the United States. Most notably, the custom design firm has created the window displays for Macy's in New York City, a composition of six scenes and 60 characters from Disney's Gift of the Magi animated movie. Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck and friends are four-foot tall, foam figures sculpted by artists, then motorized to create a magical illusion of Christmas celebration.

"Fanciful, decorative, sculpted work is our specialty," says Roger Barganier, the firm's founder and president. "We've done business with Macy's for 10 years. This is one of their biggest efforts and it was a real coup for me to get Disney involved. They'll have merchandise to back this [display] up and their new balloon for the Thanksgiving Day parade is part of this. It's a big deal."

While this project has occupied center stage of production at Creative Arts, others have also been in the works. "We're doing the launch for [the Jim Carrey film] How The Grinch Stole Christmas and the Harry Potter launch at FAO Schwartz," Barganier says. "In addition to that, 14 eight-foot nutcrackers have gone out. We decorate the City of Honolulu's Christmas tree."

In the midst of creating elaborate Christmas scenes, the firm has added 10,000 square feet to its facility this year and plans to introduce a new product. "We started a wood shop three years ago and it has grown leaps and bounds every year," says Barganier. "We've been able to provide our customers with over-the-top woodwork (larger than life). We created a 50-foot Stuart Little. From our high-profile woodworking in stores, we're getting calls from individuals who want it in their homes. We didn't realize there was such a big market for residential and that people are interested in spending that kind of money. We'll have showrooms in the Miami design district, Sanibel, Captiva and Naples."

Barganier plans to add five woodworkers to gear up for this expansion. But finding the right employees is challenging. "Traditional guys would run away screaming - and they have," he says.

Meanwhile, the company will continue to provide retailers with custom-designed products. "Our retail business has grown steadily each year," Barganier says. "We've been working our way up the food chain to the best clients. We'll continue retail but will also move into other applications."

No-hands parking
While Creative Arts diversifies its services, another company in Pinellas Park is diversifying the way parking garages operate. Hoboken, N.J.-based Robotic Parking Inc. has moved its production from Youngstown, Ohio, to a 66,000-square-foot facility that was formerly used by the Checkers fastfood restaurant company to manufacture modular buildings for its franchises."This facility suits our needs very well," says Gehrhard Haag, the firm's president.

There's another reason for the relocation to Pinellas. "We were looking in Ohio for years for good people," Haag says. "We hired an executive search firm to look for people there and then extended our radius to Indiana and Pennsylvania and still didn't find employees. We told the firm to look wherever they could find good people. They came back with people from Florida. It all fell together and we have family ties here. So, why not?"

The company manufactures mechanized parking garages that store cars in half the space required by a traditional parking garage. Cars are organized into racks that are managed by a fully automated system. While the concept is new in the United States, it's popular in other parts of the world where real estate is at a premium.

"In other parts of the world this is widespread, like daily bread," says Haag. "In Tokyo, 75 percent of all parking spaces are automated; 63 percent in Seoul, South Korea. The concept started in Germany and has done well in countries where land has a much higher value per square foot. It wasn't feasible to introduce it in the U.S., the pricing wasn't right. Now it's viable."

The company has 12 employees. "We're doing the manufacturing and making the entire automation in this operation," Haag says.

Another company with an emphasis on automation is preparing to occupy its new headquarters in the county's Gateway area. Catalina Marketing (NYSE:POS) is in the process of moving 400 employees into its new 150,000-square-foot building at Carillon, developed by Echelon Development LLC. The company generates automated coupons in retail venues.

"Our core domestic business continues to thrive and grow," says Chris Wolf, the firm's vice president of finance and treasurer. "We've gotten into health resource operations in pharmacies and that's doing quite well. We're expanding overseas and are now in France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan. And we're developing new touch points: the Internet through supermarkets online."

The company relocated 70 employees from California to a 45,000-square-foot facility in St. Petersburg in 1993 and added 20,000 square feet a few years ago. "Now we're doubling our space," says Wiltine Tarasen, the firm's assistant controller. "We have all of our information technology staff here and the infrastructure to support it."

The capital investment by Catalina for its new headquarters is $28 million. "Moving to Pinellas has been positive for the company," says Wolf. "Our business has continued to grow and we've been able to attract quality employees. When we moved from California, we were looking for a nice climate and wanted to retain as many employees as we could. A lot of thought was given to moving into the area. It was the right business decision for us. Our decision to expand here speaks volumes for what we think of the area."