Fiber cement
The newest facility will manufacture pipe for use throughout the Southeast but "mainly in Florida and Georgia," says Emerson. "Fiber cement is stronger than cement pipe and our lengths will be twice as long, which makes it easier to install. The wall thickness of fiber cement pipes is much thinner."

While this product has been manufactured at a plant in Australia since 1986, the new facility in Plant City marks the entrance of fiber cement pipe in the United States.

"This new product is lighter, weighing one third as much as concrete pipe," says Dave Kessner, the plant's general manager. "And the pipes have machined joints that fit together perfectly. The price and durability are the same as concrete pipe."

Although the company has pursued an aggressive expansion program in Plant City over the past six years, "we're maxed out based on our current land holdings," says Emerson. "We'd have to purchase more land to expand any more. We have several options to expand with other products, but we're in an analysis phase at this point."

Lure of Walden Woods
While James Hardie consolidates its strength in the Tampa Bay area, other companies have been looking at Plant City, too. Canadian Bank Note Co. has completed its analysis and has decided to relocate its subsidiary, Creative Games International Inc., from Providence, R.I., to a 90,000-square-foot building in Walden Woods business park. The 68-employee firm is a lottery game company.

McCall Park turned into a nicely landscaped urban park as a result of the city's $1-million restoration efforts over the past year. Photo: D.J Wilson

"They will anchor that building in 48,800 square feet," says Nancy Phaneuf, vice president at Eastgroup Properties Inc., the developer of the building. "The remainder of the space will be spec. They'll be in by March. What made the deal is my architect at Interarch Design stayed up all night after meeting with them and delivered floor plans the next morning. They were impressed with this level of service."

Another benefit to the area, says Phaneuf, is that "the road network is finally complete. You can go from U.S. Highway 301 to County Line Road on a widened Interstate 4, and the interchanges have been improved."

Gaming isn't the only recent interest in Walden Woods. A social services agency is also planning to build a 10,000-square-foot facility here. "This will be the administrative offices and a daycare center for The Spring," says Ed Miller of Colliers Arnold Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. "They provide services to women seeking refuge and help those dealing with violence in families. They're currently in Tampa."

Some tenants at Walden Woods are expanding their operations. "We leased 28,000 square feet to Willamette Industries Inc.," Phaneuf says. "They came to Walden Woods two years ago and now they're using this space to create a year-round supply of boxes for their customers. This will smooth out the seasonality of their business. They're right across the street and this made complete sense for them."

In addition, International Food Group Inc., which moved from Tampa to Walden Woods last year, has grown. "They added 19,000 square feet," says Phaneuf. "They're at 73,000 square feet now."

Another firm in proximity to the Plant City airport has doubled its headquarters to 80,000 square feet. Quality Metal Works Inc. is a telecommunications technology company that relocated from Tampa nine years ago.

"We were wooed to the area by Plant City officials," says Jack Telese, the firm's vice president. "They gave us very good incentives to move to this area. That's one of the biggest reasons we're here. The taxes are less. There are no disadvantages to doing business in this area."

The 250-employee firm engineers, manufactures and installs telecommunications infrastructure hardware for telephone companies throughout the nation. Founded in Tampa 18 years ago by Telese and his brother Tony, the company also has offices in the Los Angeles area and Atlanta. Its current expansion is in large measure due to the growth of the telecommunications industry.

"The telecommunications business has gone whacko," Telese says. "And we do quality. work and put out a quality product."

Squaring the D
"Plant City has also become the regional service center for Square D Services Inc., which has leased 26,000 square feet at Plant City Commerce Center on County Line Road. "We're a division of Square D Company," says John Surgeon, the firm's district manager. "This company has been around since 1902. It started as Detroit Switch Company and then our customers named us. When they would want to buy our safety switch product, they'd call it the D with the square around it. They wanted some of that 'square D' stuff. We changed our name in 1914."

Square D Services, a division of the Square D Company that produces electrical switches, operates in 26,000 square feet of space at Plant City Commerce Center. Photo:D.J. Wilson

The company, now owned by Grenoble, France-based Schneider Electric, acquired Power Distribution Services in Lakeland a couple years ago to "help further our service capabilities," Surgeon says. "Before that acquisition we only worked on Square D products, but PDS did everybody but Square D products. We decided to acquire a few companies and PDS was one of those we acquired. We already had a Tampa facility and PDS had a facility in Lakeland. We consolidated the two groups into Plant City Commerce Center as a central point between the two locations."

Square D provides service to drives, motor control centers and transformers. "It's low- and medium-voltage switch gear and switchboard work," says Surgeon. "Utility and industrial municipalities in south Georgia, Florida, the Caribbean and Central and South America are our customers, as well as water and wastewater governmental facilities."

The firm employs 22 workers.

"Everybody transferred to this new location," says Surgeon. "We didn't have to hire replacements. We like the easy access. We don't fight traffic. A couple of the guys relocated into this area."

Square D's neighbor at Plant City Commerce Center is Naugatuck, Conn.-based USCO Logistics, which provides storage and shipping for its customers. The firm has occupied 74,000 square feet. "We're a third-party logistics company," says Tom Hyder, the company's distribution center manager. "We're a receiving and distribution warehouse for one of our main customers, Northern Telecom."

The company has had facilities in Lakeland since 1993. "We needed a larger space that is expandable," Hyder says. "We have that with this building. Our growth over the last year has pushed us to get a larger space. Because of customer needs we'll max this space out before the end of the year. We have the ability to expand this building by another 56,000 square feet."

USCO has 15 employees, "but we're adding staff," says Hyder. "Our market is Florida and the Southeast region. We have telecommunications clients, pharmaceutical companies, wholesalers such as ITW brands merchandise that we distribute directly to Home Depot and Lowe's. We're also vendors for Lykes' meat factory."

The advantage to operating in Plant City, Hyder says, is "the location is great just off of I-4."

The next round of development at Plant City Commerce Center is "platting land for another entrance and 100 acres to develop," says Bill Loftin of Loftin Real Estate Inc. in Lakeland. "This business park is attractive because we can get permits in a hurry. Our proximity to I-4 between Tampa and Orlando doesn't hurt either."