South county DRI
"My concern as we move forward is that large, contiguous blocks of acreage are in short supply," adds Ronne. "We've had two of the top 10 economic development deals in the world with Citicorp and J.P. Morgan. If I had to find sites for those types of major world-class employers of choice today, could I do it? If you don't have pre-permitted sites with special entitlements in place, you won't be competitive."

The land along the Interstate-75 corridor in South Hillsborough now holds the key. A 1,000-acre site at I-75 and State Road 674, situated between Ruskin and Sun City, is in the DRI approval process. South Shore Corporate Park will be zoned for six million square feet of light industrial space, a 150-room hotel and 1,936 multi-family units along with another 700,000 square feet of highway and neighborhood commercial space.

That land is owned by Artesian Farms Inc. "It's a farm," says Ron Jaudon, senior planner at the Tampa office of the civil engineering firm of WilsonMiller Inc. "It's 15 minutes south of Brandon. There's no place else like this in the county with large acreage and access to the interstate. It will be the next major development area."

But it is the redevelopment of an empty mall in East Tampa that heralds a number of new jobs to the area. Boston-based John Hancock Financial Services Inc. converted the 956,000-square-foot former East Lake Square Mall to office space that is quickly filling up.

"They had it designated as a Verizon SmartPark and TECO (Tampa Electric Co.) provided significant power upgrades," says Ronne. "It is now a major employment center with national corporations doing significant work there. It kicked off with a General Motors customer service supercenter at 100,000 square feet and 600 employees."

A recent addition to the tenant mix at netp@rk.tampabay is CP Ships, the container shipping division of Calgary, Alta.-based Canadian Pacific Limited. The firm is relocating 100 information systems positions.

The Port of Tampa is investing $30 million this year in new facilities. Cruise ship operations and the passenger count keep growing, creating a synergy between the Port, the Florida Aquarium and the Channelside retail/entertainment development along the Garrison Channel.

"This is part of the old Lykes line, which had its corporate headquarters in New Orleans, and they moved back to Tampa five years ago in the SunTrust Centre [in downtown Tampa]," Ronne says. "They were purchased by CP Ships, one of the world's largest shipping lines, and two years ago they put a 10,000-square-foot data center in netp@rk. As they've gone through consolidations, they're moving additional parts of their IT divisions to Tampa. These jobs are being relocated from California and Virginia. We may have had devastating announcements [of lost jobs] but with the strength of our local industries and new jobs coming to the marketplace, those jobs have been absorbed."

Filling up netp@rk
Merck/Medco has leased 140,000 square feet at netp@rk for a 1,000-employee mail-order prescription fulfillment center. This builds on a longstanding relationship with Hillsborough County officials when in 1986 the firm, then known as Medco Containment Services, opened its first Florida facility near Tampa International Airport. Three years later the company opened a second 50,000-square-foot facility at Sabal Park in East Tampa.

"This third expansion provides further positive proof that the initial reasons Merck/Medco located in Tampa and Hillsborough County are still valid today," says Robert Martinez, former governor of Florida and chairman of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. "The company's credit to the area's strong workforce and business-friendly government leaders has allowed them to have a great experience in this area."

"Merck/Medco's selection of netp@rk for their third Tampa facility once again ratifies netp@rk's outstanding reputation as a complete corporate environment," adds Rhea F. Law, vice president and chair of operations for the Tampa-based law firm of Fowler White Gillen Boggs Villareal & Banker, and chairman of the Committee of 100. "Netp@rk is one of the nation's outstanding examples of redevelopment within an urban core area that has brought substantial capital investment and job creation opportunities with it."

Among the new jobs created at netp@rk are those of Orlando-based Marriott Vacation Club International, a division of Marriott International Inc. The firm is hiring 500 people for a new 66,000-square-foot call center.

Most significant perhaps is the location of owner John Hancock's new information technology center at netp@rk. The firm has occupied 47,000 square feet and currently employs 66 people. "We're staffing up to 165 over the next 12 months," says Doug Smith, the company's general director. "We're a second site in support of our information technology operations in Boston. We augment the Boston site in the application development and management activities of software for selling insurance products over the Internet."

Surprisingly, perhaps, the fact that the company already owned office space in Tampa had nothing to do with its selection for the second IT operation. "A management consulting firm did a survey on nine sites," Smith says. "Three or four sites were short listed and Tampa was the one standing at the end of the day. When they [John Hancock executives] had made the decision, they realized they had real estate here."

Staffing the technology center has gone well. "Everything has been positive," says Smith. "There are a lot of people [with technical skills] available in the market place. The University of South Florida provides a good pool of college-trained professionals."

Other technology-related jobs that have located in Tampa in recent months include Dallas-based Adea Group Inc. (www.adea.com), which opened a regional office for its Internet development services; Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India-based Tata Consulting Services, which opened its 31st U.S. office in the Westshore district; and New York-based Computer Generated Solutions Inc., which is establishing a 42,000-square-foot, 250-person customer support center in Woodland corporate park.

Honolulu-based Cheap Tickets Inc. (Nasdaq:CTIX) joins these corporate newcomers with its first call center in the eastern part of the nation. It occupies the space formerly used by Fingerhut for its call center that employed 900 workers. "An east coast location makes us a 24/7 operation," says Evans Gebhardt, the firm's vice president of marketing. "We also looked at Tampa favorably as a cost-efficient location. It's an area that already has an experienced and talented labor pool to hire from. We were fortunate to find a first-class facility and were up and running 30 days after we signed our lease."

The discount travel agency offers services through its Web site, www.cheaptickets.com. "We're the fourth or fifth most visited Web site," Gebhardt says. "And our call centers get 20,000 to 25,000 calls a day. We sell a ticket every 11 seconds. It makes scheduling a lot easier when we have people in an east coast market."

The company has hired 150 people. "We have capacity to go to 400," says Gebhardt. "We've had no problems getting staff. We hope to continue to expand this facility as business warrants."

A view for IBM
The staff at IBM's five Tampa facilities will have a view of Old Tampa Bay from their new seven-story Class A office building under construction at Rocky Point. Highwoods Properties Inc. is developing the 210,000-square-foot Harborview Plaza with 164,000 square feet anchored by the technology firm, which has decided to consolidate its local operations into one facility. Another 40,000 square feet is available in the building, 10,000 square feet on the first floor and the balance on the top floor. "This is the last developable site for office space on Rocky Point," says Steve Myers, vice president of Highwoods. "It is prime space. Tampa Bay sure is a great backdrop."

Highwoods Properties also inked a significant lease. "AT&T recently renewed in 245,000 square feet at Tampa Bay Park [in Westshore]," Myers says. "This is the largest lease done in this area this year. They are a multi-market tenant and also lease with us in Orlando, Atlanta, Raleigh and Nashville. The Tampa location is largest in terms of annual rent."

Another developer specializing in new Class A office buildings in Westshore is Crescent Resources LLC, a development division of Duke Energy Corporation. Last year it completed the 383,000-square-foot Corporate Center One building, currently 99 percent occupied. Now it is putting the finishing touches on Corporate Center Two, a 300,000-square-foot Class A office building that is 30 percent preleased. Jim Walter Industries plans to relocate 300 employees from its former headquarters on North Dale Mabry Highway to this new building.

"There's a lot of interest in the building," says Ron Ruffner, director of leasing at Crescent Resources. "We're planning a third building that we'll start when we reach 50 to 60 percent occupancy at Corporate Center Two. It will also be 300,000 square feet."

In total Crescent Resources plans to deliver 1.5-million square feet of new Class A office space in Westshore with two more buildings, each 300,000 square feet, at Cornerstone Plaza. "All of our new buildings are designed to meet the needs of today's tenant with larger, more efficient floor plates and higher parking ratios," says Joe Taggart, the firm's vice president.