Alex McKnight Chairman William Compton is happy with the support his company, Tropical Sportswear International, has received from local develop-ment leaders. ³It makes for a healthy environment.²

SOMETHING IS HAPPENING IN HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY'S BUSINESS community and some people may well have cause to say, "It's about time." Call it momentum, call it good fortune, call it real growth. But for a number of reasons, a Who's Who of companies have either chosen to move here or have opened substantial operations in one city or another within the county. While no one is saying that Tampa has become "America's Next Great City," as its billboards once touted 20-odd years ago, the area is definitely feeling a great deal of momentum, as it continues to win some very plausible attention ­ not to mention investments ­ from some hefty corporations. In recent years, the county has been deemed (silently or otherwise) as a good place to do business by financial giants in New York City that moved operations here. Citicorp and JP Morgan Chase, and now health care giant Merck-Medco, for instance, have moved thousands of jobs to this market. In more recent times, others such as Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Household Finance Corp., have opened large operations or expanded within Hillsborough's borders.

The Republican National Committee is considering the area as a good spot to hold its national convention. "Eight years ago not only would we not be in the competition, we couldn't have submitted the application," says Ron Rotella, special consultant to Mayor Dick Greco. "We didn't have the Marriott Waterside Hotel or the Ice Palace. And now, here's Tampa competing with New York and New Orleans. We're not ŒMayberry' any more. We're the largest city on the West Coast of Florida and we've started to act like it."

Year by year these expansions have been touted as among the top 10 in the world. Merck-Medco's new $40-million, 1,000-employee customer care center in the Hidden River Corporate Park along the I-75 corridor most recently garnered Tampa Bay the designation of "Mega" market of the year by Southern Business and Development magazine.

"We have the fundamentals for growth," says Robin Ronne, senior vice president of economic development for the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100. "For businesses and individuals we're very cost effective with our low cost of living and personal tax rates, quality of life and quantity and quality of labor force. We have a world-class airport and seaport. With our large-scale DRIs (developments of regional impact) in place with advanced telecommunications ability to do business on a global basis, people want to come here."

The cost effectiveness of this market, Ronne says, is borne out by the due diligence these large corporations do when selecting a site. "Companies don't make major capital investments without thoroughly researching the area," he says.

That fact confirmed the decision by Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE:KO) to set up its first administrative operation outside Atlanta along the I-75 corridor last year. The bottling subsidiary of Coca-Cola Co. has 93,000 square feet of space in Regency Park and 600 employees. "We noticed that JPMorgan Chase and Citicorp had moved their processing operations here," says William Johnson, director of shared services for Coca-Cola Enterprises. "They had done independent searches and landed in this market."

But perhaps the area's mettle has been best proven by the resiliency of its local economy during the downturn of the nation's economy. "We haven't had huge job losses as have hit other major metropolitan areas," Ronne says. "In the last 10 years we've become the most diversified economy in Florida, perhaps even the nation. We can withstand ups and downs in the economy."

Ronne's assertion is supported by the success of the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Although the hospitality industry took a hard hit last year as a result of terrorist activities, the Tampa Marriott Waterside has been singled out as one of the top five performers in that chain. "This is one of their most successful hotels," says Rotella. "Their advanced bookings are phenomenal."

While proving itself a market worthy of corporate capital investments, the successes have also created new challenges. Take, for instance, the vast acres of land sitting along the I-75 corridor that have filled in recent years with business parks and corporate campuses for large corporations. "We are the victims of our own success in that we don't have much acreage left," says Ronne. "When we're working to bring in a Citibank, JPMorgan Chase or Capital One, where are those large, contiguous tracts of acreage that are ready to develop without going through a public hearing process?"

Landowners in South Hillsborough are stepping up to the plate. South Shore Corporate Park is a new 1,100-acre DRI. "This is a tremendous asset," Ronne says. "With super sites like this, we can make deals hap-pen."

Deal making is also in the works in Tampa's downtown business district. Mayor Dick Greco's administration has initiated public investment in the cultural arts district that includes an expansion of the Tampa Art Museum (see story on page 54), expansion of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, the development of high-rise residential and converting unused land along the waterfront to parks. "In 20 years people will marvel at Tampa's ability to show off its waterfront in the heart of downtown," "We're not ŒMayberry' any more. West Coast of Florida and we've started says Rotella.

Notwithstanding the significant investment in the redevelopment of the downtown business district, Carlton Fields, one of Tampa's largest law firms, is relocating its offices to the Westshore business district. This 90,000-square foot lease triggers the start of the 300,000- square-foot Corporate Center Three. In the past two years Crescent Resources has developed Corporate Centers One and Two, the first new Class A office high rises in Westshore in a decade.

Additional development in store for Westshore includes a new hotel at International Plaza and various residential projects.

Not far from Westshore, clothing manufacturer Tropical Sportswear International Corp. (nasdaqNM:TSIC) is expanding its 350,000-square-foot corporate headquarters with a new 125,000-square-foot, $15-million building. The expansion is due, in part, to consolidation of the firm's operations in El Paso, Texas, bringing 200 jobs to Tampa.

"We took the corporate office and cutting room from El Paso and moved those operations here," says William Compton, the firm's chairman and chief executive officer. "We moved 40 people here and hired the balance locally."

Not only did senior executives who had lived in El Paso most of their lives relocate to Tampa, in many instances, so did members of their extended family. "This has been a very positive experience," Compton says. "These people have worked for our firm for many years. They're well experienced and great people."

TSIC produces high-quality casual and dress apparel that includes company- owned national brands such as Savane, Farah and Duck Head. It employs 1,750 people, with more than 1,000 working at its Tampa headquarters. The decision to relocate the El Paso operations to Tampa was due in large part to the quality of the local work force. "We've found a unique work force here, especially with the hourly people," Compton says. "They are extremely hard workers, loyal and trustworthy. We can always recruit quality salaried staff, but in our industry finding quality hourly employees is the biggest problem."

Another significant factor has been the support by the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100. "They've done everything they possibly can to help us on this project," says Compton. "I give them a lot of credit for our coming in this direction. They put this construction project on a fast track. These folks did what they said they would do and in a short period of time."

The longstanding relationship between the Committee of 100 and Merck-Medco has resulted in the health care provider establishing 1,000-plus employee centers at Netp@rk and Hidden River Corporate Park. The pharmacy management call center at Hidden River handles more than 200,000 inquires a week from customers who want to obtain prescriptions by mail.

"Merck-Medco also has a 147,000- square-foot pharmacy fulfillment center at Netpark," Ronne says. "The redevelopment of Netpark (from a closed shopping center to more than 600,000 square feet of office space) by owner John Hancock (Life Insurance Co.) has resulted in something significant."

Although not quite the size of expansion as Merck-Medco, Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF) has also added staff at its regional office in Town & Country. Expanding its auto finance business has resulted in the addition of another 100 employees. The company currently employs more than 2,600 workers. "Tampa has the optimal amount of space, infrastructure and labor resources to accommodate this expansion," says Nigel Morris, the firm's president and chief operating officer.

The company, starting with 150 local employees in 1995, plans to add another 1,000 jobs at its Tampa facility over the next five years. It has been designated by Fortune magazine as a "Best Place to Work" and Computerworld's list of "100 Best Companies to Work in IT."

"Capital One has continuously raised the bar in Tampa in terms of both corporate and community excellence," says Kim Scheeler, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

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