A GROWING CONCERN. Steve Knopik, president at Beall’s Inc., is adding 450 employees over the next few years to the retailer’s Bradenton operations.

That whiff of expansion smells sweet these days to Manatee County officials and business leaders. Many companies this past year have tightened purse strings, laid off employees and curtailed capital investments. So the few relocations and expansions under way offer a healthy antidote to a slow economy.

The activity is diverse. It includes the 175,000-square-foot expansion of distribution space for longtime corporate citizen Beall’s Inc.; a $41-million expansion pro gram at Port Manatee; Lakewood Ranch’s newest corporate and residential additions; and Chris-Craft Corporation’s new line of boats and commitment to add 100 employees.

During a year that found the average company struggling under a nationwide downturn, Nancy Engel acknowledges that the county’s business relocation and expansion activity was not on par with prior years. The executive director of the Manatee Economic Development Council of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce blames it on the overall economic slump.

While many companies seem “committed” to adding new employees as business improves, one of the county’s major employers has been cutting back over the last few years, particularly in its information technology department – something no Florida economic development official wants to hear. Tropicana Products has sliced its information technology department by 80 jobs over three years, reducing its local IT staff to 40. “We certainly didn’t have the number of jobs created that we would have liked, and things were definitely slower than in years past,” says Engel. “But considering the national economy, we didn’t have a bad year.”

One Manatee company that is looking to hire at least 450 new employees in the next few years is Beall’s Inc., parent company of Beall’s Department Stores Inc., Beall’s Outlet Stores Inc. and MyGiftCottage.com Inc. The company has made $6.8 million in capital investments to its Bradenton headquarters facilities since January 2001 and is currently undergoing a 175,000-square-foot expansion of its local distribution center. When finished in August, the 425,000-square-foot facility will be the base for distributing products to stores throughout the southeastern U.S., Texas and Arizona.

“We’ve been on an aggressive growth track with our outlet stores and moderate growth with our department stores,” says Steve Knopik, the firm’s president. “As of July 2002 we opened 78 net new stores and plan to open 60 outlets and four new department stores in 2003. Chances are we could move beyond that number for outlet stores. Our customers have responded very well to our value prices.”

The company, with 1,600 employees locally, began operations in 1915 as a dry goods store in Bradenton. It has since grown to 461 store sites in states across the Sun Belt from Florida to California and annual sales projected at $825 million for 2003.

Knopik, says the county’s business-friendly environment is what has kept the firm headquartered there since 1915. “The economic development environment here has been exceptional over the last couple of decades,” says Knopik. “They truly understand the importance of business growth to enhancements in the quality of life in the community, and have been supportive of business and especially supportive of us.

“When we built our first distribution center in 1984, the county helped us with an industrial revenue bond, which gave us the courage to take on long-term debt for the first time in our company’s history,” Knopik says. “And this is a wonderful community from the standpoint of amenities. The quality of life here is good and the beaches are beautiful.”

Of particular interest to Knopik was a willingness to invest in a reservoir as a water source. That, he says, has allowed Manatee to sustain growth without having to wrangle with the typical water infrastructure problems that plague other Florida counties.

“We’re not like some counties that are
fighting and struggling over water,” says Knopik, who does see traffic congestion as a potential problem for the county, if it’s not handled properly. “I think transportation dollars are going to become increasingly more scarce in the future as our state deals with its other budgetary issues, but I do think the county has established decent priorities for how it spends its transportation dollars.”

Calling Manatee’s business landscape a “pretty darn good blend of businesses,” Knopik says the mix that ranges from the very large Tropicana to the county’s agricultural-based firms to a plethora of small businesses is a clear sign that the county is “doing something right to be able to keep all of those various interests happy here.”

Knopik, who has been with Beall’s since 1984, says the quality of life that Manatee provides his own family and those of his employees also goes a long way. “It’s a great community to live in and raise kids in,” says Knopik, “which is a real plus when it comes to attracting, for example, apparel buyers from New York who come here and think this is paradise compared to where they’ve come from.”

Appreciation of that quality lifestyle is one the byproducts of another longtime member of Manatee’s business community. Chris-Craft Corporation
(www.chriscraft.com), the nation’s oldest boat manufacturer, is expanding its facility to produce a new line of yachts ranging from 40 to 60 feet. This means an estimated $10-million capital investment for factory equipment and the addition of 100 employees for an astounding resurgence of the firm that nearly closed its doors for good a few years ago. But new ownership has meant the implementation of innovative strategies that are leading to the company’s current expansion. “They’re up to 200 employees,” Engel says.

County Incentives
Chris-Craft has earned the Qualified Target Industry tax refund from the governor’s Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, providing $600,000 in rebates on state levies over four years. Manatee County has agreed to pay 20 percent of that cost.

Several companies have taken advantage of the county’s Rapid Response program in order to develop new facilities. Reflections Glass & Mirror has built a new $2.5-million, 24,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and will add 70 jobs; John A. Kennedy & Associates, fire and explosion investigators, is developing a $1-million, 9,700-square-foot building in University Park of Commerce. Group Four LLC, a motor racing engineering and sales firm, is building a $1.1-million, 19,100-square-foot distribution center.

The Rapid Response program facilitates the permitting process for the construction of new buildings. “This program is 13 or 14 years old now,” says Engel. “Companies were telling us that it was hard to get permits and that was a major issue for them. We went to the county and asked how to work through this. Out of that came this program. We’ve refined it as the years have gone along.”

Reflections Glass & Mirrors recently moved from Sarasota County into its new 24,000- square-foot building in Bradenton. With 54 employees and plans to expand to 70 in the upcoming months, the company fabricates and distributes bathroom shower enclosures, doors, mirrors and other glass products to general contractors throughout Southwest Florida.

According to David Fleeman, company president, Reflections Glass & Mirrors moved because it needed to increase its showroom presence and pump up retail sales. The company found what it needed just off of U.S. 301.

Professional Athletes at Play CHANGE MANAGER Ted Meekma, co-director at IMG Academies in Bradenton, has been helping the training facility grow since 1978. On any given day, a lucky local might get a glimpse of Andre Agassi, Anna Kournikova or Serena Williams out browsing in the area’s shopping venues, buying food in a local grocery store or even out for a morning jog. Credit IMG Academies with bringing them here. The company ranks as the world’s largest and most successful network of multi-sport training facilities. In 1978, Nick Bollettieri founded the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, a full-time tennis boarding school in Bradenton. In September 1987, Bob Kain and International Management Group (now known simply as IMG) acquired the academy Headquartered on a 190-acre campus in Bradenton, IMG Academies attracts athletes from more than 70 countries, including tennis stars Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, Anna Kournikova, and Serena and Venus Williams; professional baseball players Derek Jeter and Scott Williamson; NFL players Tim Couch and Chad Pennington; and soccer teams like the Tampa Bay Mutiny and San Jose Earthquakes. Known for its innovative approach to the technical, tactical, physical, mental and nutritional elements of amateur and pro-fessional athletic training, IMG’s environment is geared toward producing well-educated athletes who thrive under the pressures of competition. “We have people coming from all over the world, either for themselves or for their kids to train here,” says Nancy Engel, executive director of the Manatee Economic Development Council of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce. “They’re also set up to host corporate conferences, which makes the complex a very unique addition to Manatee County.” Ted Meekma, co-director at IMG Academies, has been with the company since 1978. Over the last 25 years, Meekma says the facility has grown right along with Manatee, and today employs 250 persons. In the last 10 years, a significant number of IMG’s full-time students and their parents have moved to the county to buy condominiums in the area so that their children can live at home and train at IMG. “Because of that interaction, we’ve seen an increased connection to the community while at the same time adding new sports to our own program,” says Meekma. Early on, Meekma says, IMG Academies (www.imgworld.com) was challenged in its quest to market its program to an international audience many of whom had never heard of Manatee. “People have commented to us over the years that this must be a pretty hard place for people to recognize or travel to,” says Meekma, “but we’ve found that once they get here, the climate and surroundings are so great – unlike being located in the middle of downtown Los Angeles or New York – that getting them to come back is a cinch.”

Joining these expanding or relocating companies during the last year were also Madison Avenue, a furniture and accessories manufacturer that just built a new 35,000-square-foot facility, and Ebeling Associates, a company that implements business information systems for small and mid-sized companies.

Lakewood Ranch, which spans Manatee and Sarasota, has welcomed some newcomers to its fold, including PTC Banking Systems, Manatee Memorial Hospital, Manatee Technical Institute and Homes by Towne.

Soon to join them are MEA Group Inc., a company that specializes in airport planning and the design of aviation facilities, and Neal Custom Homes (www.nealcustomhomes. com). The Bradenton-based homebuilder is relocating its headquarters in order to be closer to the greatest concentration of new projects.“Our new headquarters will provide us with a convenient front-row seat for a majority of our projects,” says Pat Neal, the firm’s president.

This homebuilder is one of many who have been part of the explosive growth of rooftops at Lakewood Ranch. The master-planned community exceeded all sales records in its seven-year history during the second quarter of 2002, tallying 212 new home sales, according to Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc., developer of Lakewood Ranch.

“We are opening new neighborhoods as quickly as we can,” says Polly Webb, the firm’s vice president of marketing. “The family- oriented community is what first attracted new home buyers to Lakewood Ranch and it’s great to be able to continue providing this lifestyle to the growing population in east Manatee.”

The success of Lakewood Ranch has inspired developers to convert 142 acres west of I-75 into a residential and commercial development. University Groves will add 92 single-family homes, 100 condominiums and 400 apartments to the corridor. Commercial development calls for 137,200 square feet of retail and more than 100,000 square feet of office space.

It’s a short jaunt from this part of the I-75 corridor to Ellenton, where Prime Outlets houses 120 stores. The 482,000-square-foot outlet mall opened in 1991 with 55 stores and has grown in the past decade to become one of the top 20 outlet centers in the nation, according to Clearwater-based Value Retail News magazine. The mall has attracted traffic and that has led to further commercial development at that interchange on I-75. The immediate area now has four major hotels, a Leverocks and several other restaurants and a new strip mall.

Developers of the Riviera Dunes community in Palmetto are considering using 14 acres for an urban entertainment center adjacent to its marina on the Manatee River. First Dartmouth Homes is adding luxury single-family homes and villas to the waterfront community.

Downtown Revival
Riverfront Partners is developing 256 multifamily units in downtown Bradenton. And city officials at Bradenton and Palmetto have partnered to create the Manatee Riverwalk along the shared waterfront of Bradenton’s and Palmetto’s downtowns. It represents approximately $500,000 of projects in 2002 and encompasses an area of 27 by 30 blocks focused around the Manatee River. A central theme of the Riverwalk on both sides of the river is to provide a recreational venue promoting commerce and community continuity by highlighting historical and cultural assets of the cities of Bradenton and Palmetto in a united way.

Undaunted Consolidation
Ron Velat can’t always find the parts he needs, or the number of reliable hourly workers that he’d like to have, but that hasn’t stopped him from consolidating all of Williams Control’s Florida operations in Manatee and Sarasota counties. Based in Portland, Ore., the company specializes in electronic drive-by-wire systems for heavy-duty trucks. After closing its electronics division in Deerfield Beach last year, 80-employee Williams Controls made an $80,000
investment in a 7,000-square-foot clean room in its Manatee facility.

Velat, vice president of Florida operations for the company that manufactures electronic throttle controls for GM and Ford, says he was attracted to Manatee’s high number of automotive technicians and variety of marine and machine shop businesses – both of which serve as vendors for the company. “The boat building business is a good supplier for injection molding, and the machine shops are great for plating,” says Velat.

When it comes to finding quality, direct labor, however, Velat is sometimes out of luck. While he has no problem locating experienced technicians for the company, he’s often forced to look outside the state for hourly workers. He solves the problem by placing want ads in Detroit papers in January and February, knowing that a few souls looking for warmer climes will respond. “Thanks to the economy, finding good workers is easier than it was a few years ago,” says Velat, “but sometimes it’s still difficult to
find hourly workers who are reliable.”

Because Williams Controls works with many metal parts that tend to be heavy and cumbersome, Velat prefers to source materials as close to home as possible. However, certain component parts just aren’t produced in Southwest Florida, says Velat, such as heavy metal products used for stamping. “I have to go to the Northwest or Midwest to find them,” he adds, “which often equates to travel and high shipping costs.”

Growing,Growing ….
When Mike Carter moved to Manatee 31 years ago, he remembers a single blinking traffic light on a slender two-lane U.S. 301 in the northern part of the county. That has since been replaced by a four-lane highway, an outlet mall and multiple shopping centers. “That’s just one example of the significant growth that has been around here over the
last three decades,” says Carter, president of Mike Carter Construction Inc. in Bradenton. His firm recently completed a new 10,000- square-foot United Bank and is currently working on a 325-foot marina and 6,000- square-foot restaurant-bar at Riviera Dunes in Palmetto.

Acknowledging that the county’s industrial sector has grown substantially on the light manufacturing and distribution side, Carter says the region’s growth right now is largely driven by residential developments and an influx of new residents into the area. “Growth is just phenomenal,” says Carter, whose company doesn’t develop single family residential, but does build the offices, banks and schools that are directly affected by residential growth.

Carter applauds the county’s efforts at creating transportation networks and connecting the region to Interstate roadways. He says the next few years could find Manatee striving to achieve balance by “keeping its arms around the rapid growth” – mainly through increased regulatory and approval processes – while at the same time trying not to stifle it.

To get there, he says maintaining quality, compatible development on the county’s eastern boundary should be at the top of the priority list. “We’re experiencing significant successes today and need to make certain that we continue a program of successful development that meets the goals of our community,” says Carter, “both from an economic standpoint and from a quality-of-life standpoint.”

Meeting Challenges
Going forward, Engel sees a tightening economy as the primary challenge for the county, particularly when it comes to state
and local incentives for new and expanding firms. Whether companies are already in place, relocating or new, she says, all need to be able to compete globally. “It’s important for us to have tools in place to help them be more competitive when it comes to offsetting some of their initial costs,” says Engel. “That’s a perpetual challenge for the entire state.” With an eye on high technology firms, professional service companies and companies that export products,

Engel expects more “quality than quantity” in the jobs that come to the area this year. “We expect job growth,” she says, “perhaps not in terms of a high numbers of jobs, but definitely a healthy dose of higher-paying jobs.” Those jobs could come from the technology-oriented and knowledge-based firms that are already scouting around the county for potential sites. Because those companies require higher- skilled labor, they also tend to be more productive and in need of less human capital to operate. “They have fewer employees, but are paying more,” Engel says. “In fact, three firms that we’ve worked with during the first quarter of this year all had close to an average wage of around $60,000.”

And if activity during January and February is any indication, Manatee’s economic engine may rev up in 2003 as the national economy slowly emerges from recession. “Things already look much better than they did last year,” says Engel. “We’re getting a lot more activity than we did in 2002, in terms of companies looking at new buildings and working through our Rapid Response team.”

Rooftop Surge
The number of single-family housing permits issued by the Manatee County Building Department has steadily increased over the last 12 years. The department in 1991 issued 460 permits. By 2001, it issued 2,766 permits, according to information provided by the Home Builders Association of Manatee County.

During first quarter of the 2003 fiscal year, the department has already issued 1,076 permits, 7 percent more than first quarter 2002. Most of the building is concentrated east of or adjacent to I-75, and stretching from Ellenton south to University Parkway at Lakewood Ranch. With the county’s population expected to increase by 12 percent from 2002 to 2007, and the projected number of households with incomes of $100,000 or more increasing by 85 percent during that same period, the HBAM says there will be plenty of buyers – both residents and newcomers– for new single-family homes.