by Janan Talafer • Jvt916@tampabay.rr.com

"IF WE BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME," is certainly an apt description for Hernando County, where the "field of dreams" is not a baseball diamond nestled among corn fields, but new houses - thousands of them - about to pop up on rolling hills and among old Florida hardwood hammocks.

"You can't drive around the county and not see the huge numbers of new homes and subdivisions going up constantly," says Gary Adams, Hernando County administrator. "The residential climate is phenomenal."

In the past, Hernando's population clustered mostly in the west around U.S. 19. Now it's spreading east, around the city of Brooksville, and along both sides of the Suncoast Parkway, a 42-mile north-south toll road that opened in 2001. The parkway connects Hernando with Pasco and Hillsborough, and makes the drive south to Tampa a quick 45 minutes with no stoplights.

"It's a matter of connectivity," says Mike McHugh, director of the Hernando County Office of Business Development. "There's easy access to Tampa. Hernando is not a distinct market any more - the market lines for the region are more blurred."

Adams agrees that the parkway has been a catalyst for development, but he also points to the quality of life that Hernando offers. "Land is still affordable, although that's starting to change," says Adams, "and we offer so many natural amenities. About 35 percent of the county is state or federal conservation land that can't be developed. If people are looking for a less urban, more outdoor lifestyle, we have it."

Hernando's natural beauty is what attracted Steve Thompson, CEO of Emery Thompson Machine and Supply Company, to the area. This fall Thompson says a final good-bye to his rambling 44,000-squarefoot older warehouse in New York City's Bronx neighborhood. He's built a brand-new 22,000- square-foot facility in Hernando's Airport Industrial Park. And he can't wait to move in.

Emery Thompson (www.emerythompson.com) is the largest manufacturer of batch freezer machines in the world for making ice cream, sherbet, sorbet, Italian ice and gelato. It's also one of the oldest. The company marks a century of service this year.

Thompson's grandfather - Emery Thompson - could be called the "father of modern-day ice cream." He invented and patented the first ice cream machine and founded the company that bears his name. "Every machine we make today is still based on the original concept," says Thompson. "We have a reputation for quality with the most durable machines in the world. Ours last an average of 45 years, compared with our competitors' 11."

Today, Thompson is the third generation in his family to run the company, which since its start has been headquartered in the Bronx, but not any longer. Now Hernando will become the new ice cream capital of the world.

"We've been looking all over for a new place for the past five years," says Thompson. "I went to school at Rollins College in Winter Park, so I knew the area. We checked out other areas in Florida, but Hernando had everything we wanted."

And, what a contrast it will be from the Bronx. "Instead of high rises, we'll have cattle and horse country. Instead of a 40-minute, 11-mile commute across the busy Cross Bronx Expressway, I'm four miles from the new factory," says Thompson, who was also attracted by Brooksville's hometown charm.

Lower business costs and no state income tax were other factors in Thompson's desire to relocate to Hernando. "The state of New York has high taxes and then you pile New York City taxes on top of that. Plus, our heating costs doubled last winter," says Thompson. "It cost us a fortune to heat the building up there."

Transportation also played a role in Thompson's decision. The region has easy access to major roadways: I-4 to Tampa and I-75 to Atlanta, he says, and then there's the Hernando Airport and adjacent railway. "I just had a major freight company tell me that for every 100 trucks coming in to Florida, few go back full. If I can take advantage of that, my cost to get finished goods out to all 48 states will be pretty good."

Just how many ice cream machines does he sell every year? "Hundreds across the country and to just about every country in the world," says Thompson.

Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs have Emery Thompson machines. So does Tampa's Bern's Steakhouse. "Everyone knows the big names," says Thompson, "but Emery Thompson machines are also found in just about every old-fashioned ice cream parlor in small towns across America. That's what we do; we put individuals in the ice cream business."

Why Hernando?

The many reasons Thompson mentions for relocating to Hernando must be catching on. The Hernando County Office of Business Development listed almost a dozen new businesses moving into the county in 2004-2005.

"We've had a pretty good year, and we have a good mix of existing Hernando companies expanding and adding employment and new companies moving in," says McHugh.

Now, he says, the issue is one of supply versus demand. "We're starting to see very high occupancy rates for our buildings and we're beginning to struggle to find new space for companies. That's a healthy thing, but it can lead to some missed opportunities. We're encouraging more buildings to come on line quickly to fill the need."