97 of the
99 Best Things
About Doing Business in Tampa Bay
By Bob Andelman
(Originally published in Florida Business Tampa
Bay, 1990)
A
The first sight of Tampa Bay most business travelers,
visitors and new arrivals enjoy is the magnificent Tampa International
Airport. It ranked second in the world in a 1987 poll by
the International Federation of Airline Passenger Associations.
(Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam was first.) What's not to like?
The hub-and-spoke design makes for short walks between airline
gates and baggage claim. Even the airport food is quite good.
Completely remodeled in the late '80s and keeping up with increased
demand though perpetual expansion, TIA is a delightful gateway
to Tampa Bay.
There is more than one airport in Tampa Bay, however.
St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport has a thriving
charter business after years of serving commercial carriers.
Private and executive airplanes also enjoy easy access to Albert
Whitted Municipal Airport in St. Petersburg, Clearwater Executive
Airpark, Plant City Municipal Airport, Tampa Bay Executive Airport,
and Peter O. Knight Airport, Vandenberg Airport and Zephyrhills
Municipal Airport.
Advertising products and services is at once easy and
complicated across the bay. There are more than 200 media outlets
between newspapers, magazines, radio and television. While broadcast's
message stretches across the two counties, print offers a more
selective sell. The daily newspapers offer neighborhood editions;
weekly community papers do the same. And magazines specializing
in lifestyles, homes, business, computers, music, disabled workers,
parents, women and new age interests offer niche targets.
A rash of acquisitions and mergers in the late 1980s has resulted
in most of Tampa Bay's fine homegrown advertising agencies
gaining national affiliations. Earle Palmer Brown, Fahlgren
& Swink, Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt, Young &
Rubicam are all represented locally.
Abilities Inc. of Florida is an aggressive, not-for-profit
Clearwater-based organization that has been a national model
in providing skills training for the emotionally and physically
disabled in electronics assembly. Abilities students also learn
desktop publishing, computer-aided design (CAD), computer programming,
and clerical skills. Clients for graduates include Critikon,
E-Systems, GTE, Honeywell, IBM, and AT&T/Paradyne.
Affordable housing makes Tampa Bay attractive for new
workers, professionals, and management executives alike.
Audio/video production in the Bay area offers quality
commercial, corporate and technical know-how and facilities at
a reasonable cost.
B
Banking is big business in the Bay area. Two nationally recognized
financially institutions - NCNB National Bank and Chase Bank
of Florida - run their Florida operations from Tampa headquarters.
In downtown St. Petersburg, a revolution is underway, led
by master planner Neil Elsey and his Bay Plaza Companies.
A 10-year plan for rejuvenating the city's waterfront business
district as an upscale retail center is well under way.
Bridging the bay, hands across the bay ... whatever
you call the recent trend towards one-market thinking, its long-range
implications for the Tampa Bay area can be nothing but positive
for business and our general quality of life.
Beaches. Isn't that the number one reason anyone comes
to Florida? Whether we actively use them for relaxation or entertainment,
it's always comforting to know they're there when we need them,
hot, sandy and near the cool blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
They also contribute mightily to the local economy as millions
of tourists flock here from points throughout the United States,
Canada and, more recently, Europe.
There's a general list of fine restaurants under "R"
but Bern's Steak House in Tampa merits individual attention.
Its world-renown wine cellar and fabulous steaks make it a "must-eat"
destination of most business travelers and well-to-do tourists.
And it's even more deliciously wacky-tacky in its red velvet
walls and sculpture than the Kapok Tree in Clearwater.
Baseball, baseball, baseball. Unless the area is wiped
out by a tsunami, Tampa Bay will be the site of Major
League Baseball's next expansion franchise.
Business news is easy to come by. Tampa Bay has four
major monthly magazines: Florida Business, Florida Trend, The
Maddux Report, and Urban Business; a quarterly, Excel; four tabloid
weeklies: the Tampa Bay Business Journal, the Pinellas Review,
and Monday supplements to the St. Petersburg Times and Tampa
Tribune; weekday Wall Street reports on WSUN and WFLA radio;
and the "Suncoast Business Journal" on WEDU-TV.
As for business schools, the University of South Florida
College of Business Administration is accredited by the American
Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business. The school offers
both MBA and Ph.D. programs and is headquarters for the Center
for International Business, the International Language Institute,
the Center for Free Enterprise and Economic Education, Small
Business Development Center. The University of Tampa, which also
has a distinguished business program including MBA studies, is
home to the Center for Ethics.
C
The Center for Training and Business Development in Tampa
was originally formed to assist in the relocation of Citicorp
Travelers Checks from New York to Tampa and in massive training
of new employees. Funded by a public/private partnership, the
Center has gone on to provide training for new hires at Chase
Manhattan, Time Inc. and Leslie Controls, among others.
Tampa Bay encourages corporate relocation but only clean industry
need apply. Leave the smokestacks at home.
Concurrency and its seven circles of infrastructure
requirements - roads, water, sewer, drainage, mass transit, recreation
and solid waste treatment - which must overlap and encircle any
future proposed development area, may or may not belong on this
list. Check back in 10 years.
A slump in the construction industry has caused
a number of out-of-town builders to flee and even one or two
local firms to call it quits. That's not a plus for construction,
but anyone needing to build should be able to find favorable
terms.
Corporate headquarters in the Bay area include: Jack
Eckerd Corp., Milton Roy, Home Shopping Network, Florida Progress,
Homestyle Family Buffet, Kash n' Karry, Tech Data, GTE, Raymond
James and Associates, Spalding & Evenflo, Hillsborough Holdings,
Jim Walter Corp., Times Publishing Co., Trader Publications,
Lykes Bros., Florida Steel, Tampa Electric Co., Maas Brothers.
Corporate sponsorship opportunities abound, from sporting
events such as the annual collegiate Hall of Fame Bowl football
game and St. Petersburg Grand Prix to Shakespeare in the Park
and Clearwater Jazz Holiday.
D
Competition between discount office supply warehouses
like St. Petersburg-based Workplace and Miami-based Office Depot
has enabled even small businesses to buy Fax machines, PC clones
and other technology and paper goods at rock-bottom prices.
Centrally located on Florida's west coast, Tampa Bay is ideal
as a distribution point for the entire state. Oil products
intended for all of mid-Florida enter the state through Port
of Tampa and Port Manatee.
Driving across Tampa Bay to get to work in the morning
is a small pleasure - the water beginning to glisten as the sun
rises. But driving across the water to get home at sunset is
even better, thanks to the celestial explosion of colors as the
sun sinks to the horizon. Traffic be damned - there's no better
place to get stuck.
E
Economic development organizations such as the Tampa Committee
of One Hundred, Pinellas Economic Development Council, Tampa
Bay Partnership, Pinellas County Industry Council play a major
role in stimulating growth, attracting new companies and creating
opportunities.
Tampa Bay's effective buying income of $33,436,603,000
in 1988 ranked the region 24th nationally.
Enterprise Village is a novel experiment developed
by Pinellas business leaders in conjunction with the county school
board to give elementary school students a real taste of America's
free enterprise system. The kids spend six weeks in the classroom
learning about buying, selling, check writing and balancing,
wholesale and retail, payrolls and other facets of daily business.
Then they put it all into practice at Enterprise Village in Largo,
where local businesses such as WRBQ Radio, Florida Power, McDonalds
and Eckerd Drugs have established miniature replicas of their
operations.
Ethnic diversity is strong throughout the area, from
the Greek community in Tarpon Springs and African-Americans in
St. Petersburg's Southside and Tampa's College Hill to the Latin,
Spanish and Italian influences upon Ybor City.
F
It's a great place to raise a family. Maybe even a
dynasty.
Foreign trade includes sending frozen chickens and
butter to the Soviet Union, citrus to Japan, building materials
to the Caribbean. Pinellas County has permanent trade missions
to Amsterdam, London and Germany. Trade is also encouraged and
supported by the Tampa Bay International Trade Council, Super
Task Force for Internationalizing the Tampa Bay Area and Pinellas
County Industry Council.
Nearly 200 of the Fortune 500 companies have affiliations
in the Bay area. Three of these are companies with corporate
headquarters here.
The opening of the Florida Suncoast Dome (see 'B: Baseball,
baseball, baseball') should continue to revolutionize the way
the world sees St. Petersburg. And it will create new opportunities
downtown.
G
Growth management. It stings today, but in the long run,
we'll be glad we did it.
Rand McNally's Vacation Places Rated ranks the bay
area fourth nationally for golf.
H
Health care and its ancillary industries employ tens of thousands
locally and pump millions into the economy.
Higher education institutions include the University
of South Florida, University of Tampa, Eckerd College, Tampa
College, Hillsborough Community College, Florida College, Clearwater
Christian College, and St. Petersburg Junior College.
Believe it or not, we're putting the Home Shopping Network
on the list. It's weird, it's tacky, it's the cubic zirconia
of broadcasting, but HSN and top gun Roy Speer have put the "Clearwater,
Florida" dateline on news and feature stories around the
globe, from the Wal Street Journal to TV Guide. And, more importantly,
the cable channel brought Farrah Fawcett to Pinellas County.
That's worth something.
Another Clearwater innovation, Hooters, might debate
that it is infinitely weird and tackier than Home Shopping Network.
Whatever. The wing, breast and surf music restaurants are the
antithesis of formal dining for business lunches; that's why
so many suit-and-tie types take out-of-town guests here.
I
There is no state income tax in Florida. Many would
argue its needed to pay for infrastructure, schools and other
necessities, but so far, no tax.
Which leads to impact fees for new development. They
are rising, rising, rising ... but so is the population and the
traffic caused by growth.
Industrial revenue bonds have been a major contributor
to the attraction of new business to Pinellas County and the
expansion of existing business. Originally set to sunset in October,
the bond program is expected to receive a reprieve and be extended
for two more years.
Average per capita personal income in Hillsborough
County is $14,821; in Pinellas County, it's $19,091.
Growth in international air travel has led to expanded
direct and non-stop flights from Tampa to Amsterdam, London,
Frankfurt, Mexico, Bahamas and Canada.
The interstate highway system throughout Tampa Bay
is one of the few joys a commuter can find. I-75 connects Tampa
with Miami to the south and leads all the way north to Canada.
Along the way, it intersects I-10, America's favorite east/west
freeway, linking Los Angeles to Jacksonville. And, finally, there's
I-4. It starts in Tampa, cuts across Orlando and runs into I-95
on Florida's east coast. I-95 connects Miami to Maine.
L
An ever-growing, abundant and affordable labor force
of 1.4-million prevails in Tampa Bay, presenting skilled and
unskilled, union and non-union workers. The number of engineers,
for example, is projected to increase 79 percent from 8,402 in
1986 to 15,012 by the year 2000.
Luxury homes can be found in patches throughout the
Bay area, from the waterfront to the edge of wilderness preserves,
with prices running from a few hundred thou to multi-millions.
Belleair, Snell Isle, Terra Ceia, Davis Islands, Hyde Park, and
Tampa Palms are but a few of the places to invest a mint in shelter.
M
MacDill Air Force Base means $1.6-billion to the local economy
and is responsible for more than 10,000 jobs.
Magnet schools in Pinellas County - specializing in
the performing arts, mathematics and science, liberal arts, and
an early graduation program.
Bob Martinez, governor of the State of Florida, hails
from Tampa and ... waitaminnit ... Sorry, wrong list.
Author John Naisbitt recommended Tampa as one of the 10 great
cities of opportunity in his book, Megatrends.
Minority media outlets are varied and strong here.
The African-American community supports two radio stations, two
newspapers and a monthly business magazine. Latins have two newspapers,
one television and two radio stations. There is also a Greek
newspaper and radio station.
Participating in one of the Bay area's museums is both
good for the soul and the pocketbook. Volunteers and contributors
gain both good will and valuable contacts from being involved
with the Tampa Museum of Art, Salvador Dali Museum, Great Explorations-The
Hands-On Museum, Children's Museum of Tampa, Henry B. Plant Museum,
Ybor City State Museum, St. Petersburg Historical Museum, Museum
of Fine Arts and the Museum of Science and Industry.
N
Miami, Orlando and Tallahassee only have one good newspaper
a piece. Tampa Bay has two, the St. Petersburg Times
and Tampa Tribune.
O
The one-penny optional sales tax approved by Pinellas
County voters in 1989 should make driving there a little easier
in the future.
Thanks to a building glut and more downtown towers coming
on line in both Tampa and St. Petersburg, there is an office
glut that has created a buyer's market.
What would Orlando be doing on this list? Well, when
Tampa and St. Petersburg set aside their differences to work
towards common goals, it was helpful to have someone to turn
our collective antipathy towards. And we like having the Orlando
attractions just 90 minutes away so when we do need a mouseketeer
injection, we need not stay overnight.
P
Not everyone lives a typical life. At Paradise Lakes Resort,
normal means nude. The 40-acre alternative lifestyle community
in Land 'o Lakes is more than just a topless beach; it's a thriving
real estate business offering 340 single family homes, mobile
homes, town homes, condominiums and an RV park. Non-resident
couples are invited to visit.
How about plenty of pawn shops and package stores
for that business downturn that always lurks around the corner.
A wealth of over-planning has gifted Tampa Bay with three
of the south's greatest performing arts centers, Ruth
Eckerd Hall, the Mahaffey Theater, and the Tampa Bay Performing
Arts Center.
Planned communities are all the rage. Tampa Palms may
be the best-known, but Hunter's Green, Avila, Cheval, The Villages
at Cypress Creek, Walden Lake, and Andalucia are growing in popularity.
Port of Tampa and Port Manatee are out of each
other's league in terms of size - Manatee does just a fraction
of Tampa's shipping tonnage - but the two are fiercely competitive
and the business community benefits.
While the St. Petersburg Times and billionaire industrialist
Bob Bass scrap for control of the newspaper publishing company,
the non-profit Poynter Institute for Media Studies continues
to be a beacon of integrity in the journalism world. Poynter
- named for the Times' late editor - draws reporters
and editors from around the world to take part in studies of
the whys, wherefores and howtos of modern media.
Both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are sprinting toward
individual population counts anticipated to exceed 1-million
by the end of this decade. But the Tampa Bay metropolitan statistical
area, which includes Pasco and Hernando, already put us over
2-million. Tampa Bay is second only to Atlanta in population,
households and effective buying income.
One of the great conveniences of living in Tampa Bay is the
24-hour Post Office at Tampa International Airport.
Some publishers do, admittedly, send their work out of town,
but virtually any printing need imaginable can be handled
locally, from web offset presses to glossy four-color jobs.
Private clubs aren't for everybody - heck, they aren't
even just for men anymore. But membership in the Tampa Club,
University Club, Presidents Club, Cherokee Club and Centre Club
is still pretty exclusive.
Public relations specialists abound. John Heagney,
for example, is Mr. Real Estate. And Sherry Wheatley Sacino has
made a name for herself working with companies dealing in the
Soviet Union, Caribbean and Third World countries. Hill &
Knowlton
R
Freight and passenger rail service - including CSX
and Amtrak - are still available in the Tampa Bay area.
Florida passed the "Solid Waste Management Act" in
1988 and it is finally spurring Tampa Bay's municipalities to
push active recycling. The counties must achieve 30 percent
recycling of all solid waste by 1994. Several businesses are
springing up to capitalize on the requirements of the new law.
Just when you think you've got trouble, Joe Redner
gets arrested again for trying to keep his businesses open. Redner
is king of adult entertainment in Tampa Bay, the kind of guy
you love to hate. He's colorful, articulate and probably making
bond even as you read this.
Economic development agencies got a boost in their efforts
to relocate businesses to Tampa Bay in 1989. Pollster
Louis Harris surveyed chief executives of the nation's largest
companies for Cushman & Wakefield and asks them to grade
31 cities in categories such as labor, access to markets, quality
of life and attitudes of government. Tampa ranked fifth in the
survey.
Research is crucial to large and small industry. Tampa
Bay is home to accomplished and respected facilities at the University
of South Florida, Showa University Research Institute (cancer
research), Commerce Clearinghouse (law), and Poynter Institute
(media).
This is America's 20th largest radio market. Approximately
three dozen AM & FM stations are licensed to the Tampa Bay
area.
U.S. News & World Report ranks Tampa as the 16th
hottest real estate market in the United States. West
Palm Beach ranked first; Ft. Lauderdale was 24th.
Restaurants: Armani's, Eugen's, Lobster Pot, Donatello,
Il Nido, Mise en Place, Oystercatchers, Black Swan, Bentley's,
r.g.'s, Wine Cellar, Le Bordeaux, Le Pompano, Bella Trattoria,
Basta's, Dolce Vita, Lauro Ristorante ....
The Rutenbergs, Arthur and Charles, have been among
the most consistent, respectable and successful developers in
the Bay area. Arthur, whose trademark single family residences
are renown across America, and Charles, who developed Countryside
Mall, continue to call Clearwater their home.
S
Hillsborough and Pinellas have tens of millions of square
feet in industrial, office and commercial sites ready
and approved for development.
Some skeptics might say there's only one game in town, but
sports represent a major part in the way Tampa Bay works
and plays. Buying season tickets to see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
is virtually de rigeur for prominent businesses. Motorcar
racing has taken off locally with two annual events, the World
Challenge of Tampa and St. Petersburg Grand Prix. Four major
league baseball teams come each year for spring training; those
four and two more have minor league operations in Hillsborough
and Pinellas. The University of Tampa and University of South
Florida have consistently ranked in national collegiate baseball
polls and USF's basketball team qualified for the NCAA tournament
in 1990 for the first time. Besides providing thrills, local
sports provide a tremendous number of spinoff business opportunities
from concessions and uniforms to transportation and lodging.
They also send Tampa Bay datelines around the world via TV, radio,
newspapers and magazines.
Speaking of sports, the biggest name in the world of Tampa
Bay athletics has to be shipping magnate and New York Yankees
owner George Steinbrenner. Not many people in these parts
can make both the sports and business news on the same day. This
Tampa resident also been generous to local charities and community
organizations with his time and money.
When the question of recession comes up, Tampa Bay economists
and bankers frequently point to the region's senior citizens
as one cushion against a local downturn. The line of thought
is that between Social Security checks, pensions, military benefits
and investment income, the area's older resident will always
bring a guaranteed volume of dollars that other communities can't
count on.
St. Petersburg-based Stetson University College of Law
- Florida's oldest law school - has become a significant
legal resource for Tampa Bay and the entire west coast of Florida.
The home team may not play in it, but Tampa Stadium will still
put on its best face to host its second NFL championship game,
Super Bowl XXV, in January 1991.
T
A coalition to watch is the Tampa Bay Partnership.
An informal amalgamation of economic development groups from
Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough, TBP is marketing a Bay area
without county boundaries to the outside world.
The Tampa Convention Center - which still needs a more
distinguished name - should finally be on-line this fall. Located
on the city's downtown waterfront opposite Harbour Island, this
spectacular, world-class building offers 200,000 square feet
of exhibit space and a 36,000-square foot ballroom. Anyone with
deep pockets looking for business opportunities should examine
the convention center: when it opens, downtown Tampa will face
a dire shortage of business-class hotel rooms.
A Moran, Stahl & Boyer study reported that the tax
situation in Tampa Bay - moderate corporate income tax, no
inventory tax, no personal income tax, no sales tax on business
services and low personal property taxes - mirrors the advantages
other areas of Florida have over neighboring states.
A number of economic reports have proclaimed this to be "Technology
Bay" in deference to the fast-growing high technology,
communications and advanced medical industries that have developed
and relocated here.
This is America's 13th largest television market. Viewers
are served by four network affiliates, two public broadcasting
stations, two independents and a cornucopia of cable companies.
Rand McNally's Vacation Places Rated ranks the bay
area third nationally for tennis. Teen sensation Jennifer
Capriati trains at the Saddlebrook Resort.
The 41 miles that stretch north and south through Tampa have
taken on an identity as the Tampa Parkway. It has become
home to thousands upon thousands of square feet of office, commercial
and industrial space, plus high-quality residential developments.
U
Even without a football team, the University of South
Florida has topped Florida State as the Sunshine State's
second largest school. It is based in Tampa, but the St. Petersburg
Bayboro campus continues to increase enrollment and facilities.
USF also has branches in Pasco, Polk and Ft. Myers.
Upscale retail stores are not yet abundant here but
are growing in number. Old Hyde Park Village has the best collection,
including Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Ann Taylor, Williams-Sonoma,
Crabtree & Evelyn, Jacobson's, and The Sharper Image. Downtown
St. Petersburg's redevelopment plan centers upon attracting more
of the same, including a major anchor or two that would be unique
to the area, perhaps Macy's, Bloomingdale's or Parisian.
V
Anyone with an office in a downtown Tampa, St. Petersburg
or Clearwater tower would be hard-pressed to disagree that the
Bay area's office buildings offer some of the best views
of land and sea available anywhere.
Vocational and technical schools have grown exponentially
on both sides of the bay in answer to the needs of new and existing
industry. These county-operated programs can train high school
students or adults in dozens or regularly scheduled programs
or can accommodate special needs.
W
Weather? The weather is great. Only California would be better
and you can't breathe or see the weather there.
Y
Youth is on the march. Once a victim of its demographic perception,
Tampa Bay has 685,046 men and women between the ages of 15 and
44. By contrast, there are only 315,911 people age 65 and over.
Ybor City is the perpetual city of hope. A new redevelopment
agency and a wave of ambitious young entrepreneurs, restaurateurs,
and artists have taken root and are beginning to attract a crowd.
Z
And finally, Tampa has two zoos, one world class (Busch
Gardens), one on its way (Lowry Park). In the works: the Florida
Aquarium, largest marine aquarium in the United States, perhaps
by 1993.
end
©2000,
All rights reserved. No portion may be reproduced without the
express written permission of the author.
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