When Plant City partnered with the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. and TECO to hire a new project manager for Greater Plant City, the goals were simple: job creation and capital investment.
The partnership seems to be working.
In his first fiscal year, Plant City-based EDC Project Manager Jake Austin has helped bring 67 new jobs and $11.6 million in capital investment to Plant City and Eastern Hillsborough County. Now, in fiscal year 2014, his work has yielded 382 new jobs and $122.2 million in investment.
The businesses responsible for much of that growth are Toufayan Bakeries, which is planning an $8.9 million expansion at its Plant City facilities, and James Hardie, which is planning an expansion that will bring 130 jobs and $80 million in capital investment.
Other businesses that have committed to local expansion include Sunshine State Dairy, Dart Container, Palm Harbor Homes, Project Tartan, M&N Plastics, Armor Manufacturing and Evergreen Packaging.
“All of us in the business world — we like immediate results,” Mayor Rick Lott told Austin, EDC President and CEO Rick Homans and Vice President of Business Development Jeff Lucas. “When this first started, I was thinking it might take a few years to get things rolling. I’d just like to thank you all for coming out with good results in year one and year two — even better. I think we’re just going to get better and better from here on out.”
Homans said he has been pleased with Austin’s results so far.
“When we created this position back in November 2012, the thinking was that Plant City had its own distinct assets, its own distinct opportunities,” said Homans. “We wanted to make sure we were marketing those, we were representing those, we were working to take the fullest advantage of Plant City. To do that, we determined we needed boots on the ground. We need someone in the organization who was always advocating for the community, always looking at projects through the prism of Plant City.”
In his first year, Austin said his priority was to identify key businesses, leaders and assets within the Plant City business community.
“Recruiting new business to this area is a top priority for the city, and we understand that,” he said. “My job is to understand what the assets are and properly position Plant City when we do get those opportunities. I can’t do that without first learning who is here, why they located here, what their supply chains look like … Why did they choose to work here?
“The first year was really learning the lay of the land and understanding existing industry and what makes Plant City and Eastern Hillsborough County a place to locate,” he said.
Austin said key industries in Plant City include manufacturing, distribution and logistics, agribusiness and more.
In addition to the announced projects in 2013 and 2014, Austin said his project pipeline includes 13 active projects with the potential of adding nearly 900 new jobs and $90 million in capital investment. That pipeline includes C&S Wholesale Grocers’ recent purchase of the Sweetbay distribution facility.
“A lot of times, these companies don’t have to (be located) here,” Austin said. “They have operations all over the U.S. and, sometimes, the world. We have to resell, sometimes, why they (are) located here.”
Austin also has begun working with Hillsborough Community College Plant City Campus President Dr. Martyn Clay to help create a local CPL driver course.
To date, Plant City has spent $100,000 ($50,000 in 2013 and another $50,000 in 2014) to launch and continue its partnership with the EDC and TECO. These monies will be used to fund the partnership through Sept. 30.
Contact Michael Eng at meng@plantcityobserver.com.