Tampa Bay 2019 An in-depth review of the key issues facing the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, featuring the exclusive insights of prominent industry leaders
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Contents:
49 Interview: John Couris, President & CEO, Tampa General Hospital
53
5
Economy:
6 Economy in numbers 8 Interview: Ron DeSantis, Governor, State of Florida
10 Outperformer: Tampa Bay leads on a number of economic fronts, attracting jobs, people and money
26 Market voices: Chambers
27
Technology & Innovation:
33 Interview: Brian Murphy, Founder & CEO, ReliaQuest
67 Interview: Monica Hummel, Central Florida Area Executive, First Citizens Bank
68 Interview: Chad Loar, Regional President - West & Central Florida, PNC Bank
34 Market voices: Tampa’s tech community
39 Healthcare: 40 A new frontier: Adapting to changes in the country’s healthcare sector, Tampa Bay is laying claim as a top-flight health market
41 I nterview: Tommy Inzina, CEO, BayCare
28 Startup energy: Tampa Bay is on the rise as a tech hub, with Forbes calling Tampa the country’s No. 2 city for young entrepreneurs
44 Interview: Brian Adams, CEO, AdventHealth Tampa
45 Interview: Gavin Southwell, CEO & President, Health Insurance Innovations (HIIQ)
29 Interview: Marc Blumenthal, Partner, Florida Funders
46 Roundtable: Health providers
2 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | CONTENTS
61 Interview: Rita Lowman, President, Pilot Bank
66 Market voices: Investment funds
37 Interview: Brian Kornfeld, President, Synapse
23 Interview: Dr. Ravi Chari, President, HCA West Florida
58 Interview: Yvette Segura, Vice President & General Manager, USAA
32 Interview: Stuart Brown, Tampa Managing Director, Accenture
13 Interview: Bob Buckhorn, Former Mayor, City of Tampa
18 Roundtable: County leaders
55 Interview: Steven Schultz, Regional Banking President Suncoast, Wells Fargo
64 Roundtable: Community banks
36 Interview: Dr. Alan List, President & CEO, Moffitt Cancer Center
16 Interview: Rick Kriseman, Mayor, City of St. Petersburg
54 Money makers: Tampa Bay’s banking sector rides a wave of success that reflects the city’s own growth
31 Market voices: Tech in accounting
11 Interview: Jane Castor, Mayor, City of Tampa
14 Market voices: Economic development
Banking & Finance:
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
71
Legal:
72 Law matters: The law has deep roots in Tampa Bay and the sector is only getting stronger
73 Interview: Gary Sasso, President & CEO, Carlton Fields
76 Roundtable: Law firms
80 Interview: Murray Silverstein, Managing Partner, Greenspoon Marder
83
Real Estate:
84 Hot, hot, hot: Tampa’s live, work, play lifestyle and favorable taxes are underpinning a red-hot real estate market
85 Interview: James Nozar, CEO, Strategic Property Partners
88 Interview: Mark Metheny, Tampa President, Lennar Homes
89 Interview: Scott Dobbins, Founder & Principal, Hybridge Commercial Real Estate
97 Construction &
92 Market voices: Tampa’s growth
95 Interview: Danny Rice, Managing Director & Market Leader, Central & West Florida Colliers International
112 Smooth ride: Transport improvements are being implemented across the region, and the results are already evident
113 Interview: Frankie Jamison, General Manager, American Airlines at Tampa International Airport
Infrastructure:
98 Sunny side up: Tampa Bay’s construction sector is basking in a positive forecast as new developments dot the skyline 99 Interview: Mark Sharpe, Executive Director, Tampa Innovation Partnership
102 Market voices: Boom town 104 Base improvement: Fastgrowing Tampa is aggressively tackling infrastructure and environmental challenges
114 Interview: Joseph Lopano, CEO, Tampa International Airport 116 Interview: Thomas Jewsbury, Executive Director, St. PeteClearwater International Airport
105 Interview: Catherine Stempien, President, Duke Energy Florida
117 Interview: Eugene Conrad, Airport Director, Lakeland Linder International Airport
107 Interview: T.J. Szelistowski, President, Peoples Gas
108 Interview: Sarah MacDonald, President, TECO Services
110 Interview: Nancy Tower, President & CEO, Tampa Electric
118 Smooth ride: Tampa is doing the necessary work to ensure it continues to grow as a trade and logistics center
119 Interview: Paul Anderson, President & CEO, Port Tampa Bay
E ducation: 111 T ransportation, Aviation 123 124 Call to action: Academia is & Logistics:
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Contents:
Tampa 2019 ISBN 978-0-9988966-1-8 President: Abby Melone Chief Financial Officer: Albert Lindenberg Executive Director: Alexandra Wilkinson Design & Production Lead: Nisha Cunningham Content Manager: Max Crampton-Thomas Lead Copy Editor: Mario Di Simine Contributing Designer: Md Shahidullah Writers: Ian Leigh Sean O’Toole Intern: Meagan Harmon Cover Photo: Judy Kennamer
Invest: Miami is published once a year by Capital Analytics
a shortage of the skilled workers businesses need 125 Interview: Judy Genshaft, President, University of South Florida 128 Interview: Randy Avent, President, Florida Polytechnic University 129 Interview: Rob Wolf, President Tampa Bay Campus, Galen College of Nursing
140 Interview: Santiago Corrada, President & CEO, Visit Tampa Bay
144 Market voices: Culture corner
149 Sports: 150 Sports town: Tampa Bay’s iconic sports teams are making a significant impact on the area’s prosperity and quality of life
151 Interview: Brian Ford, COO, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
135 Tourism, Arts & Culture:
152 Interview: Brian Auld, President, Tampa Bay Rays
136 Stellar feat: Tampa Bay has become a leading destination for domestic and international travelers
154 Interview: Steve Griggs, CEO, Tampa Bay Lightning
Photo Credits: Contents: pg 2 – Top left – City of Clearwater pg 2 – Bottom – Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation pg 4 – Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo Economy: pg 5 – Large photo – Visit Tampa Bay pg 5 – Small photo – Hillsborough County pg 10 – Hillsborough County pg 18 – Keir Magoulas pg 20 – City of St. Petersburg pg 25 – Visit Tampa Bay Technology & Innovation: pg 27 – Large photo – Scanrail pg 27 – Small photo – IMMERTEC pg 28, 32 – Accusoft pg 35 – ReliaQuest Healthcare: pg 39 – Large photo – Galen School of Nursing pg 39 – Small photo – Galen School of Nursing pg 40 – Tampa General Hospital
4 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | CONTENTS
Banking & Finance: pg 53 – Large photo – Fifth Third Bank pg 53 – Small photo – Fifth Third Bank pg 54 – Seacoast Bank pg 61 – The Bank of Tampa pg 69 – Fifth Third Bank Legal: pg 71 – Large photo – Trenam Law pg 71 – Small photo – Trenam Law pg 72, 75 – Trenam Law Real Estate: pg 83 – Large photo – RD Management pg 83 – Small photo – Keir Magoulas pg 84 – Harvard Jolly pg 88 – Keir Magoulas pg 94 – Visit Tampa Bay Construction & Infrastructure: pg 97 – Large photo – Plaza Construction pg 97 – Small photo – Tampa Electric Company pg 98 – Plaza Construction pg 104 – Tampa Electric Company pg 109 – Ajax Building Corporation Transportation, Aviation & Logistics: pg 111 – Large photo – Tampa International Airport
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pg 111 – Small photo – Keir Magoulas pg 112 – Tampa International Airport pg 118, 121 – Port Tampa Bay Education: pg 123 – Large photo – University of South Florida pg 123 – Small photo – University of South Florida pg 124 – University of South Florida pg 127 – Ultimate Medical Academy pg 128 – Florida Southern College pg 132 – Polk State College Tourism, Arts & Culture: pg 135 – Large photo – Matt Dine pg 135 – Small photo – Keir Magoulas pg 136 – Rob-Harris Productions, Inc. pg 137 – Kelly Smith pg 138 – Tampa Museum of Art pg 141 – City of Clearwater pg 145 – The Florida Aquarium pg 146 – Visit Tampa Bay Sports: pg 149 – Large photo – Tampa Bay Lightning pg 149 – Small photo – Hillsborough County pg 150 – Tampa Bay Rays pg 152 – Tampa Bay Rowdies pg 155 – Tampa Bay Lightning
Economy: With 150 people a day moving to Tampa Bay, the efforts of government and business leaders to revitalize and improve the urban core are bearing fruit. Jobs are coming, millennials are arriving, and investment is pouring in. The region has the wind at its back and is sailing into a solid future.
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Economy in numbers: Average weekly wages for all industries by county
Unemployment rates
(Tampa Area, 2nd Quarter 2018) 3.9
United States
Hernando $745
3.7
3.4
Tampa area
3.2
Pasco $760
4.5
Hernando Co.
4.3
3.3
Hillsborough Co.
3.1
3.8
Pasco Co.
3.6
Hillsborough $1002
Pinellas $913
3.3
Pinellas Co.
3.1
0.0
1.0
2.03
.0
4.05
Dec-17
.0
Dec-18
Source: U.S. BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics.
Source: U.S. BLS, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.
12-month% changes in employment Change from Dec. Tampa area employment (numbers in thousands)
Percent
Dec. 2018
2017 to Dec. 2018
4.5
Number
Percent
4.0
Total nonfarm
3.5
Mining and logging
3.0
Construction
76.2
3.7
5.1
2.5
Manufacturing
69.7
2.6
3.9
2.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities
1.5
Information
1.0
Financial activities
118.7
2.5
2.2
Professional and business services
243.1
2.2
0.9
Education and health services
215.6
6.0
2.9
Leisure and hospitality
162.9
7.8
5.0
47.7
1.4
3.0
154.1
-4.3
-2.7
0.5
Tampa area
United States
0.0
Dec-15
Dec-16
Dec-17
Dec-18
1,369.9
22.4
1.7
0.2
0.0
0.0
257.1
0.7
0.3
24.6
-0.2
-0.8
Other services Government
Source: U.S.BLS, Current Employment Statistics.
6 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | ECONOMY
Source: U.S. BLS, Current Employment Statistics.
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
12-month% change in CPI-U, December 2018
12-month% changesin PPI Percent Percent
4.0
12.0
2.0
1.9
1.5
General freight trucking Hospitals Offices of lawyers
10.0 1.6
1.5
8.0 6.0
0.0
4.0 -0.3
South region U.S. city average
-2.0
0.0 -2.0
-2.8
-4.0 All Items
2.0
Food
Energy
-4.0 Dec-15
Dec-16
Dec-17
Dec-18
Source: U.S. BLS, Consumer Price Index.
Source: U.S. BLS, Producer Price Index.
Tampa area average annual expenditures 2016-17
Average hourly wages for selected occupations
All other $7,369 15.1%
Occupation Housing $17,131 35.2%
Tampa area
Total, all occupations
Healthcare $3,782 7.8%
$22.15
United States $24.34
Accountants and auditors
33.58
37.46
Registered nurses
32.21
35.36
Bookkeeping, accounting,
18.19
19.76
and auditing clerks
Personal insurance & pensions $5,776 11.9%
Customer service representatives
15.39
17.14
Construction laborers
13.89
18.70
Waiters and waitresses
13.04
12.15
Landscaping and groundskeeping
12.87
14.28
workers
Food $6,289 12.9%
Transportation $8,307 17.1% Total: $48,654
Retail salespersons
12.17
14.28
Security guards
11.91
13.20
Cooks, fast food
10.46
10.39
9.84
10.64
Cashiers
Source: U.S. BLS, Consumer Expenditure Survey. Source: U.S. BLS, Consumer Expenditure Survey.
Source: U.S. BLS, Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2017. Source: U.S. BLS, Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2017.
Employer costs per hour worked for wages and selected employee benefits
Over-the-year changes in wages and salaries Percent Percent 3.5 3.5
Private industry, September South Atlantic 2018 (1) Total compensatio n
United States
$31.27
$34.53
22.18
24.06
9.09
10.48
2.17
2.41
1.12
1.25
Supplemental pay
0.94
1.32
Insurance
2.42
2.74
Retirement and savings
1.24
1.35
2.32
2.66
Wages and salarie s Paid leave Vacation
Source: U.S. BLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation.
3.0 3.0 2.5 2.5 2.0 2.0 1.5 1.5 1.0 1.0 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 Dec-15 Dec-15
South SouthAtlantic Atlantic Dec-16 Dec-16
United UnitedStates States Dec-17 Dec-17
Dec-18 Dec-18
Source: U.S. BLS, Employment Cost Index.
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ECONOMY INTERVIEW
Bold action Citing a ‘unique opportunity,’ Gov. DeSantis spells out his vision for Florida, pushing the environment, economy and education to the top of the agenda
Ron DeSantis Governor – State of Florida
I’m optimistic that this legislative session provides us with a unique opportunity to advance needed reforms in a variety of different areas that will strengthen our state and benefit the people now and in the future. In less than 60 days, my administration has taken bold action to address issues that Floridians care about: • reorienting our environmental policy around the goal of cleaning up our water; • announcing far-reaching education reforms designed to make Florida No. 1 in skills-based education by 2030; • securing hundreds of millions of dollars for stormravaged parts of NW Florida; • bringing accountability to entities ranging from the Broward Sheriff’s Office to the South Florida Water Management District; • and appointing three spectacular justices to our Supreme Court. And this is just the beginning. Environment Florida is blessed with some of the nation’s finest natural resources. The state’s unique natural environment is central to our economy, our quality of life, and our identity as Floridians. We are repositioning our water policy to meet the needs of our citizens, by, among other things: • expediting key projects like the EAA reservoir and raising the Tamiami Trail; • establishing a blue-green algae task force to develop policies to fight algae blooms, fight red tide and improve water quality; and • appointing a Chief Science Officer to better harness scientific data and research in service of Florida’s most pressing environmental needs. 8 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | ECONOMY
ECONOMY INTERVIEW
I’ve requested $2.5 billion over the next four years for water resources projects and Everglades restoration. This represents a $1 billion increase compared to the previous four years and will allow us to bring major projects to completion. Given the persistent water problems we have seen over the past several years, now is the time to be bold. We cannot leave for tomorrow that which we can do today. Because the people of Florida should have confidence that their interests are being reflected in policy implementation, I asked and received the resignations of all members on the South Florida Water Management District. We needed a fresh start and I’m pleased to report that I’ve appointed a number of good people to this board. Economy We are a mobile, highly-connected society and as taxes become more onerous and as the business climate deteriorates in these states, people vote with their feet. Taxpayers and businesses leave. The tax base erodes and the fiscal situations of these states get more ominous, yielding massive budget shortfalls. It is a vicious cycle. We won’t repeat those mistakes in Florida. We will always remain a low-tax state. And we will never have an income tax! I have proposed more than $330 million in tax relief for Florida families, including a property tax cut. Education Maintaining low taxes and a healthy economic climate are important, but the most important factor regarding Florida’s economic potential is human capital. I’m proud that Florida’s university system is ranked #1 in the nation — ahead of Texas, California and New York. This wasn’t always so; the climb atop the rankings has been remarkable. We are poised for growth in finance, technology, healthcare, aerospace and more – let’s support the continued ascent of our universities so that these industries can grow by employing our own graduates in good, high-paying jobs in our low-tax, businessfriendly environment. Skills-based education offers a focused, and often more cost-effective means, by which students can acquire the tools they need to be successful. Our workforce education initiatives include grants to place students in apprenticeships, money to train teachers in computer science and funds for workforce programs within our state college system. These reforms will make a difference and deserve your
support. Education opportunity shouldn’t be limited by parental income or zip code. One way Florida has expanded opportunity has been through the Tax Credit Scholarship program for students from lowincome families. More than 100,000 students – nearly 70% of whom are African-American or Hispanic, with an average family income of roughly $26,000 per year – are utilizing the scholarship. The results have been positive: the Urban Institute recently released a study that found tax credit scholarship students are 43% more likely to attend a four-year college and up to 20% more likely to obtain a bachelor’s degree. Students who use the scholarship more than four years are up to 99% more likely to attend college and up to 45% more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree. Healthcare We need to enact policies to make health insurance, prescription drugs and medical care more affordable for Floridians. As you are aware, healthcare is being hotly debated at the national level, so let me say: Any proposal that seeks to eliminate the private health insurance policies of millions of Floridians is unacceptable. Government has no right to take away the policies that Floridians earn through their jobs or purchase on the individual market. I want Floridians to be able to purchase prescription drugs from Canada at lower prices. There is an avenue under existing federal law to accomplish this; the president is supportive of this effort and has asked me to plow ahead. This could save money for individuals, reduce costs for businesses and relieve pressure on our state budget. Bringing price transparency to healthcare can also help reduce costs, and I have instructed Secretary Mayhew from AHCA to expedite the price transparency database that the legislature required. To make the tool effective, we need legislation to provide for shared savings policies so that patients receive a financial benefit when they choose a more cost-effective option. Closing Many are called to serve in elected office, but only a few are entrusted with authority by the voters. Fewer still are presented with the opportunities we see before us today. Let’s fight the good fight and lets keep the faith so that when Floridians look back on the fruits of this session, they’ll see it as one of our finest hours.
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Outperformer: Tampa Bay leads on a number of economic fronts, attracting jobs, people and money The Tampa Bay region, situated on the west coast of Florida along the bay for which it is named, is one of the fastest-growing major metropolitan areas in the U.S. and the 18th-largest in the country. With a booming local economy bolstered by strong job growth, solid population gains, record-breaking tourism and a healthy housing market, the Tampa Bay area is poised to enjoy continued economic prosperity in 2019. The U.S. Census Bureau defines the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) as including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Hernando and Pasco counties. Pinellas County, Clearwater and St. Petersburg occupy a peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, while a large part of the City of Tampa lies on a smaller peninsula that juts out into the bay. In 2018, Tampa Bay MSA’s population was estimated at 3,091,399, and projected to grow to 3.1 million by the end of 2019 and 3.3 million over the next five years. In 1824, the U.S. Army established Fort Brooke on the east bank of the Hillsborough River to protect the strategic harbor at Tampa Bay. However, the region’s true development didn’t begin until it officially 10 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | ECONOMY
became part of the United States in 1845. In 1884, Henry Plant extended his railroad to the Hillsborough River, providing convenient access to new territories and sparking the construction of lavish hotels along the rail line to entice visitors. In the late 1880s, phosphates were discovered in the region, giving birth to the mining and shipping industries, which in turn prompted an explosion of growth and wealth that lasted through the end of the 19th century. Today, Tampa’s port is the largest in Florida, but now phosphate shipping is supplemented by trade in shrimp and a bustling pleasure cruise industry. In 1886, Vicente Martinez Ybor established a cigar factory in Tampa, and it was from the steps of his factory in today’s Ybor City neighborhood that Jose Marti rallied cigar workers to take up arms against Spain in the late 1800s. From the city’s inception, the military has played a major role in Tampa’s development. The area served as the principal outfitting and embarkation point for troops bound for Cuba during the SpanishAmerican War. Today, the U.S. Central Command and the U.S. Special Operations Command are headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base, located ( )
ECONOMY INTERVIEW
Smart city How new Mayor Jane Castor views Tampa, and her priorities for growing the city into an innovation hub
Jane Castor Mayor – City of Tampa
What are some of your top priorities as the new mayor of Tampa? The first thing will actually be about 100 things! In reality, the most pressing issues in our community are transportation, affordable housing and workforce development. The other areas that I’ll be addressing are Tampa Bay’s sustainability efforts, the effects of climate change and the ways in which we can reduce our carbon footprint in the region. My vision for Tampa is that we are seen as the innovation hub of the nation. Tampa will be known as a smart city that attracts businesses, entrepreneurs, investors and the best and brightest individuals from around the world, all while we continue to focus on growing jobs and businesses here locally. How do you believe Tampa stays competitive in drawing corporate relocation versus other midlevel cities in Florida? Tampa is already competitive and grows more competitive every day. The best way to sell a community as an attractive place to live, work and play is through others who have moved to the area and have realized what a great place it is to live. We will continue to promote our community through a number of avenues but, really, it’s those who reside here in Tampa who are the best marketers for the region. I recently spoke with some of the individuals from the Water Street Project, who consisted of several young people from different areas of the country. I asked them, ‘You were attracted to Tampa based on the fact we’re on just about every Top 10 list that comes out, right?’ and they all said, ‘No, when we arrived here we thought we were coming to some small sort of backwoods town, but then realized after seeing all the development and meeting the residents that this is the greatest city in the nation.’
We need to up our marketing game to make sure the nation and the world are aware of what a great place Tampa is to live, work and prosper.” What are the most notable challenges right now to Tampa’s growth and development? The most notable challenges are time and money. One of the areas that has been our Achilles’ heel here in Tampa Bay is transportation, which is similar to a lot of the cities in the Southeast. We were just able to pass the penny referendum for transportation, which added a penny to our sales tax, so we will finally have the funding we lacked to address the problems. Once we can connect the entire Tampa Bay area, it’s going to be a game changer for this region.
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
George Cretekos Mayor – City of Clearwater
We want to have people in downtown Clearwater. Unfortunately, that takes time and it takes money. My dream is for the downtown area to become everybody’s second neighborhood. I hope that will become a reality when Imagine Clearwater is completed. The city invested roughly $30 million in beach development. After that investment the beach transformed itself. There are still some small, limited-service hotels and mom and pop places that people have been going to for years and will continue to go to, but there are also some new resorts that have upped our game and put Clearwater on the map. This was all done by the private sector after the city made the investment.
( ) just four miles south-southwest of Downtown Tampa. Tampa Bay was also home to the world’s first scheduled commercial airline services, when Percival Ellicott Fansler introduced the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line in 1914. The city of Tampa’s main business district has experienced significant growth since the 1960s as major banks and an increasing number of corporations flock to the area to fill the steel and glass high rises overlooking the river. Similarly, downtown St. Petersburg has experienced significant revitalization in recent years, enjoying a flourishing retail and arts scene and attracting businesses from outside the city to the urban core. Today, the Tampa
Bay region is a multicultural, diverse business center that offers a high-quality and affordable lifestyle to its residents, complete with more than 300 days of sunshine a year. Demographic shifts According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 150 people are moving to Tampa Bay every day. In fact, the region is the third-most popular place to move in the U.S. Focused efforts by government and economic development leaders to revitalize and improve the urban core have helped entice a younger population to live and work in the region. This growing population of young professionals generates a great deal of dynamic
energy in the downtown areas of Tampa Bay’s largest cities. Public investment in mega projects like the Tampa Riverwalk, as well as booming construction of apartments, condos, restaurants and retail and publicprivate partnerships incentivizing businesses to relocate to Tampa Bay, are all fueling an urban rebirth that is attractive to a younger demographic. Some areas like the city of Pinellas Park are experiencing the good fortune of this population growth due to their location in the region. Sandra Bradbury, Mayor for the city of Pinellas Park, described the impact this has had on her city: “The city of Pinellas Park is an optimal location for businesses and residents because it is situated right in the heart of Pinellas County. You can’t get to St. Pete, Clearwater or Tampa without passing through Pinellas Park.” In Hillsborough County, about 24% of the population is between the ages of 18 and 34, contributing to the county’s low median age of 37.6 years. According to research by the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation, the Tampa Bay MSA saw an increase of 12.35% in the key 25 to 34 age group from 2014 to 2018. While the median age of Tampa has increased slightly since 2010, from 34 to 35.6, it remains well below the statewide average of 41.8. St. Petersburg’s median age is 44.6. While this is higher than Florida’s average, the city’s annual state of the economy report showed that it had declined by 3.3 years since 1970. During that same period, the national median age increased by nearly 10 years. There has also been a demographic shift occurring as more hispanic professionals are leaving their home countries, mainly in Central and South America, in hopes of securing a better future in the Tampa Bay region. “There is a constant growth of Hispanic professionals in the Tampa Bay area, and it’s only going to continue,” Diane Cortes, President of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Tampa Bay, told Invest:. “It’s impressive, because people are seeing Tampa as an iconic new place for business, manufacturing and innovation. Hispanics from all over Latin America and Central America are receiving this information and are relocating to Tampa. The reality is that Tampa’s is a hidden paradise that they’re just discovering.” The Tampa Bay area population is projected to grow 6.3% from 2019 to 2023, with a 4.4% increase in the 25 to 34 age range and a 9% increase in the 35 to 44 group. Part of the reason for the latter increase is due to the growing tech sector, which requires a slightly more experienced workforce. While all of this ( )
Bob Buckhorn Former Mayor City of Tampa
How did you succeed in turning the city around after the recession in 2007-2008? Tampa was devastated by the recession like a lot of cities, particularly emerging Sunbelt cities. Interestingly, it also gave us opportunities that we never would have had if we had not hit rock bottom. That was largely driven by the fact that I knew we weren’t going to cut our way out of the ditch; we were going to have to grow our way out of the ditch. And if we were going to do that, it meant we had to change the way we do business. We had to change our economic model and our DNA. We had been losing our best and brightest to places like Charlotte, Raleigh and Austin for years. The brain drain leaving Tampa was a one-way street; we were a donor city to other cities’ success. I knew that if we were going to attract that talent back and be a destination for talent, we had to recreate an urban core that people — particularly young people — want to be a part of. We spent a year creating a blueprint with the help of a lot of people in this community. That blueprint now guides everything we do. How does Tampa stay competitive? We’re competing with emerging Sunbelt cities like Raleigh and Austin. Where we try to differentiate ourselves, first and foremost, is through our diversity and our willingness to celebrate the fact that we are an international community. We also have the largest deep-water port in the state of Florida that is the closest to the Panama Canal. We have an international airport that has added dozens of new direct flights. We have major universities that are producing talented young people to fill the talent pipeline. We’re home to MacDill Air Force Base. There are 2,400 defensecontracting firms in the Tampa Bay area that largely feed off of central command but, more specifically, special operations command. The financial services sector also has a big footprint here.
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Title Market voices: Economic development Pinellas County is the second-largest manufacturing base in Florida, with 30,000 people working in manufacturing. That’s more than anywhere else except Miami-Dade. However, our mix is more high-tech and high-wage than Miami. We have electronics, communications, aerospace, aviation and defense. Our recruitment efforts are exclusively in the realm of manufacturing, financial services, corporate headquarters and IT companies.
Mike Meidel
Director Pinellas County Economic Development
Craig Richard
The Tampa EDC had a stellar 2018; it was a fantastic year. We’ve assisted over 31 companies with expanding in or relocating to Tampa Bay. That represents 3,441 direct jobs and $109 million in capital investment. Mosaic recently announced the relocation of its headquarters, which represents our first Fortune 500 company relocation. Additionally, pharmaceutical giant Amgen, and global legal firm Baker McKenzie set up shared services operations here. We’ve also had great success with our international trade missions.
President & CEO Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development
The St. Petersburg Economic Development Corporation (EDC) was created two years ago. Prior to that, St. Petersburg did not have a dedicated voice for growing the business and job sector. We’ve created some great opportunities thus far. We introduced 11 new companies, and we have another 27 projects in our pipeline. The most impactful company to relocate to St. Petersburg since we started was PandaDoc, which we recruited from San Francisco.
J.P. DuBuque President St. Petersburg EDC
Bill Cronin
To be more competitive, we have been focusing on product development and workforce development. This is one of the few counties in Florida that has both available land and available workforce. Most other regions have one or the other. To better position ourselves, we hired a consultant to help evaluate and certify land for industrial development. Over the last year, we identified over 1,265 acres of ‘ready sites’ to recruit industry.
President & CEO Pasco EDC
We have some major projects going in our downtown. One is an 824-space parking garage — the first one being built downtown in 30 years. It is a publicprivate partnership with the hospital, a local developer, the largest credit union in the area. We also have another office building under construction, a foodhall and brewery coming to Lake Mirror and a 330-apartment complex underway. Major developers from all over the country are investing in Lakeland.
14 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | ECONOMY
Steve Scruggs
CEO Lakeland Economic Development Council
ECONOMY INTERVIEW
Recognized How St. Petersburg is attracting millennials, developing its reputation as an open community, and collaborating with cities and counties across the region
Rick Kriseman Mayor – City of St. Petersburg
We have a Holocaust Museum, a fine arts museum, a history museum and several other outstanding museums. Our new pier will include an entirely new pier district when it opens up toward the end of next year. We also have the largest municipally-owned marina in the Southeast market. How can local government maintain St. Pete’s reputation as an open and inclusive community? The city didn’t really have a unified vision when I came into office. The importance of diversity and tolerance and being a welcoming community is really integrated into our vision statement. We believe that St. Pete is a city of opportunity, where the sun shines on all who come to live, work and play.
What are some of the major draws to St. Petersburg? How much time do you have? We have one of the largest waterfront park systems in North America. We have been recognized and awarded as having some of the best parks in the country. Our population was once just a retirement community, but that has changed dramatically over the years. The average age is now 41.7, and we’ve become known as one of the best cities in the state of Florida for millennials. It’s an incredibly walkable, bike-friendly, and healthy community. Our tolerant, welcoming nature is reflected by our Municipal Equality Index (MEI) rating of 100%. We are an arts and culture hub. We have two new museums opening up. We are home to the largest collection of Salvador Dali’s work outside of Spain. 16 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | ECONOMY
Do you feel a collaborative effort between all the cities and counties in the Tampa Bay region? That is new. Before I was the mayor, the city of St. Pete and the city of Tampa rarely worked together. They competed against each other. There was very little collaboration between Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. Pasco, Polk, Sarasota and Manatee counties were all afterthoughts. Fortunately, former Mayor Buckhorn and I have known each other for more than 20 years, and we decided to end that bitterness. We are much better when we are working together and selling our region on its strengths. We worked hard at forming these relationships, creating collaboration and cooperation. Now, it isn’t unusual to go to an event and see former Mayor Buckhorn, Mayor Cretekos and myself, or someone from Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties, all talking about the strengths of our collective region. We often go on trade missions together and have traveled to Latin America and Canada. That never used to happen, but it does now.
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Aakash Patel President – Elevate Inc.
The quality of life in Tampa has been one of the biggest factors in growing our economy. People want to live where they are happy. We have a city that appeals to the majority of people and offers a place for everyone. There are the people who want the big-city life, which they can have in downtown Tampa and downtown St. Petersburg, and then there are those who want the suburban life, which we also have in abundance. This is rare anywhere, but it’s especially rare in Florida.
( ) growth and dynamic young energy is a positive thing for the region’s economy, it does bring with it some challenges. These include expanding transit options to accommodate not only the increased numbers but also the shifting needs of a younger demographic and creating affordable housing options to accommodate all income levels. Community leaders caution that growth needs to follow a well-thought-out path. “This isn’t a community that is interested in development at any cost,” said Jason Mathis, CEO of St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership. “This is a community that wants to take some time and be thoughtful about development. We want to recognize that there is limited space and that downtown is thriving already. We want to think about the integration between higher education and the tech center and entrepreneurship. We want to grow industries here using the workforce that we have.”
USA and custom battery maker Resistacap Energy Products also moved to Tampa in 2018. The Pasco County Economic Development Corporation helped Meopta with permitting and transitioning, while Career Source aided in the company’s hiring efforts. Resistacap cited the low cost of doing business as its main reason for moving its headquarters from Alabama to the Tampa Bay area. Also in 2018, Fortune 500 company Mosaic, which produces phosphate and potash nutrients for the global agricultural industry, announced that it was moving its headquarters from Minnesota to Hillsborough County. In addition to cost savings, Tampa Bay provides proximity to the company’s Mosaic Fertilizantes business in Brazil, as well as access to the Central Florida market.
Almost 500 foreign-owned companies from more than 40 nations call Tampa Bay home.
Corporate attraction In recent years, Tampa Bay has been receiving a lot of attention from corporations looking to expand or relocate. In 2017, leading global biotechnology company Amgen announced it would be opening a capability center in the area, bringing with it 450 jobs and a $25 million investment by the end of 2018. After considering nearly 300 U.S. metro areas, the company ultimately settled on Tampa Bay due to its world-class talent, accessibility and quality of life. Defense optics manufacturing company Meopta
Foreign investment Almost 500 foreign-owned companies from more than 40 nations call Tampa Bay home. A significant number of foreign investors use Tampa Bay as an export hub or regional office to serve customers in Latin America. In response to increased international interest, Enterprise Florida, the state’s economic development arm, launched Venture Bridge Florida in June 2018, an initiative designed to help local economic development efforts by improving services offered to foreign investors and companies. These services will include virtual training programs to prepare foreign companies for entry into the U.S. market in Florida. Targeted companies are those logging $500,000 to $20 million in annual sales. ( )
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
oundtable: County leaders
As the Tampa Bay region grows, counties and cities across the area are facing challenges to adapt, diversify and improve. Local leaders cite the need for collaboration between the public and private sectors to take advantage of the emerging possibilities.
Sandra Murman Commissioner Hillsborough County
What initiatives are you taking to keep young professionals in the region after they graduate from school? Here in Tampa, we’re intent on acquiring higher-wage tech jobs to keep graduates local after they move on from our colleges and universities. We want to be seen as a Charlotte, Chicago or New York — an attractive city that young professionals want to call home. Hillsborough County Economic Development has done an outstanding job facilitating partnerships with groups that have deep ties to the local tech ecosystem to advance this goal. The positive impacts of their work through the County’s Entrepreneur Collaborative Center with groups like 1 Million Cups Tampa, which nurtures and empowers the local entrepreneurial community, cannot be understated. How important is collaboration between the private and public sectors to solve the challenges facing Tampa Bay? Government, in and of itself, cannot be the sole solution to the problems we face. What we have to do is partner with the private sector to collaboratively solve challenges, such as transportation, affordable housing, and children’s services. That impact is compounded onto the next generation. If the government and the private sector can work together to move the needle on these big-picture issues that affect everybody, the benefits will be exponential for our children and even our grandchildren. For example we just made a large investment in our general revenue budget, providing an extra $5.2 million for affordable housing. The plan is to leverage that money with private developers to maximize our impact. By enlisting the support of the private sector, we can ensure innovation and sustainability as it relates to addressing the formidable and pressing social infrastructure needs of our communities.
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW ECONOMY ROUNDTABLE
Kenneth Welch Commissioner Pinellas County
How has the St. Pete region grown and developed over the past decade? As the foundational elements were built, St. Pete evolved into one of the most diverse and vibrant downtowns in the state of Florida, if not the Southeast. We have the expanding downtown, and we have that funky vibe that is unique to St. Pete. We’re seeing a lot more young professional entrepreneurs moving downtown to live, work and play. That expansion is stretching westward now, too, toward West St. Pete. This has been one of the most evolutionary transformations in terms of the business economy: the residential climate downtown. The influx of residents, especially younger residents, has reversed the demographic trend of St. Pete being the place where people come to solely retire. What are some challenges facing Pinellas County and how are you addressing these challenges? We are the first built-out county, horizontally, in the state of Florida. We’re also the most densely populated county in the state of Florida, and the smallest geographic county in terms of our square mileage, other than Union County. We have challenges that other counties don’t have, and we’re really the first county that’s in full redevelopment mode. In light of that, we have the opportunity to set the pattern for how to redevelop a dense urban county. We’re looking at all options. We understand that we can’t work in silos anymore; what we do in terms of planning for housing and business has to be linked to what we do for planning for transportation and transit. Affordable housing remains an issue. We are about to refresh our affordable housing plan from the 2006 era. We made a conscious effort to study the housing market and look at availability. We don’t want to become a community where folks only come to work and then go back to Pasco or Manatee County because the cost of living is lower there.
Sean Malott
President & CEO Central Florida Development Council
How has Polk County benefited from the region’s continued growth? Polk County is growing significantly. We have a tremendous number of people coming into the area, and Florida as a whole is supposed to grow in population by about 6 million in the next 10 to 15 years. Our focus as the Central Florida Development Council is the Polk County area, which is about halfway between Orlando and Tampa Bay. We have seen significant growth in manufacturing in Polk County over the last year or so. We had a base in food manufacturing, but the sector has continued to grow in other areas as well. Nucor steel made an announcement that it will be opening its first Florida micromill, which will be a $240 million capital investment in the market. This is a high-paying employer and industry as a whole that we are happy to see expand in the region. What opportunities have new technologies and innovation presented to the region? As far as business attraction goes, we are seeing a huge opportunity in the autonomous and unmanned systems arena. We have SunTrax developing in the region, which is a major investment in our economy. A lot of research in this space is happening at our local universities as well. The autonomous and unmanned systems technology space is something that we are putting a lot of focus on. What challenges has continued growth brought to Polk County? A challenge we are seeing is keeping up with the change and demand that is happening in the region. Some of the global trade struggles have impacted our business market here in Polk County, which has opened an opportunity to improve our strategies. Our region is seeing a lot of growth, and with that growth comes challenges across all sectors.
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Amanda Thompson Executive Director – Clearwater CRA
Clearwater is a unique place. We are five minutes away from America’s No. 1 beach. We also have 700 employees in the hightech business downtown, with a niche in cybersecurity. The CEOs of those companies love the quality of life here. They love that it’s close to the beach, affordable, walkable and they can attract the talent that they need. Clearwater looks different than other places because of our beautiful streetscape design: the mix of mature trees and the scale of the buildings. It has a distinctly different look than other parts of Pinellas County and Tampa Bay. Whereas other parts of our region are built out, Clearwater has the highest allowable density in Pinellas County and the most property available for redevelopment in proximity to a downtown core. It’s a good formula. We have an exciting opportunity to redefine what it means to live, work and play on the coast.
( ) According to 2017 data, international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) accounts for about one-sixth of Florida’s total economic output. In addition to statewide initiatives, Global Tampa Bay works to help companies expand their sales in international markets and assist foreign companies interested in establishing operations in the Tampa Bay
The Tampa Bay region is home to dozens of breweries including Cigar City Brewing Co.
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area. In March 2019, Global Tampa Bay conducted a sales mission to Panama, Florida’s 10th-largest export destination, to build on previous economic missions targeting Central and South America. Florida already supplies 30% of total U.S. exports to Panama, which translated to $1.9 billion in 2017. In 2018, export sales missions to Mexico City, Mexico, and Santiago, Chile, yielded more than $38 million in projected future sales and economic activity for local companies. Trade tensions Though the U.S. economy is strong right now, businesses and investors are growing increasingly concerned about the Trump administration’s trade crackdown. The first round of tariffs levied on China — 25% on $34 billion in goods (mostly industrial goods and intermediate parts) — took effect in July 2018, and a second round took effect on another $16 billion in late August. These followed tariffs imposed on U.S. allies Canada, Mexico and the European Union, to which the allies swiftly responded in kind. In September, a third round of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods went into effect, and for the first time, consumer goods like fruit juice, furniture and air conditioners were directly hit by the new 10% tax, increasing prices for U.S. shoppers. These duties were raised to 25% in May 2019. The tariffs have had a negative impact on some local Tampa businesses
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
like Vanguard Protex Global. “Because we’re a global brand, we don’t necessarily look at the Tampa market for growth in retail. We’re focused on the global market,” said President and CEO Chris Kelsch. “There are some challenges that could also provide some opportunities; for example, the fact that Asia’s about to go into a recession could help us. On the flip side, the trade war needs to be over; most of the goods I bring in are hit with a 10% tariff, and we have to absorb that cost. This impacts our ability to bring our products into the country at a better price.” Despite Trump’s protectionist tariff efforts, the U.S. deficit hit a 10-year high in December 2018, reaching $621 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Exports also fell for the third month in a row in December, primarily due to slowing global demand and the strong dollar, which makes American-made products less competitive on the international market. However, even with tensions running high between the U.S. and Chinese governments, both countries are still looking to trade as major growth drivers. In January 2019, Chinese COSCO Shipping, the world’s third-largest ocean carrier by size, launched a new weekly container ship service to Port Tampa Bay. This marks the port’s first direct service to and from China. It is estimated that the new service will bring in about 500 containers a week to Port Tampa Bay, which
saw total throughput of 87,526 TEU in containers in 2018. The port recently added two additional ship-toshore cranes, at a cost of $24 million, in preparation for handling a larger share of the southeastern U.S. freight market. Positive indicators Despite escalating global trade tensions and rising interest rates portending a potential slowdown on the horizon, Tampa Bay’s economic indicators were positive in the first half of 2019. Unemployment is hovering at near-all-time lows, labor participation is increasing and the region’s GDP is approaching 3.5% growth. Job openings continue to rise across almost all industries, and wage growth has rebounded, if only modestly, since the recession. Since 2014, the median household income in St. Petersburg has increased by 19.7%, the second-highest growth among its peer cities. The city also recorded the highest construction value on record in 2018, at $695.9 million, issuing more than 34,000 permits. This trounced 2017’s record of $671.7 million and 31,000 permits. The Tampa Bay area enjoys a cost of living index of 89.6, the lowest of all of Florida’s major markets. Total employment in St. Petersburg in 2018 was 119,305, with solid growth in a number of industries targeted by the Grow Smarter initiative, including ( )
Since 2014, the median household income in St. Petersburg has increased by 19.7%.
ECONOMY INTERVIEW
People business How Tampa is putting the right people in place and creating the necessary services to accommodate demand from a growing population and deliver better healthcare
Dr. Ravi Chari President – HCA West Florida
What are some areas to consider when addressing the influx in population throughout the region? We are privileged to have so many people want to live in this area. When we see this much of a population change in Tampa, for a healthcare system, it raises the challenge of having to expand services to accommodate this new demand to ensure that we meet our goal to be the provider system of choice. Our culture is one of excellence, execution and accountability. Healthcare is a people business, and to deliver the best care to our patients, our first consideration is always going to be our people. When rapidly building our staff to accommodate the growth, we also have to ensure that we are able to inculcate our culture across our new colleagues joining our organization. The second consideration is making sure we have and are focusing on the right services. This is where HCA West Florida is unique in west Florida because, due to HCA Healthcare’s size and scale, we are able to provide insights into care that other systems may not. For instance, our data assets within the company are unparalleled. On a yearly basis, HCA Healthcare has almost 9 million ER visits to its 185 hospitals, with 710,000 of those in this division’s 15 hospitals. Across the enterprise, we see more than 2 million admissions annually and over 180,000 in the West Florida Division. We are able to use these patient-centered data to not only look at how we can improve care, but also how we can better deliver the services our patients need and deserve. What does HCA West Florida see as the potential for telemedicine in the future of healthcare? Telemedicine is a very important component of what we do today as well as to our future ability to deliver care to our patients. We currently utilize telemedicine
for our stroke and behavioral health services. We know that the most important element for a time-based diagnosis is having a specialist. We use telemedicine to take advantage of our network of physicians to provide support and care in that moment. How do the demographics of West Florida compare to other regions in the HCA umbrella? The demographics in West Florida are unlike any other in America. There are two dynamics: 1) a massive influx of new residents and 2) an annual seasonal influx of residents who spend their winters in the region. Combined, this dynamic demands that we understand what services are critical to provide, and which we need to make readily available.
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Ronald Christaldi President & CEO – Shumaker Advisors Florida, LLC
The biggest driver for businesses and individuals in this region is our tremendous growth, which continues to bring an extraordinary amount of opportunity to the area. With advancements in technology that allow many to work remotely and choose where they want to be, Tampa Bay has become a very attractive place. We have a world-class airport and a world-class port to facilitate importing and exporting for businesses. We are experiencing a significant economic growth and have a wide diversity of live, work, play experiences, as well as a variety of options for those who want to be in a planned community, an urban core or an arts district. We have great K-12 public schools and academic institutions in the area as well as a wide variety of arts and cultural organizations. When you combine all those things and the influx of talent, you get a tremendous opportunity for student retention.
( ) marine and life sciences (up 12.2%), specialized manufacturing (13.6%), financial services (4.2%), data analysis (79.3%) and creative arts and design (7.2%). The city of Largo also posted positive indicators in its overall growth, as stated by Mayor Woody Brown. “The city of Largo’s population is over 83,000 now. We were just ranked the seventh-fastest home sales market in the state, and there are a couple reasons for that. First, it’s a great location; there are still safe, affordable places to live in Largo, and it’s right in the center of Pinellas County. Second, the schools in Largo have really improved over the last 10 years. These are the main drivers that are not only bringing more people and more families here but are also attracting small, medium and large businesses.” According to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the state’s private-sector job growth continues to outpace the nation. Central Florida added 52,400 new jobs in 2018, 26,700 in the Tampa Bay area. These gains were largely bolstered by the education and health services (with 8,700 new jobs) and leisure and hospitality (13,200 new jobs) industries. Rising to challenges The greatest challenges facing Tampa Bay today are familiar ones. Education and infrastructure improvements generally top out the list, but the good 24 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | ECONOMY
news is that in late 2018, the region’s voters approved a number of referendums that will make strides toward alleviating these pain points. Hillsborough County voters approved a 1 cent sales tax hike that will raise $276 million a year for 30 years for transportation improvements across the county. They also approved a 10-year half-cent sales tax levy by the school board to fund air conditioning replacement and repairs, capital improvements and school construction, building enhancement for security and other school maintenance needs. Combined, these measures will raise the county’s sales tax from 7% to 8.5%, making it the highest in the state of Florida. In Polk County, voters approved the continuation of a half-cent tax originally approved in 2003 for an additional 15 years. This tax is expected to raise as much as $40 million a year to fund school maintenance and construction. Polk County is also using other means to stimulate their economy and continue on the growth pattern of the surrounding region. “The idea is to drive the economy through our hospitality locations and use our tourist and development tax to market the properties and create assets to improve our sports and tourism facilities, which bring a high number of visitors through their events. The objective is to grow and diversify our economy through those efforts,” George Lindsey,
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
The Tampa Bay MSA population is expected to grow to 3.3 million in the next five years.
Commissioner on the Polk County Commission, told Invest:. Meanwhile, Pasco County voters approved four separate bond referendums totaling $241 million. A new .6017 mill property tax levy will help the county to expand the jail, improve fire and rescue services, maintain parks and remodel libraries. Strong momentum There’s no question that Florida — and Tampa Bay
— has been outperforming the nation in terms of job growth. Interest rates remain low, and all industries are experiencing strong economic momentum. The region continues to attract residents and visitors in droves, and communities are coming together to address the challenges this kind of growth inevitably brings with it. Despite the dark clouds of global trade tensions and U.S. political uncertainty lingering on the horizon, all indicators suggest that Tampa Bay’s economy will remain strong in 2019.
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Market voices: Chambers
Robin Miller
We work cohesively with Pinellas County, which offers us assistance on a granular level. We have a representative on our task force who is developing recommendations for our city, things such as walkability, green space, aesthetics, a good coffee shop, brewery or steakhouse. These are the types of requests that we take to the county to figure out how we can make it happen.
CEO Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce
If you look at our larger employers and Fortune 500 companies, most started as small businesses here in St. Pete. We have great leadership in companies like Raymond James, Tech Data, ValPak and HSN. These are all homegrown St. Pete companies that are leading the charge. We feel confident in our ability to grow small companies into big companies. We’re confident in our startups that are farther along because they have no trouble attracting talent. Whether you’ve been here three weeks or your entire life, there’s a spirit of connectivity that all the businesses and individuals relish.
Bob Grammig
Chair Florida Chamber of Commerce
Chris Steinocher
President & CEO St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce
Tort reform is probably the most significant thing we can do to improve the business climate in Florida. Secondly, the regulatory situation has improved enormously since 2010. The Scott administration made tremendous strides in this area, and there is every indication that the DeSantis administration will continue to improve the regulatory environment. However, we still face challenges with burdensome and unproductive regulation in some municipalities and other local jurisdictions. This is another area of needed improvement, but I can confirm that at least in the Tampa Bay region these issues are being addressed.
The I-4 Corridor is developing at an incredibly rapid pace in terms of economic development. Tampa, and Brandon, is growing exponentially in terms of the logistics and supply chain areas of the economy. This is in large part attributed to Tampa being the eighth-largest port globally and a key destination to receive and move materials to other parts of the country and world and to Tampa International Airport. Healthcare, manufacturing, education, finance and technology are the other key drivers of our economy in the Brandon and Tampa Bay area.
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Nancee Sorenson
Chairman of the Board The Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce
Technology & Innovation: From startups to established powerhouses, Tampa Bay is emerging as a tech hub to rival San Francisco and Seattle. Incubators are in place to provide the necessary support, and funding is becoming increasingly available. With plenty of room to grow, a youthful energy is permeating the area as new jobs spring up and salaries rise.
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Startup energy: Tampa Bay is on the rise as a tech hub, with Forbes calling Tampa the country’s No. 2 city for young entrepreneurs Home to more than 150 tech startups and industry powerhouses like Clearwater-based Tech Data, the Tampa Bay area is an emerging hub for tech entrepreneurs. Not only does the region offer a high quality of life, favorable tax structure, ambitious development and innovative research centers, it is also largely uncharted territory for hungry young entrepreneurs. “With plenty of room to grow, Tampa’s innovative ecosystem has invigorated the region with a more youthful energy, which is being felt throughout the local business community,” said John Fortino, cofounder and senior managing partner of Velocity. “For instance, if you go out to lunch or dinner, you can feel the energy of Tampa; you’ll see all the youthful action and movement, and it makes you excited to be here. It’s especially beneficial to the older generations who live here because it helps keep them on their toes and encourages them to match that level of energy.” It’s no wonder Forbes named Tampa No. 2 on its list of Top 10 Best Cities for Young Entrepreneurs. Incubators 28 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
A number of factors have aligned to foster Tampa’s startup success, but at the heart of this perfect storm are the incubators supporting the sector. “Tampa has definitely grown quite a bit, and I think it will continue to grow in terms of entrepreneurship. There’s a lot of support for new business here, including organizations such as TiE Tampa Bay and the Tampa Bay Wave,” Karthik Viswanathan, President of Convene Technologies, told Invest:. “There’s also a vibrant and rapidly growing venture capital and angel-funding market in Tampa that’s been more active in the past four to five years than I’ve ever seen.” The Tampa Bay area is home to a number of organizations working to incubate and accelerate the budding tech community. St. Petersburg Greenhouse provides resources for entrepreneurs looking to start their own businesses, as well as community engagement and networking opportunities. In 2013, the Greenhouse partnered with the Kauffman Foundation to hold weekly 1 Million Cups events, in which a speaker presents a business idea and then receives feedback and advice from audience members. In 2019, the program is planning to add new partners to create ( )
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION INTERVIEW
Tech talk How a local investment fund is underpinning the next generation of Tampa entrepreneurs and startups, keeping the best and brightest from going elsewhere
Marc Blumenthal Partner – Florida Funders
What has allowed Tampa to emerge as a new hub for innovation and technology startups? I’ve been in technology since 1984, and I’ve seen the technology environment evolve immensely. There have always been a lot of smart people in Tampa Bay doing a lot of great things in the space, but beginning in 2000, economic development organizations started taking note of Tampa Bay and making investments. So for the past eight or nine years, there has been significant growth. I have to credit my partners at Florida Funders, too. Tampa used to lose our best and our brightest to Austin, Boulder, San Francisco, New York and Chicago. Entrepreneurs would go look elsewhere for money, and that’s what Florida Funders is working to change. If a startup is capable and they have a good company and a good offering, then we’re going to put money to work with them. We’re funding more companies, putting capital to work and activating investors. What accounts for the relatively quick success of Florida Funders? We’ve tapped into a lot of pent-up demand. People who have succeeded as entrepreneurs tend to have it wired in their DNA to help other entrepreneurs. So we’ve tapped into a nerve with people who enjoy putting capital and advisory services to work. When we first started, everybody was super excited about helping Tampa Bay become better known for technology. Our tagline at Florida Funders is, “From Sunshine State to Startup State.” People rally around that. We’re an outlet for them. It’s a great way to invest, and get good returns, but it’s also a way to do good while doing well.
When looking at the startup community in Tampa Bay, what are some of the challenges these entrepreneurs face? The biggest issue is connectivity, by which I mean getting the word out and finding the right resources, whether that’s finding the right capital, the right customers, the right talent or even the right advisers. There’s an inherent village-like efficiency in markets such as Austin, the Bay area and New York that we haven’t enjoyed as much here, but are working to replicate. In the end, what inhibits an entrepreneur from being able to scale is a twofold issue: “Can I find the right talent and can I get the right capital?”
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TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION OVERVIEW
Lakshmi Shenoy CEO – Embarc Collective
Tampa Bay is producing tremendous talent, but the question is: Do we have the type of startup opportunities that will keep that talent here? Our startup region is still nascent, so this presents an opportunity for early adopters to work with the existing entrepreneurial community to grow our region into something bigger. The interesting thing about the technology landscape in Tampa Bay is that there are a couple of industries that are large, but we’re not yet defined by any one industry. This gives us the advantage of a diversified portfolio which can weather any economic blip.
( ) a pitch competition, where entrepreneurs will present information about their companies, receive feedback and network with potential customers, suppliers and investors, all over coffee, of course. Many companies have found their wings through the 1 Million Cups program, including downtown St. Petersburg-based The Penny Hoarder. This startup has grown into one of the largest personal finance websites in the world and consistently ranks high on lists of the nation’s fastest-growing companies. Tampa Bay Wave is another organization that works to turn ideas into growing tech businesses, supporting more than 150 startups and 250 entrepreneurs in the Tampa Bay area. Invest: Tampa Bay spoke to Alex Sink, the Board Chair Elect for the Tampa Bay Wave who spoke to the role the organization plays in the region, “There’s not one specific thing I can point to as the reason why Tampa has become such a hub for technology and start-ups. I think there’s a number of factors that play into it, including the fact that our community has deep military roots, as well as Tampa being home to the largest publicly-traded company in Florida, Tech Data. The people that are coming out of these worlds want to start their own businesses, and an organization like the Tampa Bay Wave are able to provide mentors, introduce entrepreneurs
to investors, and provide overall support to these businesses. Whatever problems or issues these startups have, we serve as a one-stop shop. If you want to start a business, Tampa Bay’s the place to do it.” In December 2018, the Wave received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to help launch a regional investor collaborative. The grant will be split 50-50 with Orlando-based accelerator StarterStudio. Supplementing this funding is a match of $375,000 provided by the Vinik Family Foundation, Tampa Electric, Stage 1 Ventures, the University of Central Florida and Kirenaga Partners. The matching funds will also be split between the Wave ($225,000) and StarterStudio ($150,0000). The hope is that this money will provide a springboard for these two organizations to offer at least $2 million through the threeyear life grant as seed-stage funding to startups in the region. Tampa Bay Wave also recently partnered with Startup Genome, a collaborative effort that helps entrepreneurial regions maintain their startup ecosystems and spread the word about investment opportunities in the area. The University of South Florida Muma College of Business, Hillsborough County, Tampa Bay Startup Week/Weekend and the St. Pete Innovation District are some of the ( )
Our community has deep military roots, as well as Tampa being home to the largest publiclytraded company in Florida, Tech Data.
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TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION OVERVIEW
Market voices: Tech in accounting
Chris Rux
Partner Cherry Bekeart
The growth in our key industry sectors — technology, health and life sciences — mirrors the growth in Tampa. We’ve benefited immensely as a practice from the growth of our current clients and the ability to attract and obtain new clients in these sectors. We’ve been working with technology and life science companies at all levels of maturity, from startup to publicly traded, for a number of years now. We’re focused on being a trusted adviser to those companies in their success to in turn invest that back into our community, whether that’s job growth or just general economic growth.
We have a line of business focused on technology consulting. Whether we’re working with a small tech firm with few employees or a large corporation that runs lean, technology is the key to doing more with less. In some cases, we are brought in to help plan and execute a digital transformation strategy to help maximize a company’s efficiency. Other times we’re leveraged as an outsourced IT or accounting department because we’ve created a model that allows us to do anything from taking over an entire division or augmenting the staff they have, start to finish or anywhere in between.
Jeff Goolsby
Partner MSL, CPAs, and Advisors
Danny Jackson Partner RSM US LLP
We’ve been investing heavily in our tax resources for startups and other entrepreneur-owned businesses in Tampa. The tech sector tends to be more entrepreneurial. There are a lot of new opportunities with the new tax law, such as workforce credits, that we’re consulting with our clients on. There’s also a lot of money being invested in Tampa that is sparking innovation and encouraging startups to grow their business. We’ve focused on investing heavily in the professionals who have the background and knowledge to consult and advise in this growing area.
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Stuart Brown Tampa Managing Director Accenture
What are some unique opportunities that Tampa offers for companies seeking relocate? The technology market is very important to Tampa. We have seen some new logos in Tampa that have allowed us to grow our local market, which is a sign of the health of the market. Tampa is uniquely positioned. The No. 1 opportunity in the area is access to talent. We have three of the largest universities in the country within a 90-mile drive. The other unique opportunity is the diversity of talent and the access to multilingual people, especially Spanish and English speakers. This talent diversity, access to talent and growth in the area are some notable opportunities in the Tampa market. Which sectors are seeing the most demand in Tampa? Technology and healthcare are growing the most. The fight for talent is starting to heat up in the technology space. There are numerous big startup companies establishing themselves in Tampa. Accenture works with Global 2000 firms, which are companies that are growing at a rapid pace or merging, and we are bringing advisory services that are in high demand to those types of organizations. A number of our clients in Tampa are going through mergers and acquisitions, and we advise them as they are moving toward new technology and help them make the transition faster. Have you seen an expansion of high-skill and high-wage jobs commensurate with the increased entrepreneurship in the tech sector? We are starting to see that shift. Although we need more players in that market, we are seeing wages go up. The region is educating numerous high-tech skills professionals, and they are staying in Tampa. It seems like a lot of the high-tech talent has been imported in the past, and we expect it to be homegrown in the near future. Technology is that cohesive vision or language that is starting to grow the region and bring multiple benefits to the area.
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Thanks to the rapidly growing tech scene, Tampa Bay area is often considered the “Silicon Valley� of Florida.
( ) community partners supporting this project. It is currently in the research and planning phase, but the hope is that an Ecosystem Action Plan will launch later this year. The Corridor A total of 23 Florida counties make up the Florida High Tech Corridor, a regional economic development initiative spearheaded by the Florida High Tech Corridor Council comprising the University of Central Florida (UCF), the University of South Florida (USF) and the University of Florida (UF). The Corridor’s mission is to grow high-tech industry and innovation through partnerships that fuel research, marketing, workforce development and entrepreneurship. This technology-rich area along the I-4 interstate from Daytona to Sarasota is known for its legacy in aerospace and growing prominence in clusters of innovation like modeling and simulation, optics and photonics, digital media and medical technologies. According to a 2018 report from the council, in 2017 more than 1,000 new science and technology establishments opened for business in the Corridor, up 4.8% from the previous year and the largest proportional increase in 10 years. Wages for tech jobs
Brian Murphy Founder & CEO ReliaQuest
What has allowed for the widespread growth of cybercrime? Cybercrime is profitable, and whenever something’s profitable, there will be those who attempt it. Cybercrime has been going on for decades. The modernization of technology just allowed it to be digitized and grow faster. A benefit of all the information that we see in the news is that people are now more aware of cybersecurity. What we can’t allow is for the news to create fear, uncertainty and doubt to the point where the average person feels like their information is not going to be safe regardless of what they do. in the region are also on the rise, increasing 8.5% in 2017 year-over-year. Today, the average salary across all tech sectors is $86,096. Collaboration Perhaps one of the most anticipated events of Tampa’s startup world is the opening of Embarc Collective in Downtown Tampa in 2019. This $10 million innovation hub is designed to bring together entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and academic resources under one roof. The hope is that this kind of collaboration will encourage leading entrepreneurs to build their companies in Tampa Bay, showcasing what a great place it is to do business. Another center for collaboration opening soon is the Station House at Hyde Park in St. Petersburg, which offers communal co-working space and a lifestyle brand with flexible memberships, shared offices, conference space, networking and special events. It aims to be an epicenter for tech workers, creatives and other young entrepreneurs looking for a modern and trendy workspace. Tampa’s Channelside at Sparkman Wharf, developed by Strategic Property Partners, will also be offering unique loft-style office space, slated to open ( )
What is the biggest challenge facing the cybersecurity market? I think the biggest challenge for the field is that the good guys aren’t allowed to keep score of the things that they’re doing in cybersecurity; in fact, they’re largely quiet. Nobody gets to celebrate a win when they stop something bad, but every bad thing that goes public is covered by the media on a massive scale. It’s important to understand that there’s no amount of training that we could give, and no amount of education, that would fix cybersecurity. What we need to do is use our technologies and start correlating information to prevent subsequent attacks. What are some opportunities for cybersecurity? The biggest opportunity lies in how much value great cybersecurity brings an organization now. In my view, those who are in charge of cybersecurity, especially at the larger companies, are likely to reach increasingly important positions that create positive impacts. The data that companies can access now enforces the need for the best cybersecurity possible. ReliaQuest and companies similar to ours can be a driving force in helping other businesses succeed in ways beyond just staying secure.
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TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION OVERVIEW
tech Market voices: Tampa’s community
Linda Olson
President & CEO Tampa Bay Wave
We run a 90-day accelerator program, but what separates us from other tech accelerator programs is that we offer services beyond the 90-day incubation period. After the program is over, companies have an option to stay active with us and participate with monthly or bi-monthly CEO roundtables. They get all the benefits of our mentor network as well as benefits of connections in the community, whether they’re investor or customer connections; companies often find talent through our networks. Our mission goes beyond running the best tech accelerator program. The mission is to help companies not just start here, but stay here and grow here. We want to help these companies build, launch and grow to become breakout success stories in Tampa Bay.
Over the last 25 years, the common frame of thinking has been that cybersecurity issues can be solved by software. The bad guys are not hacking hardware or software, however, they are hacking people. It takes less time for them to use social engineering tactics to deceive employees into granting access to their network. It is now essential to implement ‘new school’ security awareness training, which teaches employees about the risks of the internet. If that is done correctly, employees tend to appreciate it and share the knowledge with their friends and family because the need to stay aware and safe on the internet doesn’t end at the office.
Jack Berlin CEO Accusoft
Stu Sjouwerman Founder & CEO Knowbe4, Inc.
It’s one thing to have a high-tech community in your community. It’s another thing to be a high-tech community. I think that’s the bridge we have to make. It doesn’t come down to simply building a couple of high-speed rail lines. It is a holistic commitment. Environmental concerns are huge for young professionals considering new cities. For instance, we’re the Sunshine State, but we have one of the lowest rates of solar power in the world.
34 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION OVERVIEW
Businesses are demanding stronger cyber security now more than ever, and IT security companies are growing at a rapid pace.
(
) in 2019.
Funding tech The rise of Tampa Bay as a tech destination, given the area’s funding potential, is also attracting talent from traditional West Coast startup havens. “There are several factors that make Tampa Bay the region of choice for startups and those are human and financial capital, access to support organizations and continuous outside investment into the community,” Tonya Elmore, president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Innovation Center, told Invest:. “The global investment that we see flowing into Tampa Bay has only furthered the growth and development in our region. I believe we will start to see a slow down eventually, but until then it is a ‘strike while the iron’s hot’ mentality. We are seeing people leave startup friendly communities like San Francisco and Seattle to move here and be part of this evolution.” Tampa Bay area leaders are focused on growing the region’s tech sector and the high-skill and highwage jobs that come with it. However, historically,
budding entrepreneurs have found it difficult to find local funding to support their startups, largely because most people with investment money were putting it into real estate, restaurants and the service industry. That is starting to change. “Attracting venture capital to Tampa is still a challenge, although things have definitely improved over the last five years. We have some issues attracting investors in technology, for example, because a lot of the investors in Florida are real estate investors. They’re accustomed to investing in something that’s tangible, which software and technology usually is not. For Tampa and Florida to live up to their potential, they need money that understands where the future is headed,” Julia MacGreggor-Peralta, CEO of Global Safety Management said. Tampa Bay has a lot of investment potential. Statewide, Florida has about 300,000 accredited investors, ranking second in the country behind California, which has 500,000 accredited investors. While a large portion of California investors made their money in the tech industry, Florida investors have ( )
Tampa Bay has a lot of investment potential.
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TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION INTERVIEW
Setting the stage How the Moffitt Cancer Center is playing a central role in Tampa’s emergence as a biomedical research destination, with a long way still to go
Dr. Alan List President & CEO – Moffitt Cancer Center
How has Moffitt leveraged technology to advance cancer research and treatment? We have America’s first department of mathematical oncology right here at Moffitt. We call it the Integrated Mathematical Oncology department. What that translates to is physicians and mathematicians modeling cancer through the use of supercomputers that run and generate millions of different models. We’ve had major success with these researchers and with mitigating the risks of chemotherapy. Hormone refractory prostate cancer patients in this trial who were given seven to eight months to live are beyond two years now, and some of them need treatment only once or twice a year. It has caused a paradigm shift in our approach to cancer treatment.
Can you outline Moffitt’s role in Tampa being labeled a biomedical research destination? We’ve had a leading role in immuno-oncology and emerging biotech. We have one of the biggest cell therapy manufacturing facilities in the country right here on our campus. Recently, a company called IOVANCE Biotherapeutics moved here from California, because of our experience in what we call TILS: tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, which set the stage for others. We now manufacture the CAR T-cells for Celyad, a company out of Belgium, and for a company from Finland. We are beginning a nucleus in immuno-oncology, Big Data and oncology analytics here.
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What are some of the challenges associated with funding cancer research and the biomedical research in Tampa? I often hear that we don’t have enough venture capital money in Tampa, but I think that’s changing. For our basic researchers and translational researchers, NIH funding and NCI funding are the most important sources. Only 5-7% of researchers have a shot at funding. That means 93-95% of those advocating are not funded. That’s a lot of shots on goal before you get a grant, and it really takes a toll on young researchers. We’ve tried not to rely strictly on NIH. Increasingly, we have gone to other foundations like the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and the American Cancer Society. We’ve also partnered more with industry leaders through sponsored research agreements, which have grown to roughly $70 million in the last five years. This has been one of our biggest successes in recent years.
( ) not, which means there is untapped opportunity. Betting on tech requires a different strategy than betting on real estate or healthcare, which is why organizations like hybrid venture capital and crowdfunding platform Florida Funders not only invest in young tech companies but also teach potential tech investors how to value industry investment and maximize their returns. Growing local investment in the tech community is critical to ensure that this industry, and the jobs that come with it, remains in Tampa Bay. Looking ahead According to IT consulting company Accenture’s Technology Vision 2019 report, all businesses in the modern world are digital and now is a critical time to look ahead at the post-digital era, where things like distributed ledger technology, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality and quantum computing are coming into play. The opportunities presented by the ever growing need for data protection are going to continue on an upward trend. “There are a large number of startups being founded in the data, cybersecurity and blockchain spaces. The interest in starting a business in these fields is based on their scalability, access to data and increasing demand for these types of services. There’s a world of opportunity for these businesses, whether it’s getting access to the data, creating cybersecurity solutions that don’t exist or using the blockchain, which is another way to help secure information,” explained Tonya Elmore, President and CEO of Tampa Bay Innovation Center. With these shifts comes an increased need for skilled workers, and with the University of South Florida, the University of Central Florida and the University of Florida all within 90 miles, Tampa Bay is uniquely positioned to provide this specialized workforce. Most insiders, like Alison Barlow the Executive Director for the St. Pete Innovation District, believe success starts with the area’s youth. “In St. Pete and Tampa we talk a lot about entrepreneurship, and we want to encourage our youth to become involved at an early age,” Barlow said. “We have multiple initiatives to make them more aware of what is going on in the region, get them excited and help them learn in an environment that isn’t like the traditional classroom setting. One of the ways we accomplish this is by connecting the youth with local businesses so they can see behind the scenes. The local businesses truly support this program and are excited to open their doors for the students so they can see what makes a business run successfully.”
Brian Kornfeld President Synapse
What has allowed Tampa Bay to become a hub for technology and innovation? Several factors have allowed Tampa Bay and Synapse to become hubs for technology and innovation. One of the biggest elements is that all the resources were already here; they just hadn’t been receiving the type of attention and support they’re getting today. In addition, there’s a world-class talent pool here in Tampa that companies can draw from; it was just a matter of connecting businesses to the right talent. Today, Tampa Bay also has 64 entrepreneurial support organizations, which is a fantastic network for incubation and acceleration. The other element of Tampa Bay’s success is our weather, which is phenomenal; people want to live where others vacation. With this growth has come a big uptick in population, driving so much growth and development happening in the region. It’s just a matter of more people moving into the area and contributing to that growth, which is happening. People are really excited to be a part of the Tampa Bay innovation community and a part of our technological revolution. What challenges are Tampa Bay’s startup community facing? Even with all these positive developments, Tampa Bay is definitely not without its challenges. We don’t really have downtown universities, which means that student entrepreneurs don’t have a reason to be downtown. That’s going to change with the expansion of the University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute. Another challenge is that people outside of Tampa Bay still don’t realize all of the fascinating innovations happening in the region. Synapse and all the other entrepreneurial organizations are setting out to change the narrative of the region.
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Healthcare: Job creation, new facilities, research — Tampa Bay’s healthcare community is on its way to becoming one of the country’s premier markets. Groundbreaking research is ongoing and the respected sector is attracting blue-chip companies and major employers, helping boost the local economy. Innovative thinking is among the key factors propelling the industry.
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A new frontier: Adapting to changes in the country’s healthcare sector, Tampa Bay is laying claim as a top-flight health market Tampa Bay has staked its claim as one of the premier healthcare markets in the country. This is a region where the major players in the healthcare industry all seem to be moving in the same direction, and this movement has reflected favorably on all segments of the market, from job creation to industrial construction, research and development. Tampa had the foresight to adapt to changes in the country’s healthcare sector and push its market into a new frontier, but it took more simple tax breaks and flashy marketing. It also meant restructuring and repackaging Tampa’s value as a healthcare community. The resulting impact has been a boon for the economy and the business community in Tampa at large, as blue-chip companies and major employers find strong healthcare centers tremendously appealing in their value equations when considering potential expansions and/or relocations. Decisions like this can represent thousands of new jobs for Tampa, and the region has been taking advantage of these growth opportunities. “Tampa has a lot of talent, which is why we like doing business here. In particular, there’s a ton of healthcare students and companies. Anything 40 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | HEALTHCARE
our business needs, I can find here. If for some reason I can’t find the talent I need here, it’s easy to move talented people to Tampa because they want to live here,” Alpesh Patel, CEO of Benzer Pharmacy told Invest:. By sheer virtue of being in a beautiful, temperate, subtropical climate, there is also a large population of seniors that represent a majority of the healthcare spending, as well as an opportunity for employment. Economic development organizations have gathered all the prominent employers, educators, business organizations and key healthcare providers in an all-hands-on-deck approach to growing the sector’s influence. The tools to transform the city into a healthcare mecca were manifested in the community. They took the form of life science companies, universities, research facilities, hospitals and entrepreneurs. The city’s roster runs deep and includes such powerhouses as Moffitt Cancer Center, BayCare, Florida Cancer Specialists, Tampa General Hospital, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, University of South Florida, University of Tampa, Hillsborough Community College, Galen College of Nursing, ( )
HEALTHCARE INTERVIEW
Second to none How Baycare’s continued growth has expanded market share, with new construction at most hospitals impacting local architects, engineers and builders
Tommy Inzina CEO – BayCare
How is Baycare promoting the region of Tampa Bay? Our vision statement is very explicit: we’re an extraordinary team leading the way in high-quality and personalized, customer-centered healthcare. As a community-owned not-for-profit company, highquality care is the most important thing to us. We want to be able to tell our community that the quality of BayCare Health System is second to none. You don’t need to leave Tampa Bay. What economic impact has BayCare’s continued growth had on the local region? We are the largest provider of healthcare in this part of the state, serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, and Polk counties, and in spite of that we continue to see growth. We’re particularly proud of this, especially as it relates to the local economy. As of last year, we had increased our market share to 36.5%, which has triggered the need for further growth and expansion. The fact that we have major construction projects happening at most of our hospitals is good for architects, engineers and construction firms. We’re proud of the fact that in addition to providing great healthcare, we’re also a significant contributor to the economic climate of Tampa Bay. In 2016, the economic impact of BayCare in our region was nearly 7 billion dollars. How is BayCare utilizing technology to improve customer experience? You can think of us as an integrated-delivery system. We utilize Cerner health information technology at all of our hospitals and practices. We employ over 500 physicians and operate 18 urgent care sites, multiple wellness centers, free-standing imaging and surgery centers, physician practices and hospitals. We have
one common platform and, if patients stay within the BayCare family, they will only have one medical record. Apple recently began deploying access to electronic medical records systems in their Apple Health application. We are one of the 40 participating healthcare providers. We have thousands of people that live in Florida in the wintertime and live up north in the summer. Now they’re able to access all of their medical records through the Apple Health application. We have also partnered with Publix to launch WalkIn Care Provided By BayCare. The technology features a private room where shoppers can receive nonurgent medical care from board-certified physicians through teleconferencing and medical diagnostic equipment.
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HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW
Brad Prechtl CEO – Florida Cancer Specialists
As the largest privately held independent medical oncology practice in the U.S., I believe Florida Cancer Specialists has a significant role here in the Tampa market as it relates to healthcare and especially oncology services. The healthcare system can be very frustrating when you have to go to multiple locations for your care. If you look at our strategy, we want to keep patients close to where they live while offering all of the treatment and diagnostics services that they will need. We also offer the same FDA-approved drugs and clinical research trials as any academic medical center. That’s what is unique about our practice.
( ) SRI International and the Center for Advanced Learning and Simulation. The list goes on. Health evolution In accordance with other major industries affected by technology and changing consumer needs, healthcare evolves at a swift pace. This is especially evident in Tampa, with an aging population, a large number receiving Medicaid coverage, plus a significant number of uninsured residents and room for growth, the market is subject to sudden, drastic changes. Hospitals in Tampa are acquiring more land to lay claim to their territory, like Tampa General Hospital who recently filed a letter of intent to build a 59-bed medical rehabilitation hospital. They are expanding their services and offerings at existing locations and looking for any way possible to grant a more favorable outcome and easy access to patients. This has taken shape in securing land for physical growth but also attracting the tech and the IP that adds value to their brand. There have been some major developments that are reflected in the way the healthcare industry continues to innovate in 2019. For one, freestanding emergency centers are on the rise. Although normally run by a local hospital system, freestanding emergency centers are not physically connected to the main hospital campus. These satellite locations are disrupting the hospital system, allowing patients to avoid the pitfalls of an emergency system, such as long waits and incomplete care, while still boasting the same aroundthe-clock emergency services. Florida Hospital is one of the key players planning three new locations that
are either under construction or will be completed in 2019. Another major change is that hospital pricing will be made public due to new federal requirements mandating that all healthcare providers post their standard charges on the internet. Service providers will use platforms similar to a charge description master to list costs, which will be updated annually. With this new protocol, patients will enjoy more transparency, and as a result the healthcare space is likely to become more competitive. These shifting trends are all tempered by the tremendous growth that the healthcare industry is seeing at present. Regional hospitals are taking on major development projects on their main campuses, as well as their satellite locations. Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration recently granted BayCare permission to build a new 60-bed hospital adjacent to Interstate 75 in Pasco County. Moreover, with over $300 million earmarked for an expansion plan, three other BayCare locations are scheduled to receive more renovations, more private patient rooms and various other updates in the near future. As one of the largest service providers in the state, BayCare is making the most of these ripe conditions. Florida Orthopaedic Institute also just finished some significant expansions to a couple of their facilities and will look to continue this growth into the near future. “We were able to open up a new 30,000-square-foot facility in Brandon, which has helped us tremendously in managing our patient volumes. We expanded our Wesley Chapel office as well, due to the area’s exponential growth. We have 10 sites overall, and we have seen record growth ( )
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HEALTHCARE INTERVIEW
Health advance How the biggest surgical expansion in Tampa Bay history will address need for long-term, high-tech, high-touch acute-care facilities
Brian Adams CEO – AdventHealth Tampa
surgery, pancreatic and liver surgery, neurosurgery and colorectal surgery. These new operating rooms and patient rooms are designed around the future of that type of care. The chance to build 24 operating rooms all at one time is also a great opportunity to recruit some of the best physicians from around the country. We want the residents of Tampa Bay to never have to leave Tampa Bay for world-class care. Which of your services are seeing the most demand in Tampa today, and to what do you attribute that demand? We continue to see strong demand in the emergency room market, and the number of births growing across Tampa Bay, which is a good thing because that means young families are moving to Tampa. We’ve seen a significant rise in the number of pancreatic and liver cancer cases, making us the busiest robotic pancreatic cancer program and liver program in the country. AdventHealth Tampa launched the largest surgical expansion in Tampa Bay history and the largest expansion in hospital history. How has this process been going, and what can be expected for the Tampa region upon its completion? We couldn’t be more excited about this project, which has been really transformational for Tampa Bay and represents another step in combining all our facilities under one brand, AdventHealth. This is really a project that won’t just benefit the patients of Tampa Bay, but also the patients across the state of Florida and south Georgia, who are often referred to us. We know that there’s a need for long-term, hightech and high-touch acute-care facilities. The service lines we expect to grow are those that treat thoracic 44 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | HEALTHCARE
What are some of the challenges for AdventHealth and the healthcare sector in Tampa Bay? Given our building project, the escalating cost of construction in Tampa Bay is a big problem. We also have to continue to think about viability: How do we build a healthcare system that includes everyone, one in which we can control costs but also stay on the cutting edge of how we deliver world-class care? Caring for everyone in the state and making sure that we don’t leave anyone behind is part of our passion. The good news is that doctors want to move to Tampa Bay. We don’t have an issue attracting physicians from out of market, but we want to keep our home-grown physicians in Tampa because of our great residency programs and world-class facilities.
( ) this year in terms of patients, physical therapy visits and surgical procedures. We are looking to continue to grow organically and through mergers and acquisitions at this point,” said Roy Sanders, President and CMO of the Florida Orthopaedic Institute. That leaves the immense expansion plans of industry giants Moffitt Cancer Center and Florida Cancer Specialists. Two years ago, Moffitt announced its $800 million development plan that includes new research buildings, hospital wings, outpatient facilities and a clinical support building. The growth has been triggered by scientific breakthroughs in immunotherapy. The full scope of the plan will be roughly 10 years in the making and will cement Moffitt’s reputation as one of the foremost cancer centers in the country. Florida Cancer Specialists, for its part, is also expanding its footprint in the Tampa Bay area by moving its current office in Lakewood Ranch to a nearby location double the size and doubling its oncology practice in the process. FCC plans to take on 10 more examination rooms and 38 new chemotherapy chairs. Nothing tells the story of Tampa’s burgeoning healthcare scene quite like these two players. A looming concern as the sector grows is how to contain overall healthcare costs. Some industry leaders say there needs to be a greater focus on controlling costs, and point to preventative care as a perfect stepping stone in this direction. “The future of controlling healthcare expenditure is focusing on ways to keep our patients healthy,” Joe Delatorre, CEO of Florida Medical Clinic, told Invest:. “One key factor in helping patients remain healthy is by establishing a team of medical professionals led by a primary care doctor. You need a physician who invests time in helping you avoid getting sick, or helps you effectively manage chronic health conditions such as hypertension, congestive heart failure, diabetes or COPD. Preventative care services such as physical exams and cancer screenings are foundational to controlling the total cost of care. Population health is all about proactively reaching out to our patients to ensure they have the tools and resources necessary to take control of their health.” Politics of health Two presidential actions have had a direct impact on healthcare nationwide. President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the Affordable Care Act and introduction of American Patients First, the administration’s plan to reduce drug prices and out-of-pocket costs. President Trump’s actions thus far will not affect ( )
Gavin Southwell CEO & President Health Insurance Innovations (HIIQ)
What were some highlights for Health Insurance Innovations in 2018? We ranked No. 1 on Fortune’s list of the 100 fastestgrowing companies. Amazon was No. 9, Facebook was No. 6 and we were No. 1. We’re a tech company, so we have an office in Silicon Valley. We have a lot of developers there, but this is our head office. This is where most of our staff are. This is where the leadership is. We often get asked, “Why are you in Tampa?” The main answer is that to attract good people, there needs to be a good balance of life and work. How does Tampa’s growing tech sector impact you? Technology is wonderful for connecting people, but there’s always value in being able to meet with people face-to-face. We’re a firm that’s looking to invest in broadening our technology offerings. A good way to do that is through acquisition, or investing in growing companies. Some of those companies are in Florida, some or all in Tampa. If you’re going to make an investment, you look to try to coordinate and integrate. It’s a lot easier to do that if somebody is nearby. How do you make health insurance more accessible and affordable to customers? We work with about 30 insurance companies and benefit providers, including well-known names like United, Humana and Nationwide. Our technology connects those 30 insurance companies with about 100 different distributors, and we reach about 1 million consumers. We have access to more data in the individual market than anybody else we’re aware of. We have a free website, called HealthPocket, which allows any consumer, without entering any personal information, to put in a zip code and find available products. We help to create competition, which ultimately lowers cost.
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®
oundtable:
HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW
Health providers
A perfect storm of demographics in the Tampa Bay area is attracting entrepreneurs, spurring innovation, and creating opportunities. As the healthcare landscape shifts and changes, providers are embracing the startup community to modernize care, introduce efficiencies and improve quality.
Sherry Hoback
President & CEO Tampa Family Health Centers, Inc.
How has Tampa Family Health Centers (TFHC) used technology and innovation to leverage better service and care for its patients? Innovation drives the development and implementation of clinical practice, products and programs that reflect state-of-the-art ambulatory care practice. We hold the highest levels of multiple national, state and federal accreditations for our healthcare centers. Advancing TFHC’s innovation model focuses on improving patient outcomes and delivery mechanisms. Today we are proud of our continued commitment in the technology sector, which keeps us in the forefront of healthcare. We are also getting back to basics by focusing on patient experience, quality and culture. While some may not consider this “innovative,” we feel these are necessary to grow our services and thus allow us to continue to advance our mission in the community we serve. What are some of the challenges that Tampa Family Health Centers and the healthcare sector are facing? The landscape of healthcare is ever-changing, and that alone is a challenge. We look at that challenge as an opportunity to provide a solution in our market. We focus on providing the highest-quality care to our patients, and we have done so successfully for the past 35 years. We are proud that we continue to grow. In 2018, nearly 110,000 individual patients came through our doors. That speaks volumes to us, as that pointed to an 8% increase in patient volume over 2017.
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Jeff Johnson State Director AARP
How is Tampa’s growing tech scene impacting the region and its aging population? There is an economic value that the 50-plus age group brings to a community. People in Silicon Valley tell us they are looking at the Tampa Bay area because they are trying to design products and services for people who are aging. Tampa Bay brings a mix of demographics. We have a strong, growing tech scene and new younger talent to fuel it, but we also have the aging population that would benefit from the products and services they wish to create. This is a unique opportunity that we can offer developers that other parts of the state cannot. What are some challenges facing the demographic you work with? One challenge that is also an opportunity is how we engage the members of our aging demographic. We have people who come from all over the country with varying backgrounds, and we want to help them connect to the community and build relationships. We are then able to draw on their acumen and help those who want to continue to work find jobs, using their skill-sets with employers that foster older workers. We are working to grow and develop the way we engage these members of the community. This is not just a community where people come to retire, although that certainly is an attraction. People from all over come here for varying reasons and to start the transition into retirement, and we want to make sure they understand all the opportunities the community has to offer.
HEALTHCARE ROUNDTABLE HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW
Joseph Mullany
Regional President & Market CEO Bayfront Health
What are some challenges facing the healthcare industry at present? The challenge within this industry is twofold. The first is that healthcare professionals live in very uncertain times. The Affordable Care Act is up for continual question as to whether it will be in existence going forward, so 12-15% of the population is wondering what their coverage will be in the near future. Secondly, over 50% of our patients rely on federal sources, either Medicare or Medicaid. The uncertainty in Florida now comes from the changes that have happened at the legislative level regarding the Certificate of Need program, which was eliminated effective July 1. This current administration took a different tact and thought a proliferation of services would actually decrease costs, so this has caused tremendous uncertainty. How much of an impact has the technoloy played in the modernization of your facilities? It has had a tremendous impact, resulting in higher efficiency and an improvement in quality of care. For example, in the old days, everything that happened within a hospital would be dictated in a medical record. Physicians would have to go to a room, dictate, that dictation would then have to be transcribed by another person, then sent back to the hospital and that would create a voluminous medical record of that patient’s experience. Now, with simple technology, everything that’s dictated here at the hospital is automatically put on the patient’s chart.
Alvaro Hernandez
Market Vice President, Employer Segment Humana
What are some initiatives you are using to encourage members in the region to live a healthy and active lifestyle? One of the areas where we excel is our wellness integrative program, a true wellness product. The core of the product is really taking into account a person’s trigger points. We not only do biometrics, but we also engage with that individual on a personal level. We are making sure that individuals practice an active and healthy lifestyle, whether it’s nutrition, an exercise program, a behavioral health program or a financial class. We’re trying to take care of wellness from a holistic point of view because we think that wellness doesn’t mean to just go and do some exercise. The reality is that wellness is mental and financial health as well. How is Humana impacting the future of the healthcare industry in the region? We are one of the biggest health/wellness companies here in Hillsborough County. We have the ability to impact a lot more members than we service today through our Bold Goal initiatives. Our market goal is to double our current membership, but our commitment is to our communities achieving the best possible health. Our products are created to meet the needs of many employers in our community, from the large school districts to the small mom and pops. Our Bold Goal is to serve our communities by making them 20% healthier by 2020 and beyond, we are confident and prepared for this challenge.
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HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW
Phil Dingle Managing Partner – HealthEdge Investment Partners
Healthcare will continue to grow and expand in most sectors. As it becomes increasingly complex, with the righteous goal of improving aggregate care through alliances and a more intense focus on results, people are going to have to work together. Many of the individual silos that have historically been established are going the way of the dinosaur. Hospitals are starting to align with payers, networks and other hospitals. We think of healthcare as being very collaborative, and when we acquire a business, our due diligence focuses on, among other things, how we can partner with industry players to expand the business and bring better care to the sector into which we’ve invested.
( ) healthy individuals. In fact, it could lower their costs because there is no longer a penalty under the new plan, and they could purchase an association or temporary plan that doesn’t offer the full coverage outlined by the ACA but costs less. However, for those with chronic illnesses, costs will likely rise because patients would have to fall back on the ACA plans. As more healthy individuals leave their ACA plans, the only way companies can maintain profits will be to increase prices. Premiums have skyrocketed in some states in light of this change. Without a bill to comprehensively replace the Affordable Care Act, healthcare costs on the national level are expected to rise faster than under the ACA. Costs rose at roughly 5% per year with the ACA. Each year from 2000 to 2004, healthcare costs went up by 7%. Given the costs of healthcare, the sector will always be under a political microscope. In Florida, Gov. DeSantis has been tasked with taking a more active and innovative role in reforming how healthcare is provided in the state. DeSantis’ team has suggested that the state should consider incubators to help connect research at state colleges and universities to the $26 billion purse of the state’s Medicaid program. The Medicaid program will be directly overseen by the DeSantis administration. The team has also floated the idea of private-public partnerships, where investment funds will be set up to recruit and fund innovative ideas from universities and entrepreneurs. Indeed, this is serendipitous timing for the Tampa Bay region, as it continues to expand its healthcare tech and healthcare education presence. For instance, 48 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | HEALTHCARE
the University of South Florida recently announced its medical school expansion on Water Street in downtown Tampa. The DeSantis administration has also suggested that innovation centers be set up in conspicuous locations throughout the state for anyone to make suggestions. These measures come at a moment in time when private entrepreneurs and businesses in the healthcare space have reached untenable frustration with the status quo of healthcare in Florida. The new administration’s plan for healthcare reform seems to align with much of what is already happening in the Tampa market. On the campaign trail, DeSantis spoke at length about his opposition to Medicaid expansion and the Affordable Care Act. President Trump did as well, but comprehensive policy reform has yet to be proposed. Gov. DeSantis wants to find long-term improvements to the healthcare system in the state while also lowering costs — a tall order for one of the largest items in Florida’s budget, but it will be a welcome change if he can make it happen. Insuring care From WellCare’s acquisition of Aetna to Humana’s expansion, there have been several developments in the Tampa-area health insurance market that demonstrate the innovative ways private and public companies are accounting for the lack of healthcare policy reform. Aimed at reducing hospital room visits and charges accrued, a new healthcare system partnership has emerged. The USF Morsani College of Medicine, ( )
HEALTHCARE INTERVIEW
Milestone How a milestone event for organ transplants helped position Tampa General as a transplant destination not only in Florida, but across the country
John Couris President & CEO – Tampa General Hospital
How did hitting the 10,000 mark for organ transplants help position Tampa General as a destination for transplant surgery? Hitting the 10,000 mark is a hallmark event. The more volume you do, the more proficient you get in the work that you do. The more proficient you get at the work that you do, the better the outcomes. Volume equals quality, and if you look at the quality of our programs overall, they’re outstanding. There are roughly 253 transplant programs in the U.S., and we are the 18thlargest transplant program in the country. We are not only a destination transplant facility for people in the state of Florida, we’re also a destination facility for people around the country. Our goal is to be the largest and best transplant program in the country. How are you leveraging technology to improve patients’ experience? We use a system called Epic for our electronic medical records (EMRs), and arguably it’s one of the best EMRs in the world. It has improved access to clinical information exponentially for patients. Patients can access test results. They can communicate and message their doctors. They can make appointments. They can fill prescriptions. They have a to-do list for healthcare and tracking. They have a healthcare summary. They can see and pay their bills. They can do an e-visit, and they can share their records with any other Epic institution in the world. Not every institution has that kind of technology and infrastructure. We have it, and we’re continuing to get better at it. What are some of the greatest challenges facing healthcare today? The shifting sands of how we get reimbursed by governmental and private payers is always going to
be a challenge. Technology and the cost of technology are always going to be challenges because if hospitals and health systems are getting paid less for their work, eventually it trickles down to the hospitals’ ability to pay for all this technology and infrastructure. We’re trying to control costs to deal with declining reimbursements in a thoughtful, systemic way through the development of unique and specific partnerships. We spend a lot of money on healthcare in states like Florida, and there’s no question we could be more efficient. There’s no question we could develop and evolve new models of care. There’s no question we could find new and innovative ways to lower the cost of care.
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HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW
David Pizzo Market President, West Florida – Florida Blue
Florida Blue Centers are one of the key ways we touch people. Education is the No. 1 service that we provide in the West Florida region, especially to uninsured individuals. The second service most in demand is customer experience, from sales to healthcare and wellness. Our biggest centers have nurses or nurse practitioners who meet with our members, provide free health-risk assessments and, depending on the patient’s health status, provide counseling and enroll them in improvement programs. Our role is to give people tools or connect them with the programs we offer for free.
( ) Caravan Health and Tampa General Hospital, which was recently ranked as the top hospital in the Tampa Bay metro area, have formed an Accountable Care Organization to provide integrated care. Part of the ACA and initiatives for Medicaid and Medicare, Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) assemble groups of healthcare providers that can help patients avoid expensive procedures and unnecessary trips to the emergency room and offer intuitive solutions for physicians to gather and distribute electronic records. In 2017, ACOs in Tampa — Caravan Health’s in particular — surpassed the national performance of ACOs with quality scores of roughly 95% and savings of over $54 million. ACOs saved over $15 million along with the $54 million in savings for Medicare. The partnership, founded on the tenets of providing highquality care, measurable savings and better patientphysician relationships, will include other medical groups in Tampa such as Florida Urology Partners and the Tampa General Medical Group. Other existing programs include the AdventHealth System and BayCare’s Physician Partners ACO. Health insurance giant Humana is also exploring new opportunities in the Tampa Bay market. In 2018, Humana announced that it will be expanding its operations with over 100 customer service positions added to its existing employee base of 4,100 people. The new positions will be geared toward the Managed Care program operated for Medicaid recipients and Humana’s Medicare Advantage membership. As Humana anticipates more processing calls for Medicaid, Medicare and other long-term members in the coming years, their customer service center has been expanded accordingly. With this development, 50 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | HEALTHCARE
the Tampa Bay area has become Humana’s secondlargest workforce in the country, after its headquarters in Louisville. WellCare’s acquisition of Aetna’s Medicare wing, meanwhile, was another key development for the industry. WellCare, the Tampa-based care provider for government healthcare initiatives, acquired Aetna’s entire Medicare Part D and prescription drug business. This arm of Aetna includes over 2 million members. The move is significant for both companies. With it, Aetna will divest from its Part D operations and inch closer to being absorbed by CVS as the pharmacy corporation looks to capitalize on the prescription drug market. For WellCare, the acquisition is another in a slew of major deals the company has completed over the last two years. In September 2017, WellCare bought Meridian and MeridianRx, its benefit manager, for $2.5 billion. As one of the largest public companies in the Tampa Bay area, WellCare earned $17 billion in revenue and currently employs roughly 4,500 locally. The industry is also finding other innovative ways to improve care and reduce costs; in particular, by establishing clinically integrated networks. “Receiving healthcare is a very fragmented endeavor,” said Richard Ferrelli, CEO of Novelle Health Partners. “You go to your primary care doctor for general checkups, then you might go to a specialist for specific issues. If you have issues beyond that, you might go to a hospital or outpatient clinic. There are many entities within the healthcare industry that a person can utilize, but for the most part they’re not affiliated in any way. This can result in miscommunication or even no communication at all between these nodes, which negatively affects patients. What clinically integrated
HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW
networks such as Tampa Bay Health Alliance, a large client of ours, are trying to do is connect these entities on one analytical platform in which they can share data, and ultimately benefit the patient.” Daniel Vukmer, the CEO of Tampa Bay Health Alliance, likens these networks to the way leading tech giants operate. “Something we’re seeing across the country is best represented by Google or Amazon,” he said. “These companies are now redeveloping healthcare for their employees, and they’re looking at a number of different models. What we eventually hope to do at the Tampa Bay Health Alliance is to re-envision how people are getting their care and their insurance and start that off by going direct to employers. In other words, we’re cutting out the middleman. We don’t need to make a 20% profit for our shareholders like many insurance companies do.” World-class research The H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center has long been at the forefront of the national conversation about groundbreaking cancer research. That reputation was settled this year as Moffitt took first place on the Florida Cancer Centers List and was awarded approximately one-third of all National Cancer Institution (NCI) research funds in the state of Florida. Moffitt treated a total of 12,347 analytic and non-analytic cases, which refer to cases either diagnosed at Moffitt or elsewhere. The Tampa-based research titan had a generous lead on AdventHealth Cancer Institute and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Orlando and Miami, with 8,599 and 7,126 cases, respectively. Aside from its leading number of patients served, Moffitt also led
Florida in research funding from the NCI, which is a relatively exceptional accomplishment as the number of applicants grows and the amount of grant money wanes. Moffitt Cancer Center is one of 49 NCI-designated cancer care centers, with over 2 million square feet devoted to patient care and cancer research. Moffitt’s groundbreaking work with CAR T immunotherapy was awarded the 2017 Advance of the Year by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Two CAR T products developed in conjunction with Moffitt were approved by the FDA in 2017 on the basis of their favorable patient outcomes. Follow-up studies have revealed that these products match the outcomes of clinical trials when delivered as the standard of care. To analyze the data of hundreds of cancer patients treated with these CAR T products for B cell lymphoma, Moffitt partnered with over a dozen academic cancer centers and uncovered that their product Yescarta unanimously generated remissions in B cell lymphoma when delivered as the standard of care. According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “The real world data showed that at a median follow-up of four months, 81% of patients in the standard of care group responded to the therapy with 58% showing no detectable cancer.” Public health It is now common knowledge that the opioid epidemic is one of the greatest public health crises in the country. The addiction touches all classes and races and has been acutely felt in counties across Florida. To combat the staggering rate of overdoses, sheriff’s offices in
HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW
the Tampa Bay area are issuing Narcan kits to their deputies as part of a larger statewide Narcan program. Narcan, or naloxone hydrochloride, can essentially reverse an overdose once it is in progress. The goal is to save lives, and it has worked thus far. In 63 of 65 cases when the drug was administered in Pasco County, the person was revived. Pasco County has reported that 900 employees are trained to administer Narcan, and over 650 deputies are equipped with Narcan kits every day. Another public health shortfall has been the development — or lack thereof — at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Since the government began channeling more veterans to private care providers over the last four years, there have been higher costs for taxpayers and longer wait times for appointments, according to data collected by ProPublica. A new permanent program bill called the “John S. McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka, and Samuel R. Johnson VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act of 2018” was passed in May 2018 and took effect in January 2019. The VA has missed deadlines for new Community Care Network contracts but is aiming to pick up contractors in early 2019. Medical tourism Tampa might be a top international leisure and retirement destination for all of its world-class tourist offerings, but it is also renowned for a more specific type of traveler: the medical tourist. Over the years, Visit Florida has created millions of dollars worth of grant programs to stimulate medical tourism. Whether it’s cancer treatment, surgery or recovery, these programs are funded to encourage domestic and international patients to convalesce in Florida. No wonder: the global market for medical tourism is expected to climb to $179.6 billion by 2026, according to a 2019 report by Grand View Research. Guiding the vision of Florida becoming known as the healthiest state in the country is the Florida Department of Health. Florida is seeing historic highs in life expectancy, currently 79.2 years — a direct result of the state’s developments in cancer research and orthopedic surgery. Medical tourism helps patients receive high-quality healthcare but adds an economic stimulus to the community as well. With some of the highest-rated hospitals and medical institutions, the Tampa Bay area has the perfect environment to grow its influence as a medical tourism destination. Notwithstanding the type of procedure that patients seek, whether it’s 52 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | HEALTHCARE
cosmetic or critical, it boosts the local economy. Pharma and drug development have normally been associated with the Northeast, but the rise of the healthcare industry in Tampa has begun to change that as well. “Pharma and drug development are sectors that you see more in the Northeast, not necessarily Florida. However, this forces us to expand our reach, and we are able to attract people to the area because we are in Tampa Bay. Since we do work on a contract basis, we are able to work with companies from around the world. The fact that Tampa is not necessarily the headquarters for many pharma companies isn’t a problem,” Bill Reid, Executive Director of CoreRX told Invest:. An affluent clientele is typically associated with medical tourism, which means that they will be spending money on medical treatments and also patronizing the beaches, hotels, restaurants, malls and cultural attractions. This type of medical environment will continue to attract top-tier physicians and surgeons. Over the last three years Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties have all chipped in to finance studies that will advise local governments on how to advance the cause of medical tourism. Healthy future There is plenty to look forward to in the coming years as Tampa continues its campaign to become the top healthcare and research destination in the state — and potentially the entire Southeast region. This positive outlook is shared throughout the industry and has companies bullish about the future. “I foresee continued growth for Tampa in 2019. In the 1990s, Tampa was called America’s next great city. I have my own slogan: Tampa, America’s secret great city, and don’t tell anyone,” said Paresh Patel, Chairman and CEO for HCI Group, Inc. It’s safe to say that the research side of the equation will remain strong, barring any unforeseen lapses in funding, but the care side will be subject to change from further cuts in the Affordable Care Act, as well as any changes to Medicaid and Medicare budgeting. Gov. DeSantis’ 2019 healthcare budget remained essentially untouched from the baseline proposal put together by Florida economists; however, there was an approximately $100 million cut resulting from the trimming of Medicaid’s retroactive eligibility period, a policy change that the state legislature will have to re-verify for it to continue next year. There’s much uncertainty, and health service and insurance providers are watching the action very closely.
Banking & Finance: Deposits are up, real estate is booming and consolidation is creating a solid foundation for greater growth among Tampa Bay’s financial institutions, and the benefits are being felt by the area’s businesses. But growth comes at a price. Regulatory risks and the criminal threat that lurks as banks become entrenched online are just some of the challenges ahead.
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Money makers: Tampa Bay’s banking sector rides a wave of success that reflects the city’s own growth The banking sector in the Tampa-St. Petersburg metro area has performed exceptionally well over the past few years, and all indications suggest the segment is poised for continued success. From deposits to real estate, earnings to jobs growth, the overarching sentiment in the industry is optimism. The benefits are also being felt beyond the financial community as Tampa leads in lending to local companies and individuals. A primary driver of the finance industry in Tampa is the area’s continued growth. The Tampa Bay area’s population is expected to grow by a mean rate of 1.4% annually through 2021, while the unemployment rate will remain low. Personal income is also expected to grow by a comfortable 6.6%, giving people more money to invest. When you add the fact that the tourism, real estate and life sciences sectors, among others, are growing steadily, it’s no wonder investments are pouring into Tampa. “The climate is very good for personal and commercial banking in Tampa Bay at present,” Joseph Chillura, president for Florida and Alabama at Valley National Bank, told Invest:. “There’s a tremendous amount of business and real estate activity, and we’ve 54 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | BANKING & FINANCE
had a great run of job growth. As a result of the larger projects around the region, we’re seeing a lot of young people wanting to move here, which is a departure from the last 20 years. Downtown Tampa, Tampa Heights and St. Petersburg are all on fire. There’s an incredible amount of activity. The multifamily projects going up everywhere are catering to young professionals who are either coming to work for companies here or becoming entrepreneurs, which bodes well for the entire banking sector.” Performance As the growing population, economy and real estate market continue to drive increases in mortgages, business loans and other financial services, most banks in Tampa are performing well, and some of them are excelling to such an extent that they have reached the upper echelons of banks nationwide. For example, St. Petersburg-based Raymond James Bank (RJB), part of Raymond James Financial Inc., reported $95.3 million in profits during the second quarter of 2018. This performance earned RJB the number 66 spot among the Top 100 most profitable of the ( )
BANKING & FINANCE INTERVIEW
Sound climate How Wells Fargo is helping customers and the community take advantage of a positive economy as confidence booms and spending gains traction
Steven Schultz Regional Banking President - Suncoast – Wells Fargo
What’s the current climate for personal and commercial banking lending in Tampa Bay? On the small business side, we are seeing a lot of confidence. Business owners are more interested in investing in and growing their businesses than they were a couple of years ago. This is reflected in the demand we’ve seen for business loans, but we’re seeing that confidence on a lot of different levels. We’re seeing many healthier looking businesses, and that of course makes the credit piece of what we do a lot easier. We’re fortunate enough here in Tampa Bay to have a growing job market, which really fuels consumer confidence and spending, and helps folks looking to grow with the help of credit. Everything from traditional credit cards to home financing are starting to see real growth. Internally, we don’t just focus on our mortgage products, but also on equity lines of credit, which customers really need right now. What role does a large bank like Wells Fargo play in the Tampa community? We believe in volunteerism: All of our team members can help the community, and they’re involved in many projects. When we volunteer our time, I always hear that while “the check is nice,” the help we give is priceless. Whether that’s with our green team rebuilding and revitalizing a community, or team members volunteering their expertise in finance, it all helps to make a positive impact on the community. The work that we do to support job growth and economic stability in Tampa helps the community and our foundation achieve their goals, too.
What is your outlook for Wells Fargo and the banking sector for the coming year? The banking sector will fluctuate depending on the trends in the economy, but the growth we are experiencing is going to do nothing but help our industry going forward. Wells Fargo is positioned to help our customers take advantage of that growth, and we’re excited about what we see in Tampa Bay. The influx of people that are still moving here is exciting, and the booming tech industry is only going to keep bringing people into Tampa Bay. We are extremely positive because all of this population growth is only going to help Wells Fargo and our industry as we move into the future. The future looks pretty bright for Tampa Bay.
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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
Michael Jones Tampa Market Executive – Regions Bank
Commercial lending is a relatively competitive market in Tampa Bay right now, and that competition cuts across the spectrum of banking institutions and alternative lenders. You have money-center banks, regional banks and community banks that are all playing in the commercial market now. The competition for lending is probably more dynamic than it has been in the past, when at least you knew who you were competing against. Now there are numerous institutions and startups with capital to deploy.
( ) 5,500 total banks operating across the United States. RJB did even better in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 ended Dec. 31, 2018. The local bank reported a quarterly record for net revenues at $1.93 billion, up 12% over the prior-year period. The figure was also 2% better than the preceding quarter. Another critically important metric of bank success is total deposits, and here banks in Tampa excelled yet again. According to a FDIC report, banks in Tampa received $113.7 billion in total deposits as of June 30, 2018, up from $109.1 billion by the same point in 2017. RJB topped the local charts again with $19.65 billion in deposits and captured 17.28% of local deposit market share, beating industry giant Bank of America’s $19.45 billion in deposits and 17.1% of local deposit market share. Loans to local small businesses are another indicator of banking performance, and this was something of a mixed bag in 2018. According to data from the U.S. Small Business Association, the top five lenders to small businesses in the seven-county Tampa region in terms of loan size were, in descending order: Florida First Capital Financial Corp., Live Oak Banking Company, Valley National Bank, Florida Business Development Corp. and First Home Bank. Live Oak Banking Company vastly increased its total loans in 2018, with $25.29 million borrowed by local companies compared to only $7.83 million in 2017. Valley National Bank also saw a modest increase in loans: $20.37 million in 2017
to $24.06 million in 2018. Florida First Financial Corp., Florida Business Development Corp. and First Home Bank all dispersed lower total loan amounts in 2018 than they did in the previous year, but they still posted the impressive total loan amounts of $35.44 million, $20.29 million and $19.49 million, respectively. In sum, that’s $124.57 million loaned to Tampa’s small businesses by the top five lenders alone, and they represent only a fraction of the small business lending market in Tampa. Consolidation The banking boom in Tampa has led to a somewhat counterintuitive trend of consolidation across the market. Several mergers have taken place throughout the region in recent years as banks acquire one another or merge into new entities. One high-profile institution when it comes to mergers is CenterState Bank. The Winter Haven-based community bank boasts more than $12 billion in assets and offers a full range of services, including retail, commercial, mortgage and small business loans, as well as wealth management services. CenterState has recently focused on expansion throughout the Southeast, beginning with the September 2018 acquisition of a mortgage team from Atlanta-based State Bank Financial Corp.; followed by the $360 million acquisition of Charter Financial Corp., also based in Atlanta, in April of the same year; and culminating in the $850.4 million ( )
Banks in Tampa received $113.7 billion in total deposits as of June 30, 2018
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BANKING & FINANCE INTERVIEW
Sense of urgency How insurer taps sense of urgency when working with military families to deliver appropriate solutions that meet different needs
Yvette Segura Vice President & General Manager – USAA
What role has the Tampa community played in USAA’s success in the region? There is a wonderful connection between the MacDill Air Force Base and the Tampa community. Knowing that the community as a whole is so warm and receiving to the folks coming into MacDill has created a strong sense of fellowship that is welcoming to a company like ours. Part of our company mission is to support military members as they’re exiting their roles and offer them an opportunity to work with us. We proudly hire military veterans as there is an immediate connection with our clientele. Oftentimes, our employees and customers were even stationed at the same places. There’s something special about what Tampa does for the military families, and I truly believe it speaks to the collective comradery of the community leaders in the Tampa Bay area.
What are some unique opportunities presented in your service to the military community? We serve military personnel based all across the world, and their needs tend to be very different. Military families have unique circumstances because of their lifestyle, for example, when our active-duty members are deployed, it’s usually a very tumultuous time in that person and their family’s lives. When a member lets us know that they’re about to be deployed and that they will be away from their family for any length of time, we recognize that we need to quickly ensure that they have all the right coverage for themselves and their family. The key in working with our military families is to not only ensure quality, but also a sense of urgency as things can change so quickly. 58 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | BANKING & FINANCE
What challenges has USAA recently faced in the area? The biggest challenge we are facing is the fact that we are growing, which is a good problem to have. We just opened a second building in one of our Tampa campuses, so we’re working hard to fill the over 1,000 new positions that expansion has created, a difficulty we are happy to take on. We’ve been successful in filling the positions so far, but it hasn’t been without a lot of effort. Tampa has a unique challenge in that there is more demand for workers than there are those looking for work, so we have had to work double time. A big part of that is involving ourselves even more in the community. We have been using the partnerships that we have with all the local universities to make sure that graduating students have USAA at the top of their mind.
BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
Damon Moorer President & CEO – TCM Bank, N.A.
The primary role for community banks, especially in Tampa Bay, is to provide loans to local residents and entrepreneurs. In fact, community banks account for more than 60% of the small business lending across the U.S. and 90% of agricultural loans. Community banks are such successful lenders because they truly understand their customers, which allows them to engage the local community in a deep and meaningful way. Also, as small businesses themselves they understand their local market better than anyone. In this regard, community banks have been a key factor in the recent business growth and expansion in the Tampa Bay area, which contributes to local job creation, lower unemployment and GDP growth. When community banks and the customers they serve are successful, the local and national economy thrives.
( ) stock purchase of National Commerce Corp. with the goal of expanding across Florida, Georgia and Alabama. While CenterState is acquiring other institutions to expand its reach across the region, other Tampa banks are merging with out-of-state institutions to grow. For example, Florida Community Bank is being acquired by Georgia-based Synovus Financial for $2.9 billion. Following the merger, Synovus will become one of the top five banks operating in the Southeast and will have $36 billion in deposits and $44 billion in assets. Florida Community Bank branches in Tampa will commence operating under the Synovus brand. In a similar transaction, Tampa-based HomeBancorp agreed to a merger with First Citizens Bank and Trust Co., headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. The deal provides that First Citizens will pay $15.03 per share in cash for stock of HomeBancorp, but the number of shares purchased was not disclosed as HomeBancorp is not a publicly traded corporation. The deal was motivated by First Citizens’ desire to expand into two major Florida markets where it did not previously operate — Tampa and Orlando — by acquiring HomeBancorp’s retail branches, including 13 in Tampa.
Growth drivers Private equity deals are a significant driver of growth in general and particularly in Florida. Private equity deals (PEDs) are buyout-like transactions used to either stimulate the growth of companies or rally those that are financially distressed. A record 145 such deals were completed in Florida during the first half of 2017, and a slightly reduced (but still strong) 118 PEDs were closed in the first half of 2018. Of all PEDs in Florida, 17.8% took place in Tampa Bay, which was second only to the 18.6% completed in the Central Florida region. Throughout the state, 449 companies are backed by PEDs, many of which are in Tampa thanks to the explosion of entrepreneurship along the Interstate 4 that runs between Tampa and Orlando. One notable example of a Tampaarea company that received support from a PED is Financial Information Technologies, a payroll and data analysis firm servicing over 120,000 retail locations and 3,500 distributors in the alcohol industry across the country. Tampa Bay’s wealth management industry is also driving financial growth in the region. In February 2019, Financial Information Technologies announced it would be moving its headquarters to St. Petersburg in the second quarter of the year, bringing with it new jobs in areas like business development,
449 companies are backed by PEDs in Florida
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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
Sandra Nesbit Managing Director – Mercer Advisors
There is so much opportunity here in Tampa to grow a business and provide even more choice for consumers. The benefit to customers in Tampa is that all business models are offered, including traditional wirehouse brokerages to local homegrown businesses like Raymond James. Mercer Advisors is a holistic wealth management firm and our business model is very structured in regards to what we do and what we offer. We believe there is a lot of room for growth for our unique services in this region.
relationship management, technology, client services, human resources and others. It cited St. Petersburg’s economic transformation and the area’s young and innovative population among the reasons for its relocation. With all this growth, there are those that are looking warily toward the future like Thomas Payant, CEO of Payant Wealth Management who told Invest: “One of the things I always tell our clients is that we don’t want to be the farmer who is pulling carrots up every two weeks to see how they’re doing. You have to ask yourself where are we in the economic cycle, and right now the economic data we have is very favorable. Until we start seeing a recession in our data, we are going to stay the course. The business cycle goes through stages; for example, I would say that the great recession occurred in 2008-09 and we began the recovery cycle in 2009-10. In 2011-12 the cycle began what I call ‘early cycle,’ and then as we moved into 2013-17 we were mid-cycle. Now we are trending toward the later cycle. Soon, this will be the longest economic expansion in history, so it warrants a lot of watching. Millennials are behind many of the changes in the financial world. “As far as wealth management is concerned, I think the younger generations see value in paying someone for their services as long as they can see quantifiable results,” Eugene Rodriguez, financial
planner/investment adviser at Coastal Wealth, told Invest:. “Millennials are open to working with us, but they want to see exactly what their money is going to get them. I think that openness helps our industry.” Insurance Florida’s geographic location poses an interesting dilemma for real estate investment. The state’s sunny weather, warm climate and beautiful coast make it an ideal place to live or operate a business, but Florida is also extremely susceptible to natural disasters, especially hurricanes and floods. What is helping the Florida real estate market, particularly the Tampa market, boom in the face of this considerable risk? In a word: insurance. Thanks to a $10 billion insurance industry protecting against damage from hurricanes and other natural disasters, Florida continues to be considered a relatively safe investment environment in a progressively insecure global economy. The $10 billion in premiums paid by owners of Florida property cover more than $2.1 trillion in assets. A corollary industry has developed around this insurance market in the form of the insurance-linked securities (ILS) industry, which insures $90 billion worth of property globally. This allows going beyond merely protecting property from the risk of disasters and turns that risk into a valuable investment
Tampa Bay’s wealth management industry is also driving financial growth in the region.
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opportunity. The most common ILS product is the catastrophe bond, which collects investment capital to be used as reinsurance that covers the insurance companies that in turn cover Florida real estate. The process consists of insurance companies placing a portion of the premiums they collect from their insured in trusts in countries with favorable tax rates, and these trusts then raise additional money from investors who are willing to cover a predetermined range of losses in the event a disaster strikes Florida. If there is no disaster, these investors keep the forfeited premium and make a nice profit. This extra protection helps investors to continue pumping money into Florida without worrying as much about the risk of disaster. Technology The banking sector has been – and continues to be – revolutionized by advances in technology. “Technology has vastly improved user interaction and experience for our clients. People love the ability and flexibility to have a much more customized experience that really works for them. Clients want to be able to communicate with the firm with ease, and new technology allows for that,”Pierre Caramazza, Head of the Financial Institutions Group - U.S. and Head of ETF Distribution for Franklin Templeton told Invest:. One salient example is the advent of mobile banking. Many banks already support apps that allow users to check
The Bank of Tampa is one of the largest community banks in the area and has been a staple in Tampa since 1984.
Rita Lowman President Pilot Bank
What is your assessment of Tampa’s overall climate for lending? Right now, lending is very strong, and although there is a lot of competition, banking is all about interpersonal relationships. It’s about being able to bank with relationship bankers, commercial lenders and people you know and feel comfortable with. We all enjoy banking or doing any kind of business with people we trust and who have our vision or values; it’s the same with the people who work with us. We want to surround ourselves with people who have the same core values and vision that our particular bank has. How much relief have banks experienced since last year’s regulatory reform? Senate Bill 2155 was about regulatory relief and was for the betterment of our industry. Every $100,000 a bank spends on a compliance officer equates to $1 million that the bank cannot lend back out into the community. We were proposing to resolve that issue. We’re not saying that we don’t believe in compliance and regulatory guidance, because we absolutely do; however, how stringent does this need to be? Do we really need 20 pieces of identification for one person? No. What we need is for all of us to be on the same page and see that we are all being treated fairly without the increased workload. What is the role of a community bank in Tampa’s growing financial and commercial sectors? A community bank is not going to take the place of a large bank, however, we’re able to assist the entrepreneurs, the small business owners, the medical professionals and the attorneys because we’re much more hands on. We’re a concierge bank meaning that we will actually come to you for any of your needs in banking.
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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
Thiru Govender Assurance Managing Partner – Central Florida – BDO USA, LLP
To be successful in business in Tampa, you need to have mass, you need to be an expert in what you do, and you need to have a reputable name behind you. Above all, you need to be involved in the community. Finding the right partnerships will help startups and small business grow and expand in this market. The business community has been extremely welcoming, and I look forward to fostering that community and helping other companies thrive.
account balances, transfer money between accounts, set up bill payments or wire cash to third parties and even deposit checks from anywhere using a phone’s camera. The convenience of these features is obvious, and banks continue to add even more sophisticated features, making long waits in lines at local branches a thing of the past. The comeuppance of mobile banking has also helped to level the playing field in regards to community banks being able to become more competitive. “Due to innovations in technology the whole community bank offering can now be delivered to the public in a much more efficient way,” Stephen Stagg, Tampa Bay Market President for Beach Community Bank told Invest:. “In the early 2000’s branches were important and for community banks to try and compete it was a massively expensive endeavor to build these brick and mortar locations. Thanks to online banking and applications community banks just don’t need as many branches, and it allows us to truly invest in our people.” Another notable innovation is the use of blockchain in banking. Blockchain uses a digital ledger that is distributed among users in such a way that no single user possesses the complete means to access data, meaning that compromising one user will not compromise the data itself. The information in the ledger is also unchangeable. The use of blockchain in banking provides several benefits, including added security, additional regulatory accountability thanks to the digital ledger and increased efficiency of transactions through the elimination of traditional intermediary steps. Cloud computing is also making waves across the industry. The technology allows the storage of data in a “cloud” of remote servers accessed via the
internet rather than local servers stored onsite. The advantages of this approach for banking are similar to those in other industries: cloud computing leads to more complete digitization, which facilitates better record-keeping and customer service. More sophisticated applications and AI-driven services that rely on cloud computing can be offered and security is vastly improved by severing reliance on physical servers located on bank property. Some larger financial institutions like Barclay’s JPMorgan have gone even further, employing the more sophisticated innovation of quantum computing, and smaller banks are expected to follow suit. Finally, both on their apps and in person, banks are relying more on biometric identification technology to increase the security of their customers’ data and money. Old security measures, such as pin numbers and passwords, are going by the wayside in favor of the more reliable biometrics. Venture finance Venture capital is essential to making exciting and innovative business ideas a reality, and a significant amount of venture finance is flowing into Florida, including the Tampa area. An impressive $1 billion in venture capital was invested throughout Florida in 2017, but that figure was dwarfed by $1.7 billion in investments in 2018 – a 70% spike. Florida has several active angel funds covering the state as a whole, as well as most regions of the state, including Tampa; multiple seed funds with more on the way; and foreign and domestic incubators and accelerators that are doing amazing things throughout the state. Tampa, in particular, has several notable venture capital funds that are helping to increase the city’s ( )
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oundtable: Community banks
BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
Tampa Bay’s community banks are enjoying a vibrant, well-balanced market that is feeding of off the region’s diversity and entrepreneurial base. The introduction of new technologies to ease the customer experience and remaining community-minded amid a slew of consolidation are other key factors that are helping the segment gain traction.
Angel Gonzalez
Hillsborough Market President CenterState Bank
Being headquartered in Winter Haven, Florida, CenterState has wanted to enter the Tampa and St. Pete market for a long time. Last year, we finally did that, and we’ve had great success. There were great opportunities here on the deposit side. Hillsborough and Pinellas counties represent 12% of the deposit base in Florida. Our loan practice is great, but we want to be part of a metro market that has abundant deposits that we can take advantage of. This year in Tampa, we have been organizing our team and positioning ourselves for more success. In the near future, loan production is going to slow down and deposits are going to increase. Deposit pricing will start to go up as we head into the next market correction. In the next 12 months, we’re going to start seeing the beginning of this shift. Banks will begin focusing more on deposits than loan activity. Consolidation is a big player in the banking world right now. I’m happy to say that CenterState is on the “fun” side of that equation. As acquisitions become one of our core competencies, we’ve quickly found that there’s not going to be as much available in Florida as the consolidation trend continues. For us to continue that core practice, we’ve had to reach outside of Florida for acquisitions as well. We’re looking at becoming a micro-regional bank for the Southeast region. Our combination of sophisticated bankers with local autonomy will continue to drive our success, as well as our dedication and focus to our core values which will ensure continued local decision making and community involvement.
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Allen Brinkman Market President Seacoast Bank
I moved to Tampa in 2010, when we were at the bottom of the market. What we’ve seen from that point up to the present is phenomenal. The commercial banking environment in Tampa is extremely vibrant but also well-balanced. In addition to providing a strong diversity of industries, there is a vibrant entrepreneurial base. There are several household brand names that originated here in the Tampa Bay area. With that economically diverse and entrepreneurial atmosphere comes strong commercial banking and wealth management opportunities. I see any kind of technology scaling into the financial sector as being beneficial to the client because it increases the ease of doing business. We’re going to continue to see disruption in wealth management, commercial banking and retail services, but the disruption is going to be positive for the consumer. At Seacoast, we have embraced technology in a very aggressive manner. We are maintaining a healthy balance between human interaction and the technology that simplifies business transactions. We will also continue to invest in the technology that helps us keep our customer information secure. As technology advances on both sides, the process controls that are in place are constantly being evaluated to keep pace with what’s going on in the market. We have the flexibility to move up and down market. As a more than 90-year-old, Florida-based bank, our DNA will always have a community focus. That’s simply the culture of this company. We are focused on being a part of the fabric of the community.
ECONOMY ROUNDTABLE BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
Jack Barrett
CEO First Citrus Bank
When you look at Tampa’s loan portfolios, real estate has always had such a pronounced multiplier effect on our economy. Construction is in high demand, and we’re now seeing more delay and increases in the cost of labor and material. This is not necessarily unusual or unhealthy because overall Tampa is still very affordable relative to other metropolitan markets in the country. Tampa Bay in particular is one of the most economically diverse markets in the state, so the demand for services hasn’t shifted very much. It’s a lot of construction lending to expand businesses. The big noticeable change is that roughly 50% of the community bank competition has exited the market. When you combine that with an expanding market, it’s not surprising that we’re gaining significant traction. Community banks aren’t inherently strong at succession planning, but this likely has more to do with banker and board fatigue from the bloodletting that occurred during the Great Recession. Nearly half of the banks in west-central Florida went out of business. One of the other ways we protect ourselves in this market is through our cybersecurity efforts. We constantly perform penetration tests. We spend a significant sum of money on cybersecurity to identify the best practices in order to minimize threats. We have some terrific people in our network security and IT departments. That’s what it boils down to: It’s all about your people. We know our clients’ voices and what they look like. First Citrus Bankers can maintain security just by being present and bringing that human component to our banking practice.
William West President Bank of Tampa
As a community bank, it’s imperative that we stay community minded. When you grow as a bank, you always run the risk of losing some of that community focus, but we have a strong culture at The Bank of Tampa. We build relationships; that’s our tagline. Our bankers are expected to get involved in the community in many different ways, including through charities and not-for-profits. 100% of our loans are in the Tampa, Pinellas, Sarasota and Manatee markets — the markets where we operate. We have $1.1 billion in outstanding loans. That’s all local businesses, and that alone keeps us connected to what is happening in the local community. Our community involvement is something that we emphasize because it helps us build relationships and understand our community’s needs, all while giving us an opportunity to give back. Tampa Bay is a market dominated by regional offices for large companies or locally owned businesses. Our focus is on locally owned businesses. The Tampa Bay area has created a lot of jobs through owner-managed businesses. It’s a stable environment for employment and for credit risk. And while we have tourism, it’s balanced with more traditional business, and that is what keeps this economy from feeling the extreme ups and downs that might be felt nationally. We’re very confident right now. The financial strength of our bank has probably never been stronger. Moreover, our clients are more optimistic now than they were 12 or 18 months ago. It is a very good banking climate.
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Market voices:
Marty Traber Chairman Skyway Capital
Investment funds
The funds that control the huge money are interested in mature companies that have proven their concept. The Tampa Bay area has more of that then most people realize. The demographics right now in Tampa are reflective of the U.S. There is also a peripheral tech community that is being nurtured. That tech is aimed more at retail, point of sale and things that solve problems with legacy systems, but it’s here and maturing.
There’s no question that Florida is seeing a population boom. In some areas the infrastructure is keeping up, but in others it is lacking. That’s something we’ll have to work on as a community. Generally speaking, however, Tampa Bay has more millionaires, in terms of net worth and investable assets, than we had 10 years ago. And that number is increasing rapidly.
Gregory Kadet
Managing Director UBS Global Wealth Management U.S.
Travis Jennings CEO Finance CAPE
Most people invest in various areas of the public market, but most of those areas have a very similar risk profile. So, while they talk a lot about not wanting to put all their eggs in one basket, they’re really pouring most of their money into the same basket. On the other hand, private equity is an asset class that stands apart. Most financial professionals don’t deal with it because it’s complicated and there’s a learning curve involved in order to make money.
The No. 1 reason people invest in Tampa Bay is because of our growth. Investors are looking for high-growth opportunities because that’s how they can achieve the highest return on their investment in the shortest amount of time. In Tampa, we attract capital from around the United States. A significant number of our deals are being funded by firms in the Northeast and Midwest, particularly in big-money centers such as New York and Chicago.
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John McDonald Senior Managing Director Hyde Park Capital
( ) status as a business center. First, it is impossible to discuss venture capital in Tampa without mentioning Jeff Vinik, owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning and an active investor and philanthropist. Vinik has already made waves with the $3 billion real estate development project Water Street Tampa, for which he is partnered with Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment. He has also pledged to take a majority equity stake in Dreamit Ventures, a healthcare and urban tech startup accelerator dedicated to helping these startups raise venture capital and grow into thriving businesses. Another exciting venture finance initiative is a $10 million venture capital fund established to support black tech entrepreneurs in the Tampa Bay region. According to James Faison, organizer of The Mainframe and the brains behind the new fund, this supply of venture capital will help to make Tampa the epicenter for black tech talent. The innovative initiative will be the first venture capital fund dedicated to black tech minds in Florida and one of only 30 nationwide. One of the most active venture funds in terms of number of deals completed is Florida Funders. Florida Funders aims to totally revolutionize early stage investment by blending the best of angel investing, venture capital and equity crowdfunding, thereby improving financial returns and simultaneously creating jobs and stimulating economic growth. Dozens of other venture capital funds in Tampa are helping the city and the surrounding region to grow by attracting talent and accelerating businesses. These include Embarc Collective, Tampa Bay Wave, Florida Venture Forum, Florida Angel Nexus, ARK Applications, Gazelle Capital, Oakpoint Advisors, First Round Tampa Bay, Kevin Harrington Enterprises, the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership Technology Fund and Ballast Point Ventures. Regulations Many banks in the Tampa banking sector – and the banking sectors of most other regions – are benefiting from recent legislation geared toward deregulation of the banking industry. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act was signed by President Trump in May 2018 and promised to reduce the regulatory onus on many banks by scaling back the Dodd-Frank Act. The key provision of the new law raises the threshold for being designated a “systemically important financial institution” from $50 billion to $250 billion in assets. The new threshold allows many additional banks, some quite large, to avoid the strict oversight imposed by the Dodd-Frank
Monica Hummel Central Florida Area Executive First Citizens Bank
How has being a family-controlled bank contributed to the company’s success and longevity? Because of our strong history and capital position, we’re able to customize and be flexible with our offerings. First Citizens has been led for three generations by the family of our current chairman and CEO. As one of the largest family-controlled banks in the United States, we have a special understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by families, privately-owned companies and other organizations working to build value for the future. Our history plays a big part in what we’re doing today and the culture we’ve cultivated over time. We’ve been helping families and businesses for 121 years. We’re known for our reliability, long-term perspective and fostering strong relationships with our customers. Having that tradition and ownership lets us look to the future with the same level of confidence that we’ve had over many decades. What role does a community bank play in Tampa’s growing financial and commercial business sectors? We’re large enough to assist small to midsize businesses with an array of products and services; however, we’re still small enough to listen and offer all our customers a personal touch. This approach gives us the flexibility to put together financial solutions for businesses and individuals that actually meet their needs. It’s important to understand and value both their business and personal needs, and I think our longevity in the Florida marketplace with the acquisition of HomeBanc demonstrates that we do. In addition, we focus on what our customers’ needs will be down the road, not just what they are today. We add value to our customers’ futures.
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Chad Loar Regional President West & Central Florida PNC Bank
What are the strengths of the Tampa Bay market? Right now, approximately 15% of the 1,000 individuals moving to Florida every year are coming to Tampa Bay. They are bringing with them a wealth of opportunities ranging from consumer to small business banking. As companies are continually looking to relocate and expand here, it gives us opportunities to provide our products and services to both consumer and commercial banking clients. The unemployment rate in Tampa Bay right now is about 3.4%, which is below the national average. We are recording record highs in both tourism and migration in Florida, which is evident here in Tampa Bay as well. That should continue giving us opportunities within personal and commercial banking. What are some valuable community initiatives PNC Bank has in the region? We are staunch advocates and believers in aligning ourselves with the right philanthropic organizations and community partners to ensure that we are investing in our communities and making them a better place to live. One of the ways we achieve this is through our Grow Up Great program, which is a multilingual, multiyear, $500 million initiative focused on children from birth to age 5. In April every year, we hold the PNC Grow Up Great Day, and this is where we go out to an organization within our community that is preschool focused on underserved children. What is the landscape of personal and commercial banking and lending in Tampa Bay? Tampa Bay is really the financial hub of Florida, and it seems to be picking up even more steam as a variety of finance, fintech and data analytics companies that are tied to financial lending are relocating and expanding here in Tampa Bay. This also creates more competition than ever, which is advantageous for all borrowers.
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Act in 2010. The law also provides federal regulators with additional discretion when it comes to the application of Dodd-Frank provisions, such as when to require capital adequacy stress tests. Banks, like other businesses, are also expected to benefit from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s reduction of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, as paying fewer taxes will directly increase their net revenue. Risks and challenges Security breaches have always been one of the hallmark risks of the banking industry. Banks are responsible for millions or even billions of dollars in customer deposits and internal bank assets, and these have long served as attractive targets for criminals. As banks increasingly digitize and do business via the cloud and the internet, the risk does not go away but changes. As evidenced by the Equifax breach in 2017 that affected some 148 million consumers, mostly Americans, digital bank data is sought after by hackers, and its breach can have a devastating impact. As banks continue to implement new high-tech applications and solutions, they need to be vigilant about their cybersecurity to ensure they aren’t creating and leaving open vulnerable points in their networks for hackers to exploit. New and innovative technological measures are a good way to help safeguard at-risk data, but also present a challenge as noted by Luciano L. Prida, Jr., Managing Partner of Prida Guida and Company, P.A, “Advances in technology and innovation, particularly in artificial intelligence, have disrupted the accounting industry in a big way. This represents a challenge for our firm in terms of integrating new technology and providing the tools our clients need.” “Today we are putting batteries and electronics in debit and credit cards, and they have the ability to provide a bank and its cardholders benefits in security, convenience and loyalty,” David Patterson, president of FiTeq, told Invest:. “For example, to address consumers’ major concerns about security, our cards have a dynamic security code. That is one of our solutions to stop fraud. The three-digit security code in the cards change per transaction. That means the stolen account data is useless without the genuine card that generates the new code. We can also have a biometric fingerprint pad on the card to stop loss and stolen card fraud.” As bank assets grow and operations expand into new regions, they are becoming more reliant on third parties for support, and this reliance opens up banks to additional regulatory risk. Regulators hold banks
BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
David Call Regional President – Fifth Third Bank—Florida
60% of our clients still want to visit a branch. That is why we want to give our customers the right balance between digital and live, personal experiences. With our banking model, you can check your account balance on your Fifth Third Bank mobile app, deposit a check through your phone, get cash from the ATM and stop at a banking center to talk about a home equity line or other banking needs. With 1,500 people moving to Florida every day, and a lot of them coming to Tampa, we still feel like we need additions to our branch network. We’ll be adding to that in the coming years.
responsible for the actions of the third parties with which they partner and may even go so far as to hold banks liable for misconduct perpetrated by other partners of their primary third-party partners. As such, banks need to know who their partners are and what they’re doing, which can often get complicated. Going hand-in-hand with these cybersecurity and third-
party risks, banks are beginning to recognize talent management as a crucial issue. To combat these risks, as well as stay ahead of regulatory changes, employees must be properly trained and regularly retrained to ensure that they are up to date. Outlook
Tampa MSA employs more than 356,000 in the financial and professional services sector.
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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
Advances in mobile banking technology have allowed smaller banks to open fewer brick and mortar branch locations.
The outlook for Tampa’s banking sector is optimistic, but it is not without risks and challenges. The region’s real estate boom continues despite the threat of
hurricanes thanks to Florida’s robust disaster insurance market, and this market led to the creation of the highly lucrative catastrophe bond market. Tampa banks continue to grow and merge, thereby expanding their reach throughout more of the Southeast United States, which is having obvious benefits for communities and shareholders. Finally, the technology that drives the banking sector continues to evolve and improve the way banks do business. However, all this growth comes with a price. As banks become increasingly digitized and reliant on emerging technology, they expose themselves to increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats that require constant vigilance and continuing employee training. Additionally, banks are evermore dependent on third parties to aid them in increasingly sophisticated and far-reaching operations. This reliance on third parties is another point of potential liability, since banks typically remain accountable for the actions of their agents. That said, provided that all risks are managed proactively and effectively, Tampa Bay’s banking and finance sector looks strong and poised for continued success in 2019 and beyond.
Legal: Where there is a deal to be made, there is a lawyer ready to facilitate. As real estate development and business investment continue to thrive in Tampa Bay, the benefits are washing over the legal and financial services sector. Law firms and other financial service companies are not only boosting old business lines, they are getting ready for emerging opportunities.
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Law matters: The law has deep roots in Tampa Bay and the sector is only getting stronger Financial and professional services are rapidly growing sectors in the Tampa Bay area, where the combined workforce of 1.5 million is quickly expanding. Law firms are among the pillars of the professional services sector and they are enjoying an upsurge in business amid the overall growth of the region. As people and investments pour into the state, they bring with them legal needs in diverse practice areas, including business and real estate transactions, immigration and tax. New opportunities are also emerging as the area transforms into a hub for innovation and technology. As the market booms, competition intensifies, with more firms establishing in the area. Baker McKenzie, a top global firm that generated a staggering $2.9 billion in revenue in 2018, has made waves by announcing plans to open a Tampa office by the beginning of 2020, bringing 300 highly desirable jobs with it. Baker’s entry could shake up the current leaderboard for area firms. As of January 2019, the Top 5 law firms in Tampa by size were, in descending order, Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP; Hill Ward Henderson; Carlton Fields; Morgan and Morgan; and Trenam Law. Even at the local level, lawyers are branching out to 72 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | LEGAL
hang their own shingles. Said Clif Curry, Managing Partner at Curry Law Group: “We have been one of the primary firms in Brandon for a long time. After the economic downturn we saw many lawyers opening their own firms. In fact, eight years ago there were about a dozen firms in the area, while today we have about 70. Brandon’s legal sector has grown substantially. Brandon has a significant corporate environment, especially of small businesses, and we represent dozens of these types of organizations in our community.” The growth in the number of law firms in the Tampa market may alarm some of the local firms in the region, but others are keeping a more positive outlook, understanding that there is enough demand to feed the growing ecosystem. John Anthony, the managing partner for Anthony & Partners, is one of those who doesn’t believe increased competition should threaten business, especially if the quality of a firm’s work is consistent. “There’s plenty of demand in Tampa for a good firm doing high-quality work. You’re always going to have some compression of rates with so many options for lawyers. We try to separate ourselves ( )
LEGAL INTERVIEW
Legal tech How local law firm Carlton Fields is adapting to the evolving tech sector by subscribing to the adage that every business is a tech business
Gary Sasso President & CEO – Carlton Fields
What is the synergy between the legal services your firm offers and the growing tech sector in Tampa Bay? Our firm has a tech industry group that is very active in serving the tech sector in Tampa and in all of our markets, for that matter. We also have leading cyber and blockchain practices that cater to the needs of all the diverse industries we serve. As far as our firm’s own technical proficiency, there’s a saying that every company is a tech company, every business is a tech business, and we subscribe to that to a certain extent. I believe lawyers will always be in demand despite the importance of artificial intelligence because the kind of artificial intelligence that exists today is machine learning of recurring events. Artificial intelligence today is not capable of the kind of deep analysis, evaluation, creativity, problem solving, and appreciation of human emotions and reactions that lawyers have as their stock-in-trade. But there are tools, and we want to be on top of all those tools. We have an IT team that’s deeply engaged. Do you find that the labor pool here in Tampa is a challenge, and how can Tampa best prepare the legal minds of tomorrow? It hasn’t really been an issue for us, which I can attribute to the fact that we’re not a mega firm in terms of our size. We’re a midsize firm, and we hire very purposely and strategically. Tampa has been growing and developing very robustly. I feel like we are on the verge of our Golden Age. We have many exciting regional resources and developments afoot and more to come. I am optimistic that we will compete well for talent in the years to come. Carlton Fields was founded here in Tampa in 1901. How has the firm played a role in supporting the
development of the region? I’m a champion of Tampa, even though we have offices all over the country and clients all over the world, because I believe Tampa has a lot of really unique advantages working for it. I think it’s important for businesses that are rooted here to do our best to be successful here and to serve as examples and magnets for talent. That also means engaging in commerce here. I like to see local clients use local talent, not just because it benefits our firm, but because I believe in a mutually, supporting economy. I think it’s a shame when a company has to go to another state to find any kind of service available here, so I like to see our own companies investing in our economy.
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LEGAL OVERVIEW
( ) by choosing our cases carefully. I believe this industry will always be one of those in which the folks on top will stay on top.” Deep roots The Tampa Bay region has the distinction of being home to Stetson Law School, the first law school to operate in the state of Florida. The school’s main campus, located in Gulfport/ St. Petersburg, opened in 1900 and has educated young lawyers ever since. Additionally, Stetson has a satellite law school center in Tampa. Stetson boasts the No. 1 trial advocacy and No. 2 legal writing programs in the country, according to the U.S. News and World Report. The law school also offers J.D. (Juris Doctor) certificates of concentration in advocacy, elder law, environmental law, international law and social justice. Stetson is also notable in that it is one of
only a few law schools in the country that shares space with an active court — Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal — which offers unique learning experiences for students. Florida’s first law school was also the first to require students and faculty to give back to those in need by providing pro bono legal services.
Many leaders at top law firms in Florida, including those in Tampa, remain cautiously optimistic about the future of Florida’s economy.
Legal landscape Many leaders at top law firms in Florida, including those in Tampa, remain cautiously optimistic about the future of Florida’s economy, despite rumblings about a potential nationwide economic downturn. “The Tampa Bay area is poised to grow dramatically. Mergers and acquisitions is an area that’s seeing a lot of activity right now. The tax opportunity zones are providing a real draw for business people with large capital gains to defer that gain for about seven years. We also have a
LEGAL OVERVIEW
The growing tech and real estate sectors have resulted in an increased demand for specialized law professionals in the region.
very substantial healthcare sector,” Bruce Bokor, CEO of Johnson Pope told Invest:. This is in part thanks to the continued interest of investors in Florida following the Trump administration’s tax reform passed in December 2017. The reform made Florida an even more attractive investment locale because it was not as heavily impacted as some others by newly imposed limits on state and local deductions. “We are definitely seeing an increase in private equity groups from out of the area making significant investments in companies in the Florida market. Florida is a very welcoming state from the business and tax perspective. The state and local tax impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is having a big effect of people moving out of the tri-state area to states such as Florida and Texas. In Tampa specifically, all the construction and development downtown is a clear result of this migration,” Brian Zophin, the office managing partner for Crowe LLP in Tampa, told Invest:. Under the assumption that investment will continue to flow, law firms throughout the state expect steady work in their transactional, real estate, construction, tax and land-use practice groups. “There’s obviously a lot of real estate development and real estate financing
work happening right now that vastly exceeds what has taken place in the preceding 10 or 15 years,” said Robert Glenn, Tampa managing partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP. “That’s a welcome change for us. Construction is another mainstay of ours and something that is very active right now. Litigation is one of the areas of the commercial legal sector that is not booming at present. Overall, there seems to be less litigation and more concentration on building things.” Growing practices In light of this booming market, many law firms in Tampa and throughout the state are adding new recruits to their ranks. Baker McKenzie, in announcing its Florida plans, cited Tampa’s exceptional talent pool and the city’s excellent cultural fit as bases for its decision to open the globally-connected Tampa center. The firm anticipates tapping into that talent pool to fill the approximately 300 jobs the new center will create. Filling those jobs may be easier said than done, however, with a local shortage of talent across many industries, including the legal segment. “As a firm, we do an extensive amount of out-of-state recruiting to fill needs that are not available locally,” said Jeff Goolsby, a partner at MSL, CPAs, and Advisors. “With the ( )
There’s obviously a lot of real estate development and real estate financing work happening right now.
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oundtable: Law firms
LEGAL OVERVIEW
An emerging challenge for area law firms is the pool of available talent. New lawyers are graduating and older lawyers are practicing for a longer period, creating a generational issue that means less midlevel talent available. Tampa’s emergence as a tech hub is also creating challenges as law firms diversify their practice to stay ahead of the game.
Mark Catchur
Managing Partner Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
Which of the legal services you offer are seeing the most demand in Tampa Bay? Healthcare, mergers and acquisitions and IT are three strong areas of demand. Healthcare is a continual, explosive growth area as it’s always being tweaked by legislators. Our clients are constantly struggling with the changing laws in healthcare, which has driven them to expand their support teams. Is there a sufficient pool of up-and-coming law students coming into Tampa? The law schools are certainly putting out talented and educated new lawyers but there are challenges because of generational issues. The generational issue we are finding is that the baby boom generation is staying engaged for a longer period of time in the workplace and that is having an impact on the employment cycle. Where do you see the legal profession heading in the next 12 to 18 months in the Tampa Bay region? The market will stay competitive. We see numerous outside large firms trying to break into the Tampa market. Over the next 12 to 18 months, we will see a continuation of the competitive nature of the environment and connections that each of the law firms have in the community. That is going to be important for continuing to prosper in this community. I couldn’t be more positive and enthusiastic about the amount of development and growth we are seeing.
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Marie Tomassi
Managing Shareholder Trenam Law
In what areas is the firm growing? As the Tampa-area market grows, our practice groups strengthen. Tampa has seen an increase in tech and a booming real estate market. Our technology and cybersecurity practice groups have been seeing a lot of demand because of the action in the market. It is the same for real estate. Because the Tampa economy is strong in general, our business transaction practice group has grown. It is a great time to be in this region right now. We acquired five lawyers and two paralegals from another firm in the area that have been a great fit for Trenam. Culture is very important to us, so to find a group of lawyers and paralegals that met our needs but also met our culture was amazing. This group of top-notch professionals has helped us develop our solar practice, which is something that is fairly unique. How are you dealing with the human talent availability in Tampa Bay? At Trenam we have been lucky to be able to hire locally. We have been able to find and attract local talent across the firm, whether that is lawyers or support staff. The firm itself is turning 50 years old this year, and we have many people who have been working here for 20 or 30 years. Our retention rate is incredible, and that has a lot to do with our culture as a firm and the type of people who come to work here.
LEGAL ROUNDTABLE LEGAL OVERVIEW
Brad Kimbro
Executive Partner Holland & Knight, LLP
Curt Creely
Partner Foley & Lardner LLP
What trends are shaping your practice? Technology has accelerated our business and touches almost everything we do now. People want responses at a faster pace, so we are essentially available 24/7, and it’s not uncommon to get e-mails in the middle of the night. The pressure has increased in terms of being responsive to clients, but we make it a point to respond promptly. The recent tax cuts have had an enormous impact on the corporate sector and relocation. The companies in Tampa Bay, as well as companies all over the state and country, have more cash now. They’re using their cash to make acquisitions and, in some cases, to increase wages and benefits for their employees. We’re also seeing a drain of wealth out of states like Connecticut, Illinois and New York to Florida.
What are the biggest challenges facing the legal sector today? A big area for us is our business transactional practice. There are not as many people going into transactional law right now, and our business depends on a depth chart, particularly when we are working on a large transaction. If a transaction is large enough, we could have 30 or more people working on it, and you need experienced lawyers, but you need newer lawyers as well. The midlevel has been compressed, mostly due to the recession in 2008, when lawyers weren’t entering the transactional practice. Finding midlevel talent can be difficult because the people with that experience level are not there. We expect that to change as people gain more experience, but right now there is a visible shortage.
What is your view of labor pool in Tampa Bay? We don’t need to recruit labor from outside to work in the tech sector or life sciences sector in Florida. One of the things we have to do as a state is train our kids at the high school level to pursue these fields and these jobs. There is no reason the kids in Polk County shouldn’t pursue a STEM program and go to a Florida university to study. We don’t necessarily have to bring people in from San Francisco or Raleigh to do this work. We have the raw materials for a capable workforce right here in Florida.
How does your Tampa office compare to the other markets you are in? Our Tampa office is one of the largest we have in the state. Tampa has a strong real estate and emerging corporate market right now, so our real estate and corporate practice is seeing a lot of demand. This is a young business market, and the region is spread out. The region has seen a lot of changes over the last few years, so this is a very exciting time to be in Tampa, especially with our recent expansion on the other side of the Gulf Coast in Texas, which really draws our work together.
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LEGAL OVERVIEW
( ) changes to the tax law, and the general economic condition in the Tampa Bay area, business is up across the board. The only thing holding us back from the next level of growth is access to qualified people.” As the economic landscape shifts, firms are responding by adding specialized personnel. Taking note of the continuing real estate development boom in Tampa, Akerman LLP added land-use expert Jim Porter to its Tampa roster. The hiring was based on the mutual belief in a good fit: Porter believed that Akerman’s state- and nationwide land-use practice would be a better place to use his knowledge and experience in the practice area than his former firm, Adams & Reese, which only had a small land-use practice. As for Akerman, the firm had need of Porter’s landuse experience, particularly his expertise in Hillsborough County’s residential zoning laws. Porter will also simultaneously retain his position as the Hillsborough County School Board attorney. Among the areas of greatest growth is the emerging technology sector that is gaining a solid foothold in the Tampa Bay area. “We have become more active in serving the tech sector,” Jim Robbins, managing shareholder and president of Hill Ward Henderson, told Invest:. “We have an active practice group in the intellectual property area because of its relevance in the tech and almost all other industries. We have also developed a sub-practice group in cybersecurity,
which has become a big area,” Perhaps the most important aspect of the growing tech sector is the need for patents to protect all this new technology and innovation. Thomas Stanton, of Stanton IP Law Firm, is among those who have recognized this need in the market. The firm has been growing its business accordingly. “In 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that business methods were patentable, before that time, there were not a lot of business processes and methods being patented. This was a monumental moment because many places around the world don’t allow these processes and methods to be patentable,” Stanton said. “As a result, the tech boom has gained momentum, and we have started seeing many of these patents being filed. We now spend a lot of time working on strategy with our clients helping them protect their software with patents, by building a portfolio of patents.” As law firms increasingly add technology their own services, the threat of cybercrimes becomes a clear and present danger. This is opening the door to security experts providing solutions that help protect businesses in the digital world. Being local, says Scott Price, CEO of A-Lign, helps. “Because our roots are in Tampa, we were able to scale easier. We didn’t have to just go after the enterprises; rather, we could work with the small to medium-sized local businesses, which made scaling
As the economic landscape shifts, firms are responding by adding specialized personnel.
LEGAL OVERVIEW
Hala Sandridge Partner – Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney, PC
The biggest legal services development since the change in the tax code has been the emergence of Opportunity Zones. Opportunity Zones are blighted or impoverished areas selected by the state or local government where developers are encouraged to invest and redevelop. This translates to a significant uptick in the economy of that given area. We have many clients that are interested in taking advantage of these opportunities. Not only do Opportunity Zones provide an incentive for building, they also bring jobs and economic support to underdeveloped districts.
so much easier. In modern times, you can be a fiveperson company doing $10 million a year because of outsourcing, but you still have security obligations.” The law Turning away from the legal market to the law itself, there have been a host of legal and political developments in Florida in recent years. Perhaps the most significant and longest-lasting change has been the conservative takeover of the Florida Supreme Court. Gov. Ron DeSantis has now made three conservative appointments to the state’s highest court, resulting in a bench consisting entirely of jurists appointed by Republican governors. This has led some experts to assert that Florida now has the most conservative state supreme court in the country. Reflecting its more conservative configuration, the Florida Supreme Court has handed down a few noteworthy decisions in the last couple of years that have proved divisive along ideological lines. First, in December 2018, in the case of Florida v. Peraza, the court handed down the controversial decision that police officers in the state are entitled to claim a “stand your ground” defense when deadly force is used in the line of duty. Stand your ground is a codified theory of self-defense asserting that individuals are entitled to use lethal force to defend themselves if they believe they are at imminent risk of
death or serious bodily injury and that this right exists both inside and outside the individual’s home without a duty to attempt to retreat. Legal experts in Florida are concerned that the court’s unanimous ruling that “stand your ground” applies to police officers will muddy the debate over the state’s embattled self-defense law, which has been subject to extensive scrutiny and media attention since its enactment in 2005, particularly in the shadow of the Trayvon Martin case. Many experts worry that the ruling will lower the barrier to the use of deadly force by police officers on the job and disproportionately affect minority groups. The court also did an about-face on its recent approach to juvenile offenders. The court’s opinion in Budry Michel v. State of Florida reversed its earlier decision in Atwell v. Florida that inmates serving life sentences for crimes they committed as juveniles were entitled to an opportunity to have their sentence reviewed and, potentially, reduced. Many commentator’s worry that adolescents who commit crimes should not be subjected to life sentences, or compound sentences that are tantamount to life sentences since they can add up to hundreds of years. These experts contend that such sentences, when imposed on juveniles without fully developed mental capacities, violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The
The biggest legal services development since the change in the tax code has been the emergence of Opportunity Zones.
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Murray Silverstein Managing Partner Greenspoon Marder
What trends are you currently seeing in commercial real estate law specific to the Tampa Bay area? Greenspoon Marder has been in Tampa for about five years now. Over the last couple of years, we have become more enmeshed in commercial real estate development, but we’re also active in litigation, corporate and tax law. Anecdotally, businesses seem to be hiring more in the Tampa Bay area and real estate inventory levels are up because businesses are not reluctant to utilize capital to expand. I can tell from the leasing activity that we do in our commercial real estate department that there are a lot of new leases being negotiated and executed in Tampa and St. Pete. From your view, what is promoting business growth and development in the region? How is that impacting quality of life in the Tampa Bay area? There are a number of factors influencing business growth and development in Tampa Bay. First and foremost, there is no state income tax, which has always been a big sell, but there is also a relatively manageable sales tax. From the quality of life standpoint, Tampa is one of the most livable places in the country. Commercial and residential rents are still very manageable for established business and for startups, even in the high rises in downtown Tampa and St. Pete. The ease with which you can access the airport, the money and the commercial centers of downtown Tampa and St. Pete are also a great advantage; everything is within reach. In terms of available capital, we have all the big banks, as well as a group of successful community banks. It’s a very dynamic and competitive market where capital is available for growth and expansion.
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Supreme Court of Florida, however, disagrees, and has returned to upholding the pre-Atwell rule allowing juvenile life sentences. Another recent ruling by the state supreme court may have a significant impact on the insurance industry. In Harvey v. GEICO General Insurance Co., the Florida Supreme Court overturned a Fourth District Court of Appeals opinion in favor of GEICO and ruled that the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence that the insurer acted in bad faith when it failed to include a statement of the plaintiff’s assets when it made a settlement offer to the estate of a man killed by the plaintiff in a car accident. The basis of the bad faith claim was that the estate likely would have accepted the settlement offer (the full limits of the insurance policy) had GEICO included the asset statement indicating that the plaintiff was essentially judgment proof. This ruling, and the procedural tugof-war that preceded it, are clear evidence that the Florida legislature must set clear, objective standards for insurers to follow in order to avoid acting in bad faith when settling insurance claims. Legalizing pot Another top legal matter is the effort to legalize recreational marijuana at the state level sweeping across the country, many lawyers and legal commentators in Florida are anticipating the prohibition on pot to reach the Sunshine State in the relatively near future. Seventy-one% of Floridians were in favor of legalization in 2016, and given the notable decision of the California legislature to legalize marijuana since that time, many believe that momentum is building rapidly for legal recreational use in Florida. Legalization in Florida is not only being championed by those looking forward to recreational use; rather, it has also become a pet cause for business following estimates that the legal marijuana industry in California will have a $5 billion economic impact, as well as the $3 million in taxable sales (or $500,000 in tax revenue) in Nevada during its first four days of legal sales alone. Legalizing marijuana in Florida will require an amendment to the state constitution, which in turn requires 750,000 petition signatures, equivalent to the support of at least 60% of voters, and likely millions of dollars in lobbying and fundraising. Still, many agree that legalization is on the horizon. The state this year took one step in that direction, legalizing the use of medical marijuana. Gov. DeSantis in March signed legislation repealing his predecessor’s
LEGAL OVERVIEW
Sheryl Hunter President – Hunter Business Law, The Entrepreneur’s Law Firm
The resources for entrepreneurs in Tampa Bay are expanding, from talent to capital, and the rest of the country is realizing that this is an optimal place to start and grow innovative businesses. Our firm is perfectly positioned to meet the needs of these types of companies. When you serve the growing entrepreneurial community, you can really see the trajectory over the last several years. It’s rapidly evolving, and it’s exciting to be part of this chapter in Tampa Bay’s development as a dynamic region.
ban on all forms of smoking pot. The new law allows patients to receive 2.5 ounces of cannabis every 35 days. Terminal patients under 18 can smoke medical marijuana with a second opinion from a pediatrician. As the potential for full legalization becomes a nearer reality, the legal community is preparing for the influx of business from the rise of a new industry, as well as all the challenges to it from private and public entities that will likely ensue. Millennials One interesting fact in the Tampa area is the relative dearth of millennials among the ranks of large and midsize firms. Only 33% of attorneys at larger Tampa-area firms are millennials, which is well below the national average. One key factor explaining this shortage of millennial attorneys is that the largest nationwide firms have comparably smaller offices here, and since these mega firms employ the largest%age of associates, they employ the most millennials (who now comprise the largest group of practicing attorneys). This means that millennial lawyers may be flocking to more traditional deal centers, where large firms have a more substantial presence and more jobs, such as Washington, D.C, and New York City. Of course, the number of millennials is growing as the Tampa legal market becomes more diverse and inclusive, but for now millennials remain comparatively underrepresented.
Looking forward The health of the legal market in Tampa can be measured by the health of the overall economy in the city and the surrounding region; fortunately, the prognosis is very good. Real estate development and business investment continue to thrive in Tampa, and all of those underlying transactions are facilitated by attorneys. This has led to plenty of work for real estate, transactional and tax attorneys in Tampa, and many firms are expanding their practices in these key areas as noted by Ronald Weaver, senior counsel with Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A, “Our employment, real estate development and environmental law practices have seen the most dramatic changes over the last year and a half. Our real estate department was the most exciting over the last year and a half as a result of a dozen major new mixed-use projects and the new federal tax law regarding Opportunity Zones; and persisting 9% federal tax credits for affordable housing.” Thanks to the particular facts on the ground in Tampa, growth is expected to continue in the face of an impending economic recession and sweeping tax reform that has eliminated many corporate tax deductions and changed the way business is done. Even if Tampa and the rest of Florida are struck by recession, there will still be sufficient work for attorneys who specialize in bankruptcy and other services for struggling businesses.
Only 33% of attorneys at larger Tampaarea firms are millennials.
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Real Estate: Tampa Bay has always offered a great quality of life and affordability, but now there’s more growth in the entrepreneurial class, the job market and the creative fields. With that growth comes challenges, of course, but the Tampa-St. Petersburg area real estate market continues to offer a high-value proposition to investors and developers alike in 2019 and beyond.
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Hot, hot, hot: Tampa’s live, work, play lifestyle and favorable taxes are underpinning a red-hot real estate market Over the last decade, Tampa Bay has re-emerged as one of the premier metro areas in the Southeast. The live, work, play lifestyle coupled with a favorable tax landscape has been drawing new residents from all over the country. Businesses and individuals alike are flocking to the area en masse, attracted to the temperate weather and business-friendly environment. With this new visibility, the residential and commercial real estate markets are booming. Real estate has quickly become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the Tampa Bay economy. Since the crash of 2008, Tampa’s population has steadily increased year-over-year, as have home values and retail sales. Tampa’s metropolitan statistical area (MSA) remains the most populous in the state and the 18th-largest in the country. This groundbreaking population growth is only expected to increase over the next five years. The continued growth in businesses and population has fueled the residential and commercial markets in the area. Although prices have steadily climbed over the last five years, the Tampa Bay residential market is still highly affordable compared to other midlevel city markets in the state 84 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | REAL ESTATE
and across the country. On the commercial side, the demand for office space and mixed-use facilities has created a market with low vacancy and a supply of inventory that is having trouble keeping up. Mixed-use fever As one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country, investors are choosing the Tampa Bay market for their capital pegs and experiencing high growth in the many residential and mixed-use opportunities presented. For several years running, the residential real estate market in Tampa has been characterized by a handful of big mixed-use projects that are effectively transforming the city’s skyline and attracting legions of people to relocate. Water Street Tampa The uncontested behemoth in this field has been the mega-development of Water Street Tampa. This project constitutes a $3 billion development off of Tampa’s Old Water Street, which had lain dormant for decades, and will include over 9 million square feet of commercial, residential, hospitality, entertainment and ( )
REAL ESTATE INTERVIEW
Building WELL How Water Street Tampa is introducing WELL-certification to create a neighborhood where residents interact with the constructed environment
James Nozar CEO – Strategic Property Partners
What is a WELL-certified neighborhood and how is the concept helping to shape Water Street Tampa? When we say WELL-certified, it is in reference to the interaction of residents with their constructed environment. It’s about creating a pleasant, comfortable and productive place to live and work. It’s a different concept than LEED-certified, which is focused on energy efficiency and sustainability of materials, and we’re pursuing LEED as well in this project. WELL-certified is centered around education, recreation, healthy eating options, the environment, having an abundance of outdoor space, a walkable, pedestrian-oriented community and creating a synergistic mix of uses that make a community sustainable in itself. Water Street Tampa will take this concept to the neighborhood level through partnerships with Delos and the International WELL Building Institute. How is Water Street Tampa going to incorporate new technology and innovation into its design? It’s a rare opportunity to have 55 contiguous acres in a downtown environment. We are recreating all of the utility network, infrastructure and roadway network in an effort to link together existing neighborhoods, including the downtown Central Business District, Channel District, Harbour Island and South Tampa. Currently, these entities function as a number of different communities that are not well-connected. We are putting miles of conduit and fiber underground to create the baseline for what will become a technologically-connected urban core. All the buildings are also being built “smart.” This means that the structures are going to be able to “talk” to each other, resulting in a more frictionless and seamless experience for the consumer. Using this
“smart” technology, individuals who are working in one of these buildings or living in an apartment within the area are going to be able to find out how you enter and access that building, what security is like, and have the ability to book amenities and services within the neighborhood. What does the next year look like? The momentum has been building, and this year is when we will see our buildings emerge, vertically speaking. We will have two completed projects and 10 active projects under construction , totaling 4.5 million square feet. The interest in the commercial space has been very strong, and we are in active negotiations with dozens of office and retail tenant prospects.
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REAL ESTATE OVERVIEW
Toni Everett Owner – The Toni Everett Company
As a firm, we do two things: we broker pre-sale high rises, and all the services therein, by assisting developers to find and acquire the land all the way until the project is completed and residents are moving in. In the single-family housing market, we sell very high-end mansions and estates. We work with a lot of VIPs in this market who prefer discretion. We earn repeat business from this demographic because of our business model and the servicing we provide after the fact. There are basically four defined multifamily markets in Tampa: Harbor Island, Downtown Tampa, Bayshore, and the Gandy Marina. That’s something truly unique about Tampa, from the multifamily perspective. You don’t necessarily see residents jumping from market to market. They like to stick to their area.
( ) educational space. The 53-acre mixed-use project is located on the Garrison Channel near Amalie Arena, the home of the Tampa Bay Lightning, as well as a host of public parks, museums and cultural attractions around Tampa’s Riverwalk and waterfront district. $200 million in infrastructure spending will be invested in the development, including roads, central cooling and other public utilities. Developers project that at least 23,000 visitors, professionals and residents will populate Water Street Tampa on a daily basis. The last 12 months have seen monumental advances for the Water Street project developed by Strategic Property Partners (SPP), a partnership between Jeff Vinik, the billionaire owner of the Lightning, and Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment. Vertical construction began in April 2018, and since that time, several more groundbreakings and acquisitions have spun off, bringing the project closer to the modern, comprehensive urban neighborhood it’s set to become. “The momentum has been building, and this year is when we will see our buildings emerge, vertically speaking. We will have two completed projects and 10 active projects under construction this year, totaling
4.5 million square feet,” James Nozar, CEO of SPP, told Invest:. One of the the most important developments for the Water Street master plan in 2018 was the acquisition of the Ardent flour mills downtown. The implications for Water Street are massive. By securing this piece of real estate, SPP has removed the barrier between the central business district and the channel district, creating — at least in theory — one seamless stretch of land, as opposed to smaller isolated enclaves, thus alleviating a long-standing problem for Tampa’s sprawling landscape. The November 2018 opening of the first phase of Sparkman Wharf, a modern dining area and biergarten retrofitted in shipping containers with a neatly groomed lawn, gave the public its first taste of the experience Water Street will offer. The wharf also literally opens the channel district to the public.
One of the the most important developments for the Water Street master plan in 2018 was the acquisition of the Ardent flour mills downtown.
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Midtown Tampa Another huge development is the Midtown Tampa project by New York-based Bromley Companies. Similarly, this project aims to strategically connect
REAL ESTATE OVERVIEW
Tampa’s downtown neighborhood with the Westshore District and break the mold of isolated burgs that has come to define the area. As one of the largest developments in the area, Midtown Tampa is slated to cost roughly $500 million and will offer 1.8 million square feet of mixed-use space, including 240,000 square feet of entertainment and retail space, 400 rental apartments, a boutique hotel and 750,000 square feet of Class A office space. Bromley’s CEO Nick Haines told Invest: that the company has owned this property for over two decades and had tried to develop it in the past but was thwarted by the recession. “The current plan began to be influenced by how Tampa was evolving and how other mixed-use developments were evolving across the country,” Haines said. “We tried to synthesize what was right for Tampa and what was working in other parts of the country. We scrapped the traditional plan and reconceived it as a true mixed-use development. ” Westshore Marina District The third mixed-use project that has loomed large in Tampa and promises to transform another district is the Westshore Marina District development by South Florida developer BTI Partners. Just off of Gandy Boulevard, one of the busiest thoroughfares in Tampa, on the west shore of Old Tampa Bay, the plan is to create an urban, walkable neighborhood where residents can live, work and play. The Westshore Marina District covers 52 acres, intersecting Westshore and Gandy boulevards. The development will include 22,050 square feet of town center-style storefronts, 10,000 square feet of multistory restaurant space along the
waterfront, 15,000 square feet of office and retail space on an adjacent tract along Gandy Boulevard and over 1,200 residential units from townhouses to condos to rental apartments. BTI Partners has engineered a strong retail component in the Westshore Marina District. As e-commerce continues to gain strength, there has been a shift to more experiential retail in the brick and mortar space, and BTI is modeling this project on that trend. The confluence of retail with residential and office space will create a truly urban and walkable environment. University Mall transformation A fourth piece of the transformation puzzle is the emerging Uptown District. The redevelopment around University Mall is expected to transform the area into a research and innovation hub, including USF’s new Institute of Applied Engineering headquarters. Neglected space in the mall is being converted into office, retail and entertainment space. The project, spearheaded by the Tampa Innovation Alliance and RD Management, is being funded under public-private partnerships and aims to revitalize surrounding neighborhoods. The developers expect the project will have an economic impact of $11 billion when finished. Covering 19 square miles between I-75 and I-275, Bearss Avenue and Busch Boulevard, demolition at the mall began in February 2019, launching the first step of the renovation. Home sweet home With new development, comes fresh energy, diversity
Mark Metheny Tampa President Lennar Homes
What is special about the West Central Florida real estate market? I think what’s interesting about Tampa is that we don’t see as many international buyers. This has allowed us to keep our prices more affordable as compared to other markets in Florida. The average price point for our new homes in Tampa is roughly $250,000. We’re not seeing as much inflation of the real estate market stemming from foreign investment. This has afforded us the opportunity to provide housing that the local workforce can take advantage of. How has the Tampa housing market bounced back since 2008? Before the recession, this market was fueled by much more speculation. The mortgage environment allowed people to make large investments in multiple homes that they couldn’t afford. There are solid mortgage practices now, and we don’t see any of the hidden inventory that we saw back in 2006. In certain locations, the retail pricing of land and homes has also increased above the peak level from the 2000s. Which demographics do you cater to? Our bread and butter is the first-time buyer under our Lennar Program, from $180,000 to just over $300,000. That’s where we focus our brand and products. Under our “Everything’s Included” program, a homebuyer gets everything they see in our models. That’s why we see a lot of those relocation buyers — we always have a number of homes that are available within 30 or 60 days, move-in ready. We have a separate team and process with our luxury brand, WCI. It’s a more customizable experience, with a design studio where customers can pick out their home site, the style of home and the finish features. This allows us to serve customers buying a home from $180,000 to over $1 million throughout the Tampa Bay Area.
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Ybor City is one of only two National Historic Landmark Districts in Florida.
and emerging needs that developers are embracing. “Before this boom, Tampa used to be your sleepy, tertiary-type market whose sole focus was servicing the local population. Fast-forward to 2019; in the past 10 to 15 years we’ve seen tremendous growth,” said Shirin Kanji, Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of Impact Properties. “The population has grown and with it we’ve seen diversity in the type of business in the area and diversity in future needs. Tampa has been known as a good place to live, but now it’s also known as a good place to work and a good place to raise a family. Because of that, residential real estate has been taking off.” Growth in Tampa’s real estate market has led to scores of people from all over the country considering a move here. “There is a steady migration from the Northeast to Tampa that will continue. This migration not only includes people retiring to Florida, but also a shifting of jobs and industries to states with a lower cost and higher quality of living, less regulations and lower taxes. Tampa has overcome its inferiority complex, freeing ourselves from tired slogans like “America’s next great city”, and determined that it is cool to just be Tampa”, Adam Harden, Principal of SoHo Capital told Invest:. One of the main draws is that
Scott Dobbins Founder & Principal Hybridge Commercial Real Estate
How would you describe the strength of the retailspecific commercial real estate market? The retail real estate market is strong. There is more tenant and buyer demand than there is available retail inventory for lease or purchase in Tampa Bay. This lack of inventory has driven up rents and has compressed cap rates. There are, however, several exciting mixeduse projects, such as Riverwalk Place, Sparkman Wharf/ Water Street and Midtown, that are in various stages of development and planning that will increase available retail inventory in the next few years.
Tampa remains an affordable place to live compared to other metropolitan areas. The region has quickly risen to the top of the list for retirees and single families looking for an affordable place to set down roots and to improve their general quality of life. “Tampa is not only one of the most popular cities in Florida but also in the country as a place for people to move to,” said Nico Hohman, CEO of Hohman Homes. “Right now demand for homes is much higher than the supply. We are not seeing many homes on the market at the moment, although that is changing. Homes that are going on the market are selling quickly at a premium price, and we are expecting that to be the case for the rest of 2019 and into 2020.” With the influx of new people moving into the market, the approach to design is also changing, with companies like Heidt Design focusing on sustainability. “Resiliency and sustainability are key components of our growth,” said Pat Gassaway, President of Heidt Design. “We partner with people who recognize the virtue of smart growth and who understand that sustainability and resiliency are key components of our designs. That is what allows our designs to create a quality product so that we can continue to leverage the value of these communities into the future.”
How is e-commerce changing your approach? We have become more selective with the retailers we work with and the projects we work on. E-commerce continues to disrupt the traditional bricks and mortar retailer model. The “Amazon Effect” is very real and continues to change consumer behavior. One tangible example of this change can be found in the increase in vacant retail Big Box facilities within malls and shopping centers. With this change also comes opportunity, and we are seeing several traditional retailers evolving their models to adapt. Many are exploring and implementing multichannel sales programs, hybridized, retailindustrial models and logistics platforms. We want to work with the most innovative retailers and landlords who not only acknowledge, but are effectively adapting to these changes. How does Tampa’s robust tech industry drive and alter the real estate environment? The amenity pools surrounding these tech hubs will play a significant role in recruiting and retaining top tech talent. We have to continue to work toward evolving and implementing the live-work-play models in these areas. Downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg have made big progress in these areas and will continue to do so.
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REAL ESTATE OVERVIEW
All this is helping to make the Tampa market an outperformer across the U.S. Realtor.com recently rated the Top 100 markets in the country according to household growth, employment growth and unemployment. In each of these categories, Tampa fared much better than the national average. One of the best-performing categories was new-home builds, which the website predicts will increase over 20% in the next two years. Growth in this field is welcomed in the Tampa market, as one of the greatest constraints on local real estate has been a shortage of inventory for sale. The largest demand continues to be for modestly priced homes, or those hovering around $300,000. This supply will need to become available soon in order for the Tampa market to keep growing. The corollary to high demand for affordable homes without requisite supply will only inflate prices even more. Market research collected over the last two years indicates that housing prices are rising sharply, and while they remain affordable for now, that can’t be expected to last forever. Home values have steadily climbed over the last five years, and it is predicted that they will continue to rise over the next two years.
According to Zillow.com, the median home value in Tampa was $208,132 in 2017. Real estate trends for the 2018 fiscal year show an increase of 9% for median home sales and a 5% increase in median rent per month. The supply for reasonably priced homes is not the only challenge that has to be addressed immediately. The increase in demand on real estate development has resulted in a need for more skilled labor that is currently unavailable in the area. “The biggest issue we’re facing in our industry now isn’t a lack of incoming work; rather, it’s the shortage of skilled labor in this region. In an ideal situation, we would be using the labor pool in Tampa rather than having to outsource work to other regions of Florida or even different states in some cases. There needs to be more emphasis placed on bringing skilled labor into Tampa and keeping it here,” Ken Stoltenberg, CEO of Mercury Advisors, told Invest:. Affordable housing According to a report by Metrostudy, which tracks housing starts in the Tampa Bay area, 2,946 single-
REAL ESTATE OVERVIEW
Ward Friszolowski President & COO – Harvard Jolly Architecture
The Tampa Bay area is great in that it is centrally located within the state of Florida. There’s more diversification here in terms of business than there was 20 or 30 years ago. Our backlog is as strong as it has ever been, so we are already looking to 2020 and 2021 in terms of new prospects. Tampa is, quite simply, a great place to live, work and do business. St. Petersburg is doing phenomenally well and has seen a big change over the last 30 years as well. Now, young professionals see Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater as attractive destinations and are actively choosing to live here.
family homes were built in the third quarter of 2018, 5.1% more than the same quarter in 2017. While at first glance this seems like a positive trend, this increase was mostly due to almost a complete standstill in construction following Hurricane Irma. What’s more, even though there was an overall gain, starts of homes over $450,000 dropped 6.8% compared to Q3 2017. One sure sign of a slowing market is contraction in the upper end. Affordability is taking a hit as buyers find it increasingly difficult to find homes at more moderate price points; land, lot and labor costs, along with government fees and global trade wars, continue to drive up builders’ expenses. Rising interest rates are also inflating mortgage payments. One of the biggest challenges to Tampa’s new housing market is the gap between the cost of housing and wage growth, especially with interest rates expected to increase three more times in 2019. The good news is that there are areas of Tampa tackling the affordable housing issue head-on. The University Area Community Development Corporation (CDC), for example, is in the process of trying to acquire land within a mile of the new Harvest Hope Park to develop new housing or even modular homes. The goal is to keep low-income and workingclass residents from being priced out of the area.
For rent Although the Tampa Bay area is a long way from the average rents of Manhattan and San Francisco, it’s not difficult to envision a time in the near future when rents for all cities in the Tampa metro area will rise above the national average and remain there interminably. For investors, this means they can feasibly pick up properties at lower rates than usual, rent to residents who are new to the city and still have a positive cash flow. Tampa’s real estate market remains strong in the short-term lease department, which includes short-term or extended rentals and accommodations for tourists. “There is no other state in the country or region in the state of Florida where I’d rather be a real estate developer right now in the multifamily sector. We have the most potential for longterm stable growth than any other submarket in the country. The I-4 corridor has huge economic engines at each end, and our geographic location is perfect. We have in-migration from all over the country, some driven recently by tax reform. Everywhere along this corridor is where we want to be,” Phillip Smith, President of Framework Group said to Invest: in regards to multifamily housing in Tampa. In April and May 2018, the median rent for an apartment in Tampa rose to $1,575. Before that it had remained below the national average of $1,364.( )
Affordability is taking a hit as buyers find it increasingly difficult to find homes at more moderate price points; land, lot and labor costs.
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Market voices: Tampa’s growth
Alison Williams Vice President Walker & Dunlop
Tampa is finally on the map. Our robust job market and continued population growth have made Tampa Bay one of the top markets in the Southeast. We are competing for large corporate relocations and are a soughtout destination for both young professionals and baby boomers. Tampa’s slow start to new development within the latest cycle will likely play a key role in continued growth in the coming years compared to other major metros in the Southeast.
We have to take advantage of existing properties in order to sustain this economic and population growth. There is not much available land on the coastline, which is where the majority of the population and employment base is concentrated. Companies have to think about repurposing or reusing real estate if they want to grow their business. Key players in the real estate market need to be more thoughtful with regards to urbanization and increasing density in urban cores to avoid suburban sprawl.
Beck Daniel
Director of Development BTI Partners
Larry Richey
Managing Principal, Florida Cushman & Wakefield
Tampa is growing in many positive ways. It’s adding white-collar jobs as the population continues to grow. Tampa Bay and Orlando are among the top growth regions in Florida. There are a lot of opportunities here; that’s why we love both of these markets. The metrics on investing here are solid and we’re selling million-dollar condos, but our buyers are not speculating. These are not their second homes; they’re buying to move here.
I’m often asked how long this growth is going to last. It seems like Tampa took longer to get started, whereas Sarasota turned around in late 2013. In Tampa, we started sales in the spring of 2017, on virtually the first project of its scale for luxury condos in more than 10 years. We were at the forefront of the condominium boom here. I still feel that this market has legs. There’s still strong interest, and the economy is booming here.
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Jay Tallman
President & Partner Ascentia Development Group (ADG)
REAL ESTATE OVERVIEW
( ) Rents in Tampa Bay are climbing faster than the national average rate of increase, which accounts for the dramatic spikes that took figures above the rest of the country for a few months in 2018. Of the 250 cities surveyed, St. Petersburg in particular had the 16thhighest increase in rent year-over-year, but all the cities in Tampa are increasing faster than the average. Besides St. Petersburg, which increased 7.1%, the other cities included in the survey are Lakeland (6.5%), Brandon (5.6%), Clearwater (4.3%) and Tampa (5.2%). Above-water mortgages At the peak of the financial crisis, almost half of the homes in the Tampa Bay area had underwater mortgages, meaning the homeowners owed more than their homes were worth. At the end of 2018, that figure had gone down to 6.3%. Florida’s statewide average is 6.7%, which remains above the national average, but it has slowly worked that number down with the help of favorable trends in some of its largest metropolitan areas. Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa are all among the most improved metro areas in the country. Economists and real estate experts are
predicting that this rate will continue to fall around the country, and Tampa in particular can reasonably expect that its number will go down to 4%. This trend is largely the result of one of the strongest job markets in the country and home prices that have steadily risen over time. Homebuyers are also putting in larger down payments than they were before the recession. With these conditions, residents are able to stay on top of their mortgage payments. Less individual mortgage debt coupled with more equity are the key factors in putting Tampa’s economy and residents in better standing and even in a strong position to weather the next economic downturn. Commercial matters The improving economic landscape and unprecedented job growth in Tampa Bay have instituted strong fundamentals in just about all segments of the commercial real estate sector. That momentum is expected to stay the course for the foreseeable future. Office and industrial
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Due to the arrival of online shopping, most traditional malls are being converted into mixed-use properties.
Conditions have been all but perfect in the office market, with strong demand, narrowing vacancy rates and rising rents. These fundamentals are key in validating the cost of new office space and are the reason developers are jumping on it. “The occupancy rates of our office market have increased dramatically over the last five to eight years,” Ari Ravi, regional manager for Marcus & Millichap, told Invest:. “In downtown Tampa eight years ago, the average%age of occupancy was in the low 80s, and today it’s in the mid to high 90s. We’re starting to develop above and beyond multifamily and built-to-suits. This year we’re breaking ground on our first spec office building.” Demand outpacing supply across all sectors of the commercial market has been the continued theme in Tampa for several years running. Industrial and office capital markets are enjoying continued growth because consumer and business spending for in-state and out-of-state investment has also been extremely favorable for the Tampa region. The industrial sector has had a great run for the last three years. This performance has attracted the interest of developers and new-to-market tenants alike. “The biggest change in the industrial market for Lakeland has been the Big Box users because of the 94 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | REAL ESTATE
internet and companies like Amazon and last-mile delivery,” said Wesley Beck, president of Aspyre Properties. “A big warehouse for us used to be 100,000 square feet; now it is 1 million square feet. We have 3 to 4 million square feet under construction right now. We didn’t see that five years ago.” All the metrics remain positive already halfway through 2019, and experts predict they will continue this way for the next two years at least. This includes land markets for all different types of commercial inventory. Demand is real, not financially engineered, and money is cheap but not easy to get, both of which will prevent the overbuilding of the mid-2000s boom. The biggest questions remaining center on whether there will be enough inventory to reach the market in time and how rising interest rates will impact yields. A key shift in the commercial segment is how companies are using their space. Employees are no longer fixed to a desk as technology helps relieve the traditional cubicle design that has permeated many workplaces, giving them the flavor of a community. “Thanks to technology, in today’s world we’re not tethered to our workstations anymore. There’s a lot of emphasis on designing office landscapes that give employees more choice,” said Elizabeth Dvorak, CEO
Danny Rice Managing Director, Market Leader Central & West Florida Colliers International
of Workscapes. “Companies are creating environments where people can be part of a ‘neighborhood’ that allows them to interact with their co-workers, have a place to make a phone call, or use a focused workspace for tasks that require more attention. Bricks vs. clicks For Big Box stores, malls and other industrial retail developers, the story is a bit more complicated. It’s not uncommon today to hear about leases for commercial space with durations of less than a year. Typically, a mall developer would want to get several decades of returns out of his investment, but the number of malls is dwindling. It seems that only the highest-quality malls, with experiential retail modes incorporated into their model, will succeed. The questions surrounding the future of retail and e-commerce have yet to be fully answered, and some developers are betting big on bricks and mortar, while others are backing off. It’s estimated that 50% of sales are going to be online by 2030, so developers are faced with a choice between bricks and clicks. “We are seeing strong demand and a lot of interest from all over the country from retail, restaurant and entertainment companies that want to locate in
What distinguishes the Central Florida real estate market? Looking at the Greater Tampa area, there is a lot of activity happening in the industrial market. 2018 saw a near record number of deliveries, with over 3 million square feet of new industrial product brought into the market. At the same time, vacancy continues to fall, signaling the market continues to be extremely strong. As soon as the product is built, it is being occupied immediately or very soon thereafter. This trend isn’t just happening in Tampa. The demand around industrial product has been strong in the entire Central Florida market, in both Orlando and Tampa. This area, known as the I-4 Corridor, is getting national attention, with Lakeland being the bullseye of growth due to ease of access to major roadways and thoroughfares — a perfect setup for logistics. What is different about the market today compared to 10 years ago? Today, investors, developers and financial institutions have been much more disciplined and smarter about their decisions; this has kept the development activity in direct alignment with the demand that is currently present. For the office market, we haven’t taken the “if we build it, they will come” approach. Overall, positive economic growth and conditions have benefited local businesses, enabling companies to move into more functional and better-quality space that is conducive to their business needs. Our region has experienced an amazing amount of inbound population, but there is not necessarily a direct correlation to new office development because companies have been able to figure out how to be more efficient in their current space or take advantage of existing available space today. It’s rare, if at all, to see speculative office development, whereas in the last cycle developers were more eager to take the risk.
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Christopher Bowen Chief Development Strategist – RD Management LLC
When we made the decision to transform University Mall from a single-use retail mall to a mixed-use, walkable village, we decided that the property development model, due to its proximity to one of the largest medical districts in Florida as well as one of the largest public research universities in the nation, would shift from department store anchors to being driven by research and development players focused on Big Science and Big Data challenges. We knew this would be a mixed-use property, and from our prior experience we agreed that there would still be a strong retail element, although we also knew that, once the other uses are brought into play, the retail side might be very different than what people are accustomed to seeing: more experiential and engaging
Tampa and Orlando. Retail demand is very strong here. Housing and construction growth are very strong, and those are indicators of a strong market,” said John Artope, EVP & Market Leader for Tampa & Orlando market of SRS Real Estate Partners. While the lack of inventory over the last several years has led to increased rents and a compression of cap rates, industry leaders remain optimistic about the future of retail real estate in Tampa due to the several exciting mixed-use projects such as Water Street, Midtown and the Westshore Marina District. All these projects will likely come online in or around the same timeframe, which will bump up available inventory immediately.
other notable institutions, are staying in Tampa Bay and contributing to the workforce across all fields. And it hasn’t stopped there; even those who left years ago and spent time in higher-profile and more expensive cities are beginning to move back. Staying hot Today, Tampa Bay is as strong as it has ever been. The idea that this is a “city of the future” is a sentiment shared by many in the real estate investment and development fields, including Nitesh Sapra, Managing Principal of NitNeil Partners. “The key to our success is being very selective on the markets we choose to invest in and getting to markets ahead of the curve. Our portfolio is concentrated on ‘cities of the future,’ or cities that are well-positioned to attract institutional interest and capital. I’m extremely bullish on Tampa Bay and the west coast of Florida. I think it offers a quality of life that is second to none. The affordability of Tampa Bay is sensible, and politically the city is diverse, which is a huge asset to Tampa’s growth factor.”
We are seeing strong demand and a lot of interest from all over the country from retail, restaurant and entertainment companies that want to locate in Tampa and Orlando.
Millennials For seemingly the first time ever, the younger generations are slowly beginning to migrate back to Tampa from New York, D.C. and San Francisco. Historically, Tampa has suffered brain drain from all of its brightest young people leaving for greener pastures. Today, that has changed. Graduating classes from the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida, among 96 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | REAL ESTATE
Construction & Infrastructure: Tampa Bay is among the Top 10 hottest real estate markets in the country as jobs and buyer-friendly housing prices attract workers and investors to the area. Urban reclamation and mixed-use are buzzwords, all to the benefit of the construction industry, with construction starts booming. The specter of recession is a shadow on the future but for now, the forecast for Tampa Bay is overwhelmingly sunny.
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Sunny side up: Tampa Bay’s construction sector is basking in a positive forecast as new developments dot the skyline In a joint report by the Urban Land Institute and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Tampa/St. Petersburg region was ranked as the 10th-hottest real estate market in the United States in terms of overall real estate prospects. This performance was due to a confluence of local factors, including an 11.1% increase in available housing thanks to the explosion of job opportunities and ample investment by real estate development, as well as purchase prices as low as $90,000. Incredibly, the cost of living in Tampa remains 23% below the national average, despite the employment opportunities that have resulted in a scant 3.3% unemployment rate compared to a national unemployment rate of 3.8% . The vigor of Tampa’s real estate market is manifesting with particular intensity in the Channel District, where the contemporary focus on urban reclamation and mixed-use development are on full display. In what was once an aging warehouse district between downtown and Port Tampa Bay now stands a 22-story apartment complex, the Channel Club, and a Publix on the way means that residents will be able to meet all their basic needs close to home 98 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | CONSTRUCTION
without having to rely on a car. Compound this with the City of Tampa’s plans for a park along Madison Street just east of the Channel Club, and you have the start of a vibrant, walkable community. The flurry of construction activity over the past few years in the Tampa Bay area is only expected to increase in 2019. Performance indicators One of the most significant factors driving the real estate boom in Tampa is the steady growth in employment that preceded it. In 2017, the Tampa metro area added over 30,000 new private-sector jobs, then did it again in 2018. Tampa is also leading the state in demand for people to fill high-paying STEM positions. Importantly, these jobs are not exclusively found among the new companies moving to Tampa; rather, existing companies are flourishing along with the city, which is a sign of the area’s sustained economic health. How do all of these jobs relate back to the growth of the area’s housing market? Simply put, all of those job-seekers need somewhere to live. Real estate developers recognize that the continuing expansion
of employment opportunities in Tampa will inevitably lead to a growing population, so they construct additional housing in anticipation of growing demand. So far, investors have been right, and the demand for housing in the area has been so intense that there was a severe housing shortage in 2017, leading to a deceptive decrease in overall sales for the year because there were simply not enough available properties to sell. To compensate for the shortage, an estimated 151,000 new housing starts are expected in 2019. Among this new construction is a growing focus on single-family homes instead of multifamily apartment complexes, thanks to a pivot by erstwhile rent-focused millennials to homeownership. However, the housing shortage that reached a fever pitch in 2017 isn’t over. When the Great Recession devastated the global economy, construction was one of the hardest-hit industries. When construction projects dried up, many workers in that field abandoned it for greener, more recession-proof pastures. Today, despite the near-total recovery of housing demand in Tampa and other cities across the country, this lost generation of construction workers hasn’t returned to the industry. Along with competition from foreign development firms, this has led to a severe shortage of workers. Further exacerbating the issue is the fact that the pool of remaining workers is largely young and inexperienced, resulting in work that is often slow, unsatisfactory and plagued with workplace injuries. Consequently, companies are forced to spend time and money to train a new generation of workers to replace those lost in 2008 instead of getting houses built at the desired pace. Against the backdrop of record employment growth and housing demand, this is a particularly vexing obstacle. On the bright side, the long road to recovery since the housing bubble burst has made developers more cautious than they were in the past. Development projects are less speculative and random and instead favor well-thought-out mixed-use areas that are built to last. Some developers also have decided upon a more positive outlook on the labor challenge and are using their community partnerships to their advantage like Bill Byrne, CEO of AJAX Building Corporation who told Invest:, “Construction workers are in high demand; a lot of them left the industry after the recession, and with the construction industry seeing more activity now we are in need of qualified labor talent. Our emphasis now is trying to get young people to replace an aging workforce. We are members of ACT, which is a training program for high school students,
Mark Sharpe Executive Director Tampa Innovation Partnership
What is Tampa Innovation Partnership? Tampa Innovation Partnership is an advocacy organization with six anchors and more than 230 members, mostly technology and other companies that are interested in the redevelopment of the University of South Florida area — what we’re now calling Uptown Tampa Innovation Partnership. The six anchors are AdventHealth, University of South Florida, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, James Haley Veterans’ Hospital, RD Management and Busch Gardens. It was created in 2011 by these anchors to help them better prepare and plan for development in the university area. What impact has your company had on the Tampa Bay business community? When I was a county commissioner, we analyzed where the assets were in Hillsborough County and discovered that the USF area has an enormous economic impact. In fact, the economic impact of our anchors in the area is the strongest anywhere in Tampa Bay. What we can do better is connecting ourselves to the rest of the Tampa Bay area and Florida. What has allowed Tampa to emerge as a hub for technology and innovation? I’ve done a lot of research over the last 15 years looking at Tampa Bay and benchmarking our success against other thriving, startup ecosystems around the nation. I discovered that these locations don’t just have great business anchors, they also have the cultural understanding that in order to produce a thriving technology environment they have to be willing to engage and work with startups, share information and take risks. Over the last 20 years, Tampa has gone from an older, stodgier, complacent-type place with a network of established institutions to a far more open and collaborative environment.
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and we also partners with universities and colleges to attract young people to the industry.” By making good use of the limited workforce, real estate developers are getting the most out of their investment while doing the best they can to meet demand. “Money and time are the biggest challenges to development,” said Bob McDonaugh, Administrator of Economic Opportunity, City of Tampa. “When we have a recession, prices and taxes fall fast, but property taxes can’t come back more than 3% a year. We collected $166 million in property taxes in 2008. That went down to $106 million, and it just came back after 10 years; yet, people expect us to deliver the same level of service. We have 700 fewer employees than we did in 2008, but we’re providing services to more people and more projects. We have to be cautious about how we spend our money, who we hire and how we hire.” Financing trends In terms of investment, there are many large-scale projects being financed in Tampa in 2019. One clear trend is the forest of cranes and steady progress of development at Water Street Tampa. The $3 billion, 53-acre development project will encompass two residential apartment towers; wide sidewalks; more than 650 trees; a 20-story, 180,000-square-foot office complex; a JW Marriott Hotel; the conversion of Channelside Bay Plaza into Sparkman Wharf; the new University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute building; and additional residential and commercial space. To complete this litany of projects, Water Street Tampa’s developer, Strategic Property Partners (SPP), anticipates having
20 cranes at work on 10 buildings simultaneously this year. What makes the Water Street Tampa project particularly interesting is that, in the shadow of talks about a possible recession around the corner, the massive development remains secure. This security comes from the fact that SPP is actually a partnership between Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and Bill Gates’s private capital fund, Cascade Investment. A partnership with financial resources as immense as SPPs doesn’t require the loans that usually finance a project of this magnitude, meaning they aren’t concerned with leasing units prior to a hasty completion in order to pay off creditors. Strategic will also retain ownership of the development upon completion, showing its commitment to the project and to the area. Other large-scale developments are also set to commence in 2019, including Midtown One, which will occupy a 22-acre plot southeast of the I-275 interchange at North Dale Mabry Highway. The seven-story office tower is part of the $500 million Midtown Tampa project being financed by the Bromley Companies. There is also the 50-story Riverwalk Place residential tower on the site of the failed Trump Tower. Riverwalk Place is the brainchild of Larry Feldman and Two Roads Development. Home sweet home Current construction trends in Tampa are characterized by two conflicting facts: the dearth of qualified construction workers due to the exodus of experienced builders during the recession that
CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW
began in 2008; and a booming employment market, particularly in tech, that is causing a flood of highearning workers to move to Tampa, resulting in the second-heaviest influx of workers anywhere in the country. Investors are placing their bets carefully due to the small worker pool and fears of yet another recession, but given that all these incoming workers need somewhere to live, residential property remains a smart move. Single-family homes, in particular, saw a spike in construction in 2018 as investors recognize that more Tampa residents are choosing to purchase property. The good news for homeowners and real estate investors alike is that real estate remains relatively cheap to acquire, with the average price of residential property holding at $136,000 in 2018, while substantial appreciation is expected over the next few years. The median value of a single-family home in Tampa was $208,132, which was up 15.3% from the 2017 figure. Growth is projected to slow in 2019, but the median value will still climb by a whopping 7.9%, to $224,000. Rent is also cheap in Tampa, with an average rental unit running about $995 monthly, meaning that renting, and developing rental property, remains an attractive prospect despite older millennials’ gradual shift to homeownership. Breaking down new residential construction trends in more detail, inclusive of both single-family and multifamily property, residential construction starts in Tampa during the first quarter of 2018 increased by 22% compared to the same time in 2017, amounting to $1.45 billion in new construction. One clear example of large residential developments are the Water Street Tampa twin residential towers, but there are other noteworthy residential developments in store for 2019. For example, Riverwalk Place, the property that was previously envisioned as an office tower, recently announced plans to pivot instead to developing the building as a collection of more than 200 condominiums situated above retail space, including four previously planned restaurants. The change of plans was apparently driven by the intense demand for condos in Downtown Tampa, which manifests in the form of the developers’ plans to ask between $600,000 and $2 million per unit. Additional residential development has flowed out of Downtown
Tampa and into surrounding districts, such as Harbour Island, Hyde Park, Tampa Heights and Ybor City, all of which are capturing many members of the incoming workforce and experiencing spikes in residential construction as a result. It would appear that, for the foreseeable future, cranes will remain a familiar sight above Tampa Bay. Work and shop In addition to newly constructed residential property, investors are also interested in developing additional commercial real estate. This is only natural, given that all the people moving to Tampa not only need places to live but also need places to work and shop. As a result, spending on nonresidential real estate, which here refers to office, retail, hotel, warehouse, manufacturing, educational and healthcare, religious, governmental and recreational space, increased by 36% during the first quarter of 2018, to $293 million in total investment. In keeping with the modern trend, a lot of this nonresidential space is actually closely connected with residential space as mixed-use development. One particular highlight among the nonresidential construction planned for Tampa in 2019 is the University of South Florida’s new Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute, which will be one of the key features of Strategic Property Partners’ Water Street Tampa development. Vertical construction of the 13-story building has already been completed, just over a year since work on the project began. The rest of the work on the new building is expected to be finished by the end of 2019, at which point it will accommodate 1,800 medical students, faculty, researchers and other staff within its 395,000-square-foot structure. Not only is the new facility expected to serve as one of the anchors of Water Street Tampa, it is also expected to generate up to $28 million in additional funding from the National Institute of Health over the first five years following its opening and a sustained $66 million in local economic impact. The school’s own prestige has grown since the commencement of the project, resulting in more and higher-quality applicants. Another major project in the works is not exactly a brand-new project but rather the reinvention of an existing development. SSP is turning Channelside Bay Plaza, the defunct waterfront district along ( )
In 2017, the median value of a single-family home in Tampa was $208,132.
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Market voices: Boom town
Todd Fultz
Managing Director Plaza Construction
We’re finally back to the growth curve that existed before 2006. Tampa has a lot of opportunity: it has a low cost of living compared to a lot of other major metropolitan areas, and it’s a fairly large, diverse market with a very good talent pool to pull from. It’s also a very friendly business environment. Our mayors have done a great job of allowing business to operate here. It’s no longer terribly difficult to get a building permit, and land use is not as restricted. Generally speaking, the political climate is open to negotiating with businesses looking to relocate or strike deals in Tampa.
When the aluminum and steel tariffs were announced, they definitely sent a ripple through the industry. It was more about uncertainty than reality. When things are happening outside of your control, especially on that global level, it creates a little bit of anxiety. The actual effect has been less than the initial anxiety, but we’ll see what the future holds. We work in a global environment, and what happens globally affects us locally.
Dave Elrod
Business Unit Leader DPR Construction
John Bowden
Senior Vice President Moss Construction
Our sales are projected to be very strong for the next three years, both here in Tampa and across our larger markets. The commercial, healthcare, life science and higher education markets have numerous good projects coming out. There’s also slated to be more data center activity in the Tampa area in the coming years. For these reasons, some of our existing customers from outside of Tampa are actively relocating here to do business.
I don’t think there has ever been a time when so many big pieces have been in play. We have the Tampa Bay Rays, downtown St. Pete, Clearwater, the Publix expansion, downtown Lakeland on the east side, the $3 billion investment in downtown Tampa and Water Street and the transportation infrastructure. When you put all these things together, it’s a massive opportunity. We have job growth and population growth. The key is that we need to better manage this growth so that we are increasing our average wages and expanding our advanced industries to create a more prosperous, inclusive economy.
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Rick Homans
President & CEO Tampa Bay Partnership
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( ) Channelside Drive, into a mixed-use marvel called Sparkman Wharf. During the day, the 180,000 square feet of office space in the wharf will buzz with activity. After work, a dining garden, biergarten and recreational lawn, all right on the waterfront, are expected to draw locals and more distant visitors to the area when it opens in October 2019. Once people are at the wharf, they will be invited to patronize one of many shops and restaurants distributed over 65,000 square feet of retail space. There are even plans for live art and music, including the Gasparilla Music Festival. It also shouldn’t be ignored that there is much opportunity for commercial development in the region that hasn’t yet been tapped into. “The urban core of Tampa, specifically Channelside, downtown and Ybor City, are the areas seeing the most growth and demand for development. Ybor is shifting in a good direction, having businesses and a residential component, which is important,” Eric Grzybowski, Partner and Project Manager for the Perry Company told Invest:. He continued, “People working, living and walking around is the initial step for retailers and restaurants to come along. When businesses establish themselves in Ybor, they stay here and do not consider other locations within the Tampa area. Ybor is an undiscovered gem from a business community standpoint.” These are just a few of the major highlights in commercial development in the booming Tampa metro area, and more projects are bound to commence as the area continues to grow and thrive both economically and in terms of population.
Looking ahead Probably the biggest challenge confronting Tampa’s construction industry is the shortage of qualified construction workers. “We have a big labor shortage for construction in Tampa. Ten years ago, when we were hit with the recession, a lot of people left the industry and never came back. We just don’t have the subcontractors available to do the work that’s out there,” Dhvanit Patel, President and CEO for Onicx discussed with Invest:. “In addition, with talent that’s here, there’s a lot of competition. If anyone doesn’t have a job, there’s probably a reason they don’t; anyone that’s competent and good at what they do is already employed.” Demand is intense in a city that continues to enjoy economic success and attract productive individuals for jobs in numerous industries, including healthcare and tech, but builders haven’t been able to recover from the mass exodus of employees as a result of the 2008 recession. In addition, there is evidence that demand, while still far outstripping supply, may actually level off at some point in the not-too-distant future. These fears center on the looming specter of another recession on the horizon. Setting aside the vagaries of the economy, however, there is an overwhelming amount of opportunity in Tampa’s real estate market. People and businesses are moving to the area and snapping up space. Property is still fairly cheap to purchase, but prices are going up fast, promising a solid return on investment. For the foreseeable future, the outlook for construction in Tampa Bay is as sunny as the region itself.
Base improvement: Fast-growing Tampa is aggressively tackling infrastructure and environmental challenges Like other rapidly growing metro areas throughout the Southeast, Tampa faces a dilemma: On the one hand, the influx of educated, highly-paid residents and corporate actors is a boon for the region; on the other hand, this deluge of new citizens is a heavy burden on the city’s infrastructure. One of the biggest problems in Tampa is traffic. Many large Florida cities are still very automobilereliant, and as the state’s population grows, the traffic in these metropolitan areas will inevitably get worse. The development of the urban areas in the region to accommodate this increase in population has also resulted in more traffic and has forced cities in the area to address this challenge. “I would love to say we can wave a magic wand and fix traffic congestion, but that’s not realistic. What we can do is make sure that the roads run as efficiently as they possibly can using the latest available technology, as well as encourage alternative transportation systems,such as buses and other public transports. There are also a lot of trips that can be made by walking or bicycling,”Beth Alden, Executive Director of the Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning for Transportation told Invest:. To ameliorate 104 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | INFRASTRUCTURE
this problem, Tampa’s ambitious Imagine 2040 infrastructure improvement plan aims to fund $500 million in infrastructure-focused projects to increase pedestrian and bicycle lanes, implement new trafficcontrol technology, such as smart stop lights, execute more transit-oriented development and update city buildings to incorporate a mixed-use focus. Invest: spoke with Mark Hardy the Regional Manager of Universal Engineering Sciences, Inc. who echoed the need for improved infrastructure and the growing pains Tampa can expect to face. “With the increase in volume on our roadways, additional infrastructure is needed to accommodate the growth. The I-4 and 275 junction is a bottleneck, as is the Howard Frankland Bridge. Planned infrastructure projects as part of Tampa Next will bring a lot of work for the contractors and for quality-control companies like ours. We’re starting to see a lot of growth in the area, and we’re going to have to find ways to move people more efficiently. It’s going to be painful for a couple years until it gets done, but it’s necessary for Tampa’s growth.” Tampa Bay also is working hard to meet growing demand for energy while simultaneously tending ( )
INFRASTRUCTURE INTERVIEW
Storm front How Duke Energy is implementing strategic decisions to ‘harden’ the grid and minimize the impact of weather and other emergencies
Catherine Stempien President – Duke Energy Florida
How is Duke Energy Florida helping Tampa Bay prepare for another large storm or natural disaster? Preparing for storms and emergencies is something we do year-round. We’re making smart, strategic investments in our electric system to minimize the impact of hurricanes on our communities. A stronger electric system includes sturdier poles, thicker wire and smart technology, which we’re installing in our communities. All this work “hardens” the grid to better withstand Florida storms. We’re also putting parts of the electric system underground, using data to target areas especially prone to outages. Self-healing networks automatically reroute around problem areas so the size and duration of outages are reduced, or in some cases avoided all together. In 2018, self-healing technology avoided more than 200,000 outages, which is great news for customers. Ensuring safe, reliable energy, despite the weather, is our core job, but true preparedness is a community effort. Our year-round relationships with community leaders, first responders and local emergency partners lay the foundation for essential coordination before, during and after a storm. Our nonprofit partners, including community hospitals and healthcare associations, make sure people are prepared for when the next storm hits. What are some of Duke Energy’s recent initiatives to support sustainability in the area? Sustainability is part of our DNA and is at the heart of building strong communities. We have a great partnership with the city of St. Petersburg and are helping with their initiatives to become a Smart City. We are also constructing a 10-megawatt solar facility on the St. Pete Pier, and helping the city convert street lights to LED. One of our largest initiatives for the
region is taking place over the next couple of years as we’ll be installing 540 electric vehicle charging stations. What is the outlook for Duke Energy and the energy industry in Tampa for the immediate future? There’s an exciting future for the energy industry in Florida. We’re hiring people with a variety of diverse backgrounds. We need those who can be linemen because that need is only going to continue to grow as we modernize the grid. We also need people at the cutting edge of cybersecurity because we are increasingly seeing threats to our system. We need people who can do data analytics to help us understand what our customers want.
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( ) to the area’s fragile and beautiful environment. To this end, Tampa Electric Company (TECO) plans to invest $850 million in photovoltaic energy projects by 2021, adding 6 million solar panels in the region. The resulting 600 megawatts of photovoltaic energy will constitute 7% of TECO’s energy production, and will be sufficient to power 100,000 homes. Duke Energy and Florida Power and Light, competing electric providers, are following suit with solar plans of their own. Fortunately, TECO’s other power plants, which have a combined 5,000 megawatt output, are already known nationally for the cleanliness of their production. Similarly, Peoples Gas prides itself on the provision of natural gas to its customers for heating and other domestic applications, pointing out that the energy source reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 70%% over fossil fuels, while cutting customer costs by up to 60%.
Although environmental challenges and traffic congestion remain significant issues across Florida, these proactive steps, and others being taken by government officials and utility companies, should help the city stay ahead of the curve. Environmental concerns In Florida, a state whose ecosystem is often at the mercy of fierce tropical storms and hurricanes, concerns over climate change are even more acute than in other parts of the country. This is particularly the case given recent federal regulation rollbacks that leave 6 million acres of Florida wetlands unprotected. A statewide poll of Floridians showed that the environment was one of the top five concerns for residents. In Tampa, the biggest worries are invasive species, such as the pests devastating the citrus industry; clean water issues, including the recent loss of land due to
In Tampa, the biggest worries are invasive species, such as the pests devastating the citrus industry.
rising water levels; and hazardous waste pollution and offshore drilling. An initial Florida budget proposal that seems to have Gov. DeSantis’ backing tackles some of these issues head-on, including $625 million for Everglades restoration and water-improvement projects, such as combating future outbreaks of toxic algae. However, there is ongoing debate among members of the Florida legislature over what to do with approximately $800 million dollars approved by voters for conservation efforts back in 2014. Examples of previous suggestions for the money include building a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee to help move water south and reduce polluted discharges from the lake into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries, $100 million to revamp the Florida Forever program and an increase in annual funding for the state’s natural springs, from $50 million to $75 million. A specific example of an ongoing effort to address the problem of rising sea levels is the Feather Sound Tidal Wetland Restoration Project, a massive undertaking in reverse engineering across Tampa Bay’s estuaries. Since 1988, more than 100 projects have been completed as part of the Feather Sound project, including the dismantling or retrofitting of ditches, seawalls and other manmade coastal infrastructure. The effect has been the restoration of more than 4,000 acres of wildlife habitats and a significant cleaning of the waters around Tampa Bay. To carry out this massive project, the Southwest Florida Water Management District collaborates with 10 local, state and national partners for various portions of the restoration. While many Tampa Bay Area residents worry about the influx of water caused by rising tides, area utility companies are searching for creative ways to make the limited supply of residential water stretch further. Some activists support the use of reclaimed water — reusing water through filtration — an idea that was roundly rejected by citizens as well as scientists in 1998; the former were unable to see past the stigma associated with drinking what had been previously flushed, while the latter were skeptical that filtration and monitoring technologies were sophisticated enough to ensure the potability of treated wastewater. Now that Tampa is proposing the project with renewed vigor, many in the scientific community have changed their tune, believing that the technology is finally able to make such a project viable. However, the stigma associated with drinking reclaimed ( )
T.J. Szelistowski President Peoples Gas
How have the needs of your clients evolved over the last three to five years? With direct use of natural gas; companies can reduce their carbon footprint as they look to be environmentally friendly. Tampa and St. Petersburg are providing an opportunity to use a cleaner fuel by supporting the expansion of natural gas. Customers are also concerned about cost, and from our standpoint, natural gas has the potential to save people a lot of money, whether it is for their home or business. We have environmental incentives that provide rebates to people or developers who install natural gas appliances. Those two things are important for Tampa businesses and residents, and we are providing them the solution. What services are most in demand among Tampaarea residents and businesses? The natural gas services seeing the most demand among Tampa residents are cooking and water heating. The tankless water heater is a very popular product with residents because it heats the water as it goes through the pipes, and the hot water doesn’t run out. On the commercial side we are seeing high demand for natural gas in restaurants, and in hotels for laundry facilities, pool heating and kitchens. What has been the impact of new technology on the ways companies develop and administer environmental energy solutions? We are looking at gas-fired heat pumps that use natural gas instead of electricity for air conditioning. It is cutting edge, and we are creating partnerships to bring that technology to both high-end residential and commercial clients. We recently expanded our green energy solutions with an innovative new renewable natural gas service. Peoples Gas is the first utility in Florida, and among the first in the country, to offer this innovative new service.
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INFRASTRUCTURE INTERVIEW
Natural impact How the Big Bend modernization and a push for solar are laying the foundation for greater environmental sustainability
Sarah MacDonald President – TECO Services
What partnerships do you have in the region? We are in charge of emergency management, and we use a lot of logistics in storm situations, so we have to partner with a lot of the community. We work closely with the Emergency Operations Center and law enforcement. We work with hotels, and we work with restaurants. We work with anyone we can get our hands on who can help us provide all the materials and the support services that the incoming crews need. We’ve really developed some great relationships with all those people in these emergency situations. We also work with a number of organizations surrounding scams, which are forever on the increase. Our team that works on customer experience is always on the watch, along with security, to try to keep our customers safe and from being impacted by scammers. What are some challenges facing energy and utilities in the region? How are you working to improve sustainability in the region? Both Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas have been working toward sustainability. Through our Big Bend modernization we are moving away from coal and toward natural gas. We are also doing a big push for solar. We use sheep to graze around our properties to keep the grass down and out of the way. Natural gas is a big part of our sustainability movement. Diversifying our fuel supply is an important focus. We are subject to a lot of rules and regulations regarding how we use land, how we remediate the land and to make sure we are being environmentally friendly. Sustainability is a big focus for us.
Cost and customer flexibility are big challenges. Customers want the lowest cost, but they often want the most advanced technology to go along with it. There is cost associated with that. There is a challenge between how you transition out of long-term big investments and into more traditional power generation. Another challenge is talent — getting the best people for the job in a market that’s fairly tight is difficult. For us, everything comes down to safety. The importance of keeping our employees and our customers safe is a really, really important part of who we are and part of our DNA. We’re committed to the health and wellness of our employees, and we believe that all injuries are preventable.
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INFRASTRUCTURE OVERVIEW
Tampa Bay voters approved a one-penny sales tax and the proceeds are going towards transportation investments.
( ) water remains, and neither the Florida Department of Environmental Protection nor the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have delineated rules for the treatment and redistribution of wastewater. Federal drinking water guidelines exist, but these are not sufficiently comprehensive to cover all of the various contaminants that may be present in reclaimed water. Even if residual unpalatability and remaining scientific criticism can be surmounted, another major hurdle remains in the form of cost — properly treating water on the necessary scale may end up costing more than Tampa is willing or able to pay — which is a barrier to other water reclamation techniques, such as desalination. In any case, the costs associated with drinking water are becoming a growing sore spot in Tampa Bay. In St. Petersburg, for example, residents saw their water bills increase by $7-$10 a month beginning in October 2018. The price hikes are required to pay for $120 million worth of capital improvement projects involving the city’s water and sewer systems. Expensive energy Unfortunately, usage rates for electricity will also
likely be on the rise in Tampa. All three major electrical utilities – Florida Power and Light, Duke Energy and TECO – hiked rates in 2019 due largely to an unexpected rise in the cost of natural gas. However, despite the increase, the average 2019 monthly bill of $103.58 is still lower than the average bill in 2018. Not all increases to energy related expenses are due to the rise in cost of natural gas. There are a number of solar projects in the works that are hoping to expand the impact of renewable energy, but customers will face a slight increase in their electric bills. Duke Energy Florida has recently filed a proposal with Florida’s Public Service Commission for three new solar-powered projects in Highlands, Gilchrist, and Volusia counties. While these projects are ultimately for the betterment of the surrounding community and environment, they also carry with them a combined total cost of $252 million. The plans are to build a 74.5-megawatt facility consisting of approximately 300,000 fixed-tilt solar panels in Volusia County, 74.9-megawatt facility consisting of approximately 280,000 tracking solar panels in Gilchrist County, and a 45-megawatt facility consisting of approximately 180,000 tracking solar panels in Highlands County. While there would be a small change to customer’s
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Nancy Tower President & CEO Tampa Electric
What is the economic impact of Tampa Electric on the region? We have just over 750,000 customers in that area — a combination of residential, commercial, industrial and streetlight customers. From an economic perspective, we have been working on two very large capital projects, both under the theme of greening our generation. One is 600 megawatts of solar. We’re in the process of building 600 megawatts of solar in our service territory. When that is completed, it will be about 7% of our total generation. That’s 6 million solar panels on about 4,300 acres of land, so it’s a substantial build. We have about 300 of the 600 in place right now producing power, and we will finish the last 300 megawatts over the next two years. The other project involves the biggest of our three plants, the Big Bend Power Station, which fires on both natural gas and coal but over the years has been mainly a coal-fired generating plant. It has four units today, and we are modernizing unit one and decommissioning unit two. Essentially what that means is Big Bend units one and two will become two new, highly efficient gas-fired units. This will mean a substantial reduction in carbon. Each of those projects is about $850 million, for a total cost of $1.7 billion. How is Tampa Electric promoting environmental sustainability? Our Bayside Power Station fires on natural gas only. A number of years ago it was a coal-fired generating station, but it has been re-powered to be natural gas only. Our third station is Polk, and it has two things: a gasifier, which is a unique technology that takes petcoke, turns it into a gas and then burns it, and some peaker units, all natural gas fired. All together, we have substantially reduced our coal generation and our footprint from a carbon perspective.
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bills, the planned facilities would help to significantly reduce about 800 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions in Florida. A novel approach to dealing with rising electrical costs comes in the form of Strategic Property Partners’ Water Street Tampa development, which will feature the country’s first true smart district. The development will not only incorporate the latest in mixed-use design to combine residential, commercial and natural environments, but will also integrate smart technology, such as lighting linked to humans’ circadian rhythms. In addition to TECO’s plans to promote and pivot to photovoltaic energy, there are a few other noteworthy stories of alternative and environmentally-friendly energy initiatives in the Tampa Bay region. For example, the planned neighborhood of Cortez, which is to be located just south of Tampa, is being touted as a “grid-interactive, grid-optimized virtual power plant.” It will entail the construction of modestly-sized homes powered by solar energy, the consumption of which is optimized by Google Home. The end result will be a selection of attractive, LEEDcertified homes with net zero energy use and they are also hurricane-proof up to category 5 storms. Construction on zero energy homes in Cortez is set to begin in 2019. Looking ahead Tampa’s Imagine 2040 plan is the most ambitious effort to address the infrastructural challenges facing Tampa at present and in the foreseeable future. Imagine 2040 also includes four government facility improvements; two fire rescue projects; six parks and recreation projects; three solid waste projects; five stormwater projects; two technology and innovation projects; 24 transportation projects; 34 wastewater projects; and 30 water projects. “Tampa is about as dynamic a marketplace right now as you can find. We’ve lagged behind some of the other markets in Florida, such as Orlando and Miami, with infrastructure work, but now we’re starting to see these new infrastructure projects, and they will be around for many years to come,” Mark Hardy, Regional Manager for Universal Engineering Sciences, Inc told Invest:. Although there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done to make Imagine 2040 a reality, the level of thought and effort being dedicated to making Tampa Bay’s infrastructure sustainable and able to accommodate the expected influx of new residents is a promising sign.
Transportation, Aviation & Logistics: An area’s logistics and transportation infrastructure is the backbone of its economy. It determines how quickly and efficiently people and goods are transported. By most indicators, Tampa Bay is getting it right, with improvements to its main airport and the implementation of innovative solutions that address and improve mobility.
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Smooth ride: Transport improvements are being implemented across the region, and the results are already evident Everyone has been there: stuck in traffic because the roads can’t handle the vehicle volume; standing among the throng of passengers in line at the airport because of saturated facilities; waiting at the bus stop for a late bus to arrive due to lack of vehicles. How a city’s transportation infrastructure connects and moves people and goods can impact the rate of overall growth it experiences and the quality of life its residents and visitors enjoy. From the airport to the region’s streets, from smarter bus services to the acceptance of ride-sharing platforms, Tampa Bay is taking definitive steps to improve its transportation infrastructure, moves that will help it maintain economic prosperity while making it easier for people to get around. Airport expansion Tampa International Airport (TPA) will receive more than 24 million passengers per year by 2023, compared to just over 21 million travelers in fiscal year 2018. To meet demand, TPA has embarked on an ambitious, three-phase $2.5 billion Master Plan centered on the goals of decongestion, enabling and expansion. 112 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | TRANSPORTATION, AVIATION & LOGISTICS
Phase one, which was completed in 2018, was geared toward decongesting curbsides, roads and the main terminal. The substantial renovation included a 2.6-million-square-foot rental car center, a 1.4-milelong SkyConnect people mover, new outdoor dining terraces, 1,000 additional feet of escalators and 24 new elevators and a litany of new restaurants and shops in the concourse. Phase two, which broke ground this year, will begin with a $184 million curbside expansion and a $120 million project to relocate the airport’s central energy plant. The airport will then focus on developing a 17-acre commercial center next to the new rental car facility. The commercial center will include an office building, hotel, gas station and additional retail space to enable the airport to cater to more businesses. Finally, phase three will consist of constructing a new Airside D with 16 gates capable of servicing even more international and domestic flights. TPA leadership hopes that the Master Plan will enable the airport to accommodate the anticipated influx of passengers in a modern and enjoyable way. When completed, the refurbished airport will be able to accomodate 34
million passengers. TPA is growing in other ways outside of the Master Plan, including the addition of new routes. For starters, Contour Airlines is set to launch a new nonstop flight, once weekly on Saturdays, to Charlotte, North Carolina. Contour’s announcement comes after announcements by American Airlines, Frontier and Delta that they will also be offering additional flights through TPA. It’s Time Tampa Bay Once on the ground in Tampa Bay, people need to get from Point A to Point B. One ambitious set of plans to ameliorate traffic woes in Tampa has been proposed by It’s Time Tampa Bay, an organization comprising the Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). It’s Time Tampa Bay distributed a survey seeking input from voters on three potential plans to ease traffic. The first scenario focuses heavily on investments in new technology, such as driverless vehicles and highway projects, including rapid bus transit lanes. The second scenario would consist of an outer loop of expressways that would allow the bulk of traffic to avoid the congested center of the region. The third scenario envisions heavy investment in bus and rail services to connect more parts of the region by public transit. It’s Time Tampa Bay stressed that the final plan, expected by December 2019, might contain elements from each proposed scenario. To finance transportation and infrastructure improvement projects, Hillsborough County hiked its sales tax to a total 8.5% after two separate referendums approved a 1% transportation surtax and 0.5% tax for schools. When the new tax rate went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, it made Hillsborough County’s sales tax the highest in Florida. The new tax is projected to raise at least $230 million annually. Beth Alden, Executive Director with the Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning for Transportation, called the result a “watershed” moment. “This was something we’ve been planning for the past couple of years. We were tasked to determine how to accommodate future growth with what the transportation needs would be, and we discovered there was a multibillion-dollar disconnect. This sales tax will help us achieve our vision for the future of transportation.” The Bureau of Transportation Statistics says 87% of daily trips take place in personal vehicles. It should be pointed out, however, that traffic may not be as bad as people in Tampa think. The financial ( )
Frankie Jamison General Manager American Airlines at Tampa International Airport
How has Tampa’s growing population affected business? Tampa’s growing population definitely increases traffic flow in the airport and at American Airlines. In 2018, we had 21 million customers come through this airport, and in 2019 we expect 22 million to pass through. Before last year, the highest number we had was in 2007, when we saw 19.3 million customers. Thankfully, the expansion at Tampa International Airport has made this increased demand for air travel easier. The airport has a big project underway to change our bag drop and the overall appearance of our ticket counter, which will definitely add to the ease of commuting through the station. There’s a lot of construction that’s already happening in the main lobby, and the ticket counters are set to start in 2020. What advantages are there to doing business at Tampa International Airport? On the American Airlines side of business, we definitely staff for additional customers, and even with the airport construction, it’s still easy for customers to move through the station. Unlike a lot of places, here at American Airlines at Tampa International Airport, passengers board an air concourse rail that takes them directly to the American Airlines TSA area. This is very different from most airports where, when you go through security, you’re dealing with multiple airlines passing through one TSA checkpoint, which can lead to congestion and long wait periods before getting to your gate. Due to our system, we have some of the lowest wait times for TSA here in Tampa. Overall I think the growth of Tampa has been positive for the airport and American Airlines. It has pushed us to upgrade and expand our operations for the better.
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TRANSPORTATION, AVIATION & LOGISTICS INTERVIEW
Flying high How new incentives to retain talent and a focus on international travelers is boosting Tampa International Airport
Joseph Lopano CEO – Tampa International Airport
The board asked me if we could get international flights, and I said of course we can; we’re 5 million people. Of course, Tampa is not 5 million people, but within an hour’s drive of Tampa there are 5 million people. When you look at it from a regional standpoint, we’re the gateway to the west coast of Florida. We have been able to increase our international travel by more than 125% since I started. That’s extremely important because every time we bring in a new international live body on a daily basis, it generates $154 million in economic impact to our community. That’s critical.
Can you describe the incentive programs that you instituted to attract and retain top talent? The thing about expanding an airport is that you not only have to run the airport, which is a pretty crazy job, but at the same time you have 2,000 construction workers to manage who are building a project for you. We want to make sure that we keep our team together, to take us through phase two and phase three. To that end, we had the board approve a bonus program that is up to 15% of an employee’s salary to be paid as a bonus depending on whether we meet our goals. How important has accommodating international travel been for the airport and the city at large? It was a mandate for me when I came here years ago. 114 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | TRANSPORTATION, AVIATION & LOGISTICS
How has the uptick in fulfillment centers and Amazon operations around Tampa Bay and the I-4 corridor affected the airport’s air freight business? It has been transformational. What Amazon has done with the way it makes it so easy to purchase and deliver and receive goods — most of that now is translating into growth in air freight. We’ve seen tremendous growth on the part of Amazon. We’ve seen our cargo numbers and cargo revenue roughly double in the last three years. We’ve been the No. 2 airport in the U.S. in cargo growth since 2010. We have a number of distribution centers around the Tampa region, and the I-4 corridor is growing at a tremendous rate. Is there potential for using Brightline for decongestion purposes along the I-4 corridor? From the standpoint of the airport, we see our passenger traffic doubling over the next 20 years. That means that the roadways have to be capable of taking our travelers to the beaches or the museums or wherever else they want to go. At the present time they aren’t capable of doing that, so we’re looking for solutions. Brightline is one piece of the solution, but there is no silver bullet.
TRANSPORTATION, AVIATION & LOGISTICS OVERVIEW
( ) website WalletHub.com ranked Tampa No. 10 on its list of best cities for driving, ahead of the likes of Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco and Detroit. Complete streets The Complete Streets Policy in St. Petersburg, the full implementation of which is planned for 2019, stands out among improvement plans in Tampa Bay. The goal of Complete Streets is to create better transportation environments that are safe, accessible and enjoyable for everyone. The program also aims to create a network of routes and facilities so everyone can safely and comfortably reach all parts of the city by foot, bike or car. As a pilot test for the program, MLK Boulevard was redesigned to include buffered bike lanes and enhanced pedestrian crosswalks from 4th to 30th Avenues North, as well as a complete repaving from 4th to 34th Avenues North. To accommodate the changes, one of the five car lanes on MLK Boulevard was repurposed into an extra-wide bike lane. In addition, the Florida Chamber of Commerce has introduced Autonomous Florida, which recognizes the ascendance of the autonomous vehicle. The program hopes to make Florida the capital of “all things autonomous” in North America by taking advantage of the state’s autonomous vehicle-friendly regulatory environment, public-private partnerships to promote autonomous vehicle research and continued investment in the infrastructural upgrades that autonomous vehicles require. Another substantial investment is the Brightline (now Virgin Trains USA) rail expansion. The train company plans to build and operate a passenger rail service from Tampa to Orlando along the Interstate 4 corridor. The project has an estimated $1.7 billion cost and a projected completion date sometime in 2021. Virgin anticipates a ridership of 2.9 million passengers annually, paying a competitive $73 per ticket to generate $212 million per year. Virgin will also be constructing a terminal somewhere in Tampa and expects considerable commercial development around it.
Road improvements Road construction projects slated for completion in 2019 should make driving in Tampa safer and easier. One such project is the addition of an extra lane each way on State Road 60 from U.S. 301 to Falkenberg Road in Brandon, which will upgrade the road to six lanes. Next is the introduction of sorely needed eastwest options in Pasco County. An existing 1.5-mile stretch of State Road 52 between Bellamy Brothers Boulevard and Old Pasco Road will be gaining a lane in either direction, with plans to widen other stretches of SR52 later, with the goal of granting easier access to I-75. The state is also planning to build a $60 million, four-lane road from Wesley Chapel to Zephyrhills. Also set to conclude in 2019 is the widening of the last stretch of I-75 to six lanes. There are also plans to add several stoplights throughout the area and to optimize existing lights to better regulate traffic and eliminate bottlenecks. Finally, many dangerous or inefficient intersections are being improved by the addition of turn lanes, flashing crosswalks and sidewalks. Another major project is the replacement of the 58-year-old Howard Frankland Bridge. The project is expected to cost $814.4 million, and work should begin in 2019 or 2020. The replacement bridge will consist of four non-tolled, general use lanes; two tolled express lanes in the northbound and southbound directions; and a 12-foot shared-use path adjacent to the non-tolled, general-use lanes. A final noteworthy infrastructure project is the I-4 Ultimate. This project is the most ambitious series of infrastructural improvements ever undertaken by the State of Florida at one time. I-4 Ultimate consists of the complete reconstruction of 21 miles of the essential corridor, as well as the construction of more than 140 bridges. I-4 is also receiving two express toll lanes in either direction that are designed to guarantee 50-mile-per-hour speeds while traveling the road. Four years into the project, officials state it should be completed on schedule by 2021.
A final noteworthy infrastructure project is the I-4 Ultimate; the most ambitious series of infrastructural improvements ever undertaken by the State of Florida at one time.
Ride-sharing Like other states, Florida struggled with ride-
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Thomas Jewsbury Executive Director St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport
How do you stay competitive with the larger airports in the region? While the size of our airport may be smaller than that of Tampa International, we try to capitalize on the ease of passengers being able to navigate through our terminal; that is why our tagline is, ‘Tampa Bay, the Easy Way’. Approximately 90% of our travelers are leisure travelers who may not fly as frequently as business travelers. Our airport is similar to one-stop shopping, where you can walk in and easily find the ticket counter, checkpoint security and baggage claim. It’s simply not as overwhelming. Synergies with Tampa Airport are also important. We’re involved in various aviation trade associations that deal with regional, state and federal legislative issues. We also come together frequently to share ideas and information that are beneficial to both airports. Cooperation and competition go hand in hand in this industry. What do you hope to accomplish with the airport expansion? As we expand the airport to meet passenger growth, we want to continue being the easier, more relaxed option for the average traveler. We recognize our passengers utilize our airport because of the numerous nonstop destinations offered by the low cost carriers that serve the facility. In fact, we offer services to more than 55 destinations with Allegiant, Sun Country and Sunwing. Our capital program will open doors to new opportunities for expansion and enhance the customer experience. In 2019, we will complete a renovated Customs facility, new Checked Baggage Inspection Facility, new Parking and Internal Roadway System, and a new Master Concessionaire bringing local and national brands to St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE). Together, these will generate growth and a greater level of service for our passengers.
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sharing services like Uber and Lyft at first, with local governments throughout the state passing a disparate patchwork of regulations targeting the phenomenon. That all changed in April 2017, when the Florida legislature passed statewide rules for ride-sharing providers. The bill, which passed unanimously and without debate, requires companies like Uber and Lyft to carry $1 million insurance policies on any driver who is actively transporting a passenger, as well as up to $100,000 per-incident coverage on drivers when between passengers. All drivers must also submit to a thorough, third-party background check prior to starting work. At Tampa International Airport, ride-sharing providers agreed to a private contract in 2017 that required them to pay a fee of $3 per trip for pickups and drop-offs at the terminal, which then increased to $4 per trip in 2018 and $5 per trip starting in 2019. The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority board of directors approved the fee, which also applies to taxis and limos, to compensate for the loss of parking revenue that has coincided with the advent of ridesharing. Fast buses The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority (TBARTA) believes bus rapid transit (BRT) can ameliorate traffic strain. TBARTA wants to build a 41-mile BRT route along the I-275 corridor with at least 31 miles of dedicated BRT lanes so that buses won’t have to mix with car traffic. The route would connect St. Petersburg, Tampa and Wesley Chapel, thereby reducing traffic between them. The project is estimated to cost $1.6 billion to complete. TBARTA hired former Greater Richmond Transit Company CEO David Green as its new executive director to helm the new project. Innovative transit To alleviate Clearwater’s heavy traffic, BeachTran Clearwater wants to install aerial personal rapid transit (ARPT) between downtown Clearwater and Clearwater Beach. ARPT consists of two-person pods that are magnetically propelled along a suspended guide rail. The Clearwater ARPT would be accessed on demand via an app and would cost $4 per use. If this initial installation is successful, BeachTran has plans to expand the system to other destinations, including Tampa International Airport, Raymond James Stadium, the International Plaza and Tropicana Field. “We’re launching in Clearwater, where we are
based,” Tom Nocera, managing member of BeachTran Clearwater LLC, told Invest:. “We’ll start with a pilot project with about five stations. We’re also planning to construct a terminal building and extend routes toward Tampa. Ultimately, our plan is to connect our airports to Clearwater Beach and Tampa and create a regional system.” The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) is taking high-tech steps toward sustainability. PSTA has implemented a closely monitored recycling and reuse program; expanded access to its services through various programs, such as the Direct Connect program and UPASS; and has focused on the purchase of sustainable buses for its fleet, including 60 hybrid buses and a new all-electric model. When Invest: spoke with Brad Miller, CEO of PSTA, he highlighted innovation as a key to the PSTA’s success. “The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority is now known in the national and international transportation world as being among the most innovative, technologyadapting agencies around. We’re very proud of that designation. We’re always looking into the future of transportation to find out how we can bring new technology and new innovation into our community to make it easier for people to get around.” The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) is another mass transit provider in the area that is revolutionizing the industry through its environmental initiatives. HART, which is Florida’s first ISO 14001 certified transit authority, and one of only nine nationwide, uses its Environmental and Sustainability Management System (ESMS) to ensure that it meets all its environmental goals. Examples of the ESMS in action are HART’s review of its energy and utility use for the past five years to ensure efficiency, energy audits of all HART facilities to identify means of reducing the agency’s carbon footprint and the inclusion of water conservation techniques in all HART operations. Positive outlook Although even the most optimistic experts admit that traffic-free roads won’t be coming to Tampa anytime soon, city officials and other entities are doing much to improve the situation, from conventional solutions like wider roads and better intersection planning to high-tech approaches like autonomous cars and the ARPT. With the Master Plan being implemented at Tampa International Airport and the green initiatives of the region’s transit authorities, the outlook for sustainable transportation in Tampa is positive.
Eugene Conrad Airport Director Lakeland Linder International Airport
What were some highlights for Lakeland Linder International Airport in 2018? 2018 was a great year for us. We don’t have commercial service at this point, but we are going after commercial service. We sit on over 1,700 acres and have over 1 million square feet of facilities that we control, operate and maintain. There are 75 businesses and organizations that call us home, and they employ over 1,500 people. When you look at the different companies that are based here, we really have an aviation cluster. For example, we have seven aircraft and powerplant mechanics shops that work on various types of aircraft. We have two avionics shops that work on all the avionics for general aviation aircraft. We have a large paint facility here and two companies that do interiors on aircraft. We also have NOAA, the Hurricane Hunters, based here now. They came in 2017, and we built them a 106,000 square foot, $19 million facility that houses their 110 people and nine airplanes. We are also home to Draken International, the sixth-fastestgrowing company in the state of Florida, providing contract air services to the Department of Defense, as well as an aviation high school, Central Florida Aerospace Academy and Polk State College Aerospace. What are some of the biggest challenges Lakeland Linder International is facing today? I think the big challenge right now is workforce. When you look at aviation as a whole around the world, but especially in this country, there’s a pilot shortage, a mechanic shortage, an air traffic controller shortage, an airport management shortage. Basically, for all jobs that are aviation focused or centric, there’s a shortage, and we’re having a hard time finding people to fill these positions. We’re fortunate to have our aviation high school and Polk State College’s aerospace program; we’re training pilots and mechanics here, but we’re not training them fast enough.
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Major hub: Tampa is doing the necessary work to ensure it continues to grow as a trade and logistics center Tampa Bay has a bustling airport, an extremely active seaport and the second-largest manufacturing employment base in Florida. The manufacturing and supply chain industries have an enormous impact on the local economy. After goods arrive at Port Tampa Bay or Tampa International Airport, they must be delivered to their final destination, whether that is in Florida or elsewhere. Infrastructure improvements in the last few years, and ongoing, have provided easy access to the interstate highway system, which allows for transport within one day to destinations all along the eastern seaboard. The result is the development of a major trade and logistics hub. Trade landscape Port Tampa Bay is a renowned export port, particularly of fertilizer but also of specialty engine oils, structural steel and merchandise to Latin America and the Caribbean. Given Tampa’s strong connection to global trade, the U.S. withdrawal from the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) is of interest to companies in the region. The TPP is an ambitious free trade deal consisting of various partners around the Pacific, 118 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | TRANSPORTATION, AVIATION & LOGISTICS
originally to include the United States, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile. With the U.S. included, the TPP would have represented 40% of all global trade and covered an area double the size of the European Union’s single market. Negotiations carried on without the U.S. after it withdrew, and the deal now covers a market of 500 million people. The Trump administration pulled out of the treaty, saying it was unfair to American interests and would hurt domestic industries. While it is too early to tell whether the TPP would have been a boon or a burden to America, some early reports estimate that Brunei, Singapore and Vietnam’s economies will grow an added 2% as a result of the deal and that Malaysia’s economy would jump by 3%. The U.S., on the other hand, would have experienced only 0.5% growth. Another major development in global trade is the partnership between airlines, shippers and cargo forwarders designed to meet the changing global demands of the pharmaceutical industry. Expectations are raised in terms of security and accountability as pharma shipments become increasingly valuable. ( )
TRANSPORTATION, AVIATION & LOGISTICS INTERVIEW
Record revenues How the expansion of the Big Bend channel and a new Asia service is underpinning the record-breaking growth at Port Tampa Bay
Paul Anderson President & CEO – Port Tampa Bay
What were some accomplishments Port Tampa Bay saw in 2018? At Port Tampa Bay, we saw record-breaking overall operating revenue over this past year, just shy of $60 million, which was incredible for us. We saw more than 1 million cruise passengers come through the port, which shattered another record. One of our greatest accomplishments was a legacy project: the expansion of the Big Bend channel, which will be completed this year. The deepening of the channel from 34 feet to 43 feet and widening it from 200 feet to 250 feet will allow for larger ships to come into the port and service tenants like Mosaic and TECO — companies that also supported this unique public-private partnership. Finally, perhaps some of the most exciting news at the port right now is that we’ve just announced our first direct ocean carrier service between Asia and Port Tampa Bay. COSCO is now bringing in the largest container ships on a weekly basis to serve our customers along the l-4 corridor, the fastest-growing part of the state. How is Port Tampa Bay strategizing to attract more foreign and domestic business? 2018 saw the return of perishables for the first time in more than two decades. In February 2018, we had approximately 4,000 pallets of bananas come in from Ecuador. In December, we had our first shipment of pineapples from Costa Rica. We are also receiving weekly shipments of produce on expanded direct services between the east coast of Mexico and Port Tampa Bay. Now that we have that cold storage infrastructure in place, we have the capacity to handle even more perishables. We are aggressively marketing to growers’ associations in Latin America to build up more business with them. Right now we are working
to capture more business from Latin America, South America and Asia. How does the port contribute to job creation? We are the single-largest economic engine in West Central Florida. Our most recent economic impact study showed 85,000 direct, indirect and related jobs to Port Tampa Bay and more than $17.5 billion of economic impact. During the past year, we saw new job opportunities in our new cold storage facility. In the decades to come, we envision Port Redwing and the adjacent property at Southbay to become a major hub for manufacturing, distribution and warehousing serving the I-4 corridor due to the Big Bend Channel expansion.
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TRANSPORTATION, AVIATION & LOGISTICS OVERVIEW
Cesar Hernandez Founder & Executive Director – Tampa Bay Mobility Alliance
Tampa is a bit of an anomaly: We’re one of the largest economic drivers in the State of Florida, yet we have minimal connectivity. We have unsophisticated transit planning and very meager mobility options. But the potential is huge once we are able to connect our city centers and our areas of employment. We believe we’ll be able to grow exponentially upon addressing this need.
( ) The governments of the U.S., the European Union, Brazil and China are beginning to demand better visibility of serial numbers to prevent counterfeiting. These new requirements are forcing logistics providers to take extra steps to ensure the security of pharma shipments, such as using more robust tracking software, outfitting their vehicles with sophisticated climate control and making sure that they have pharma experts on staff. Foreign attraction To attract more business, Enterprise Florida launched the Venture Bridge Florida initiative. The program targets foreign companies with $500,000 to $20 million in sales and provides them with a “soft landing” in the U.S. market through a series of training programs. In sourcing foreign companies to participate in Venture Bridge Florida, Enterprise Florida plans to reach out to 90 consul general offices, sister cities, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, more than 75 international chambers of commerce and other international outreach organizations. Another move to attract foreign investment to Tampa comes in the form of the Global Cities Initiative, which is a joint program of the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase. The Tampa region will be represented by a host of local organizations, including the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation, Pinellas County Economic Development, Pasco Economic Development Council, Port Tampa Bay, Tampa International Airport and the University of South Florida. Representatives of these organizations will sit down with members of 30 to 40
foreign-based corporations already doing business in Tampa and conduct interviews to get the foreign business person’s perspective. The information gained from these interviews will then be used to make the area more attractive to foreign investors. “Tampa is where it’s happening in the global marketplace,” Deborah Wilkinson, executive director of the Tampa Bay Trade & Protocol Office, told Invest:. “One of the city’s unique initiatives was to establish, through the mayor’s office and the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners, the Tampa Bay Trade & Protocol Office. This is the second-largest consular corps in the state of Florida, and we work with diplomats from all over the world. The importance of working with consuls and their embassies, and with ambassadors and other diplomatic trade commissioners, is to grow investment and trade.”
Tampa is where it’s happening in the global marketplace.
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Port Tampa Bay One reason for the Tampa region’s economic success is the development of Port Tampa Bay into the state’s largest port. Thirty-seven million tons of cargo pass through the port’s 5,000 acres each year. It is also among the nation’s most diverse ports in terms of cargo handling everything from liquid bulk to automobiles, shipbuilding and repair and also travel cruises. “The port of Tampa is a very large port in terms of its footprint and the volume of cargo coming in and out. We have new container cranes. There’s always plenty of businesses that want to export and create jobs here, and we want to work with them,” Karl Kaliebe, Executive Director of the World Trade Center Tampa Bay, told Invest:.
TRANSPORTATION, AVIATION & LOGISTICS OVERVIEW
In fiscal year 2018, Tampa’s port once again broke its own record for operating revenue in a single year, with $59.7 million. This figure eclipsed the previous record of $53.8 million, set in 2017. Port Tampa Bay leadership attributes the continued high performance to increasing container and cruise traffic, expansions like the Port Logistics Cold Storage facility and increases of imports like petroleum, limestone, citrus and sulfur. The port enjoyed record numbers in its cruise activities. As of Sept. 17, 2018, the port served 1 million cruise ship passengers in a single year for the first time. Given that each 3,000-passenger cruise ship is estimated to generate an average of $403,000 in onshore spending, it’s easy to see what a significant economic impact this milestone represents. Part of the port’s success in the cruise industry can be attributed to Carnival Cruise Line’s addition of more than 20 new cruises to Havana, Cuba. Finally, the renovation of the Channelside area into the new Sparkman Wharf is expected to make Port Tampa Bay an even more attractive cruise stop. To keep up with the increase in passengers, the port
Port Tampa Bay is the largest port in Florida.
plans to renovate three of its cruise ship terminals in two phases: the first in October 2019, and the second in October 2020. On the cargo side, Shanghai-based COSCO SHIPPING Lines added Port Tampa Bay to its Gulf of Mexico Express (GME) Transpacific service to Asia, with the first ship arriving on Jan. 28, 2019. COSCO’s decision will allow other Port Tampa Bay clients to access the Chinese and Asian markets. Being included as a GME destination shows that Port Tampa Bay continues to grow in importance as a trading partner with fast-growing Asian countries like China. The port is also undergoing a deep dredging to accommodate larger ships. Air freight Also growing rapidly is TPA, not only in passenger but also cargo traffic. Total cargo revenue at TPA for fiscal year 2018 was just over $5.1 million, amounting to a whopping 45.4% increase from $3.5 million in 2017. The physical reality behind the money is even more staggering; between May 2017 and June 2018, TPA moved 392 million pounds of cargo, up 104% from 2015. This increase is due to FedEx, UPS and Amazon now flying a combined 21 planes per day into the airport during peak seasons. To accommodate all the additional cargo being brought in by these shipping powerhouses, TPA is taking steps to expand its capacity. The airport’s board has approved plans for a $72.3 million expansion to its cargo facilities on 70 acres of land next to the main terminal, which will add taxiways, connectors, roads and other essential cargo facilities. All the activity has moved TPA up the rankings for air cargo, passing Fort Lauderdale in 2017 to become the third-busiest in the state. For fiscal year 2019, TPA has budgeted for $5.2 million in cargo revenues. This compares with $2.6 million in 2015. Manufacturing Tampa has a long-standing and fast-growing manufacturing sector. Overall, 2,800 manufacturers call the Tampa Bay area home and employ more than 63,000 local workers. Of those manufacturers, approximately 500 are foreign firms representing more than 40 countries, indicative of Tampa Bay’s international reputation. Among the latest arrivals is Advanced Airfoil Components, which moved to Hillsborough County in October 2018, bringing with it 300 jobs and $139 million in local investments. The manufacturing industry in Tampa will likely
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be affected by the comprehensive tax reform passed by the Trump administration. Notable changes to the tax code include a reduction of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, write-offs for capital investments in plant assets and equipment for the next five years and a border adjustability revision that will terminate U.S. firms’ deductions on imported raw materials or products. Under these new provisions, manufacturing firms will face an even greater need to strategically locate new plants and carefully source raw materials. Because manufacturers will be unable to spend as much toward their tax liability, they will instead focus funds on research and development, capital improvements and other expenditures to improve operations. It is already apparent that the manufacturing firms that most carefully exploit the changes to the tax code can win big, and according to the National Association of Manufacturers, industrywide optimism is at a 20-year high. However, the new need to relocate existing plants and open others may present challenges in the form of upfront costs, as well as the indirect costs of employee relocation and supply chain readjustments.
negotiated for the construction, operation and maintenance of flight operation simulators, offices, storage and devices, and rent for the first year would be about $16,419 per month. This facility would be in addition to an existing facility two miles north of the airport. Another big name in aerospace, Honeywell, is planning to move a yet-undisclosed number of jobs from its recently shuttered plant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a site in Clearwater. Innovations Much of Tampa’s recent growth can be attributed to Tampa Bay Lightning owner and entrepreneur, Jeff Vinik. Vinik is behind the startup incubator Embarc Collective, as well as the major real estate investment project Water Street Tampa. Combined with another incubator, Tampa Bay Wave, these accelerators of innovation are making Tampa a center for hightech business. The results are tangible. Inc.com ranked Tampa No. 24 on its Surge Cities list of 50 Best Places in America to Start a Business But it’s not just startups. E-commerce giant Amazon is here and its global marketplace requires a tremendous amount of logistical support, from massive fulfillment centers to large volumes of shipping by air, land and sea. These logistical services are creating jobs and having a great economic impact on Tampa now that the company has distribution centers in the area and is flying out of Tampa International Airport. Even more is expected when the airport increases its cargo capacity.
Tampa has seen many foreign and domestic corporations expand or move into the area in recent years.
New players Tampa has seen many foreign and domestic corporations expand or move into the area in recent years: Ashley Furniture’s e-commerce operations opened a 100-employee workspace in Centro Ybor in 2017; Johnson & Johnson added 500 jobs to its shared-services headquarters in Tampa, with an expected capital investment of $23.5 million in the area; and Amazon is creating 4,000 new jobs in the region thanks to its distribution centers. As for high-tech firms, defense optics manufacturing company Meopta USA made the move to Trinity in 2017 after it became too expensive to continue operating in Long Island, New York. Resistacap Energy Products, which produces custom batteries, moved to Hillsborough County from Huntsville, Alabama, citing Tampa’s better pool of tech employees and lower cost of doing business. Lockheed Martin is also interested in expanding a training simulation facility on property belonging to Tampa International Airport. A lease is being
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Looking ahead Tampa is continuing to grow as a global manufacturing, trade and logistics hub. Both the Tampa International Airport and Port Tampa Bay are engaged in expansion campaigns. Local innovation accelerators have popped up and continue to create and attract new high-tech businesses. The city is also expanding its transportation infrastructure to accommodate the anticipated influx of new residents and visitors. Over the next few years, Tampa is poised to become one of the top places in Florida to live and do business.
Education: Academia is no stranger to innovation and that experience is coming in handy as the business sector calls on the school system to adapt to the needs of the new economic environment. From high schools to universities, educational institutions are answering the call, adopting new programs and preparing students for the world that awaits.
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Call to action: Academia is rising to the challenge to help fill a shortage of the skilled workers businesses need Tampa Bay’s industries are enjoying stellar growth, but they are also facing a dilemma: a shortage of skilled talent. As the local economy stays on full throttle, the area’s educational institutions are taking steps to prepare students to augment the area’s increasingly prestigious and competitive workforce. From universities to vocational colleges and even high schools, Tampa’s educators are working with the private sector to design courses and programs that meet local business needs, and in the process, they are steadily climbing the ranks of Florida’s, and the country’s, best. In fact, Tampa came in at No. 7 in WalletHub’s 2018 list of best college towns in America and placed second behind Austin, Texas, when filtering for city size by population. Among the many examples of how schools are adapting to the new landscape, consider the University of South Florida (USF) Muma College of Business. The business school’s dean, Moez Limayem, has put a great deal of effort into ensuring that the school’s faculty consists of experienced executives who can reference real-world experience when instructing and mentoring students. The goal is to achieve a 100% job 124 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | EDUCATION
placement rate. Similarly, Hillsborough Community College plans to fund the entrepreneurial endeavors of its students in an effort to help the next generation of business leaders get their start. Higher education In June 2018, the USF became the Tampa region’s Preeminent State Research University, a formal designation conferred on the university by the Florida Board of Governors. It officially puts the long-respected institution on the same tier as the University of Florida and Florida State University. In addition to bragging rights, pre-eminence comes with approximately $6.15 million in additional recurring funding that will help USF continue to grow to the benefit of its students and the region. Achieving pre-eminent status is a powerful indicator of USF’s recent performance, since obtaining this designation requires satisfying a strict set of metrics, including graduation rates, student retention rates, research expenditures and the number of patents awarded. Beyond the academic metrics, though, USF is also expanding its physical campus footprint in ( )
EDUCATION INTERVIEW
Patented success How applied research at USF is impacting the real world, with more than 100 patents in the last three years
Judy Genshaft President – University of South Florida
What notable research is coming out of the University of South Florida (USF) right now? USF is proud of its thriving research enterprise, which has a significant impact on the Tampa Bay region, the state of Florida and society at large. With $568 million in annual research expenditures, USF ranks 25th among public universities nationally for research spending. We do a considerable amount of healthcarerelated research in areas such as cardiovascular disease, dementia and infectious diseases. As one example, the USF Pediatric Epidemiology Center is the global epicenter for juvenile diabetes research. It is also important to note that our faculty and scholars focus on applied research versus research that is theoretical, which means that our discoveries and ideas have practical, real-world applications that make a tangible difference in our society. We have produced more than 100 patents in the last three years, and we are ranked fifth in new patents among U.S. public universities by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO). How does USF partner with local businesses to prepare the workforce? As Florida’s first preeminent metropolitan university, it is central to our mission to serve the needs of our community. We work closely with local businesses, government entities and nonprofits to ensure that the education we provide helps meet areas of workforce need. Part of this means ensuring we are providing a strong talent pipeline by admitting the best and brightest students from around the world, as well as working with community and state colleges to facilitate additional pathways into USF. Through the Fuse program, for instance, students can go to a state or community college for two years and automatically
gain entry into USF, working with our student support services. What innovation initiatives has USF undertaken? USF has embraced programs that support and sustain innovation, such as the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps), early-stage funding and grant programs to help support faculty inventions on their journey to market, and recognition for commercialization activity for tenure and promotion. At the USF Research Park, we help connect USF researchers to businesses in need of research partners. This park is home to a network of innovation-based companies, research, government resources and business development tools.
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EDUCATION OVERVIEW
( ) the Tampa Bay area. In November 2018, for example, USF celebrated the topping off of its 13-story Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute facility in the Water Street Tampa development. The new building will accommodate 1,800 students, researchers and other staff after its projected opening in 2019. USF is also preparing for the continued growth of its student body with the state-of-the-art Village Residential Community, which completed phases of development in 2017 and 2018, with additional phases to be completed in 2019. The Village consists of two new residential halls, a fully stocked fitness center with massage chairs, a pool and a dining hall with a variety of sophisticated culinary options. USF is also building a $40 million, 160,000-square-foot facility to house the USF Bulls. The complex is set to open in 2020. The University of Tampa (UT) also had a banner year
in 2018, once again shattering its enrollment record for the 22nd year in a row. UT welcomed 9,304 diverse undergraduate and graduate students in 2018, a 4% increase over 2017’s 8,913 enrollees. The university also has been on a continual building spree for more than 20 years, to the tune of $575 million in new construction and renovation. Among the latest projects is the renovation of the Riverside Center, consisting of an additional 20,000 square feet of space to bring the building’s total area to 54,000 square feet. Once the renovations are complete, the new space will house the Career Services office, new classrooms, conference rooms and a new post office. Additional construction plans include new buildings for the graduate, health studies, science and technology programs, with one $40 million graduate and health studies building opening in 2018. It’s not just new facilities that higher education
Today, HCC has an annual economic impact of $1.3 billion every year in Hillsborough County.
EDUCATION OVERVIEW
Robert Bishop Dean – USF College of Engineering
I think there is a future in ‘creative engineering.’ There are groups of students who are interested in art and technology but perhaps are not the strongest math students. There are also math students who are interested in technology but have prominent creative sides. I believe there could be a career in the middle, not just with something like graphic design, but in truly understanding both technology and art. This is a hybrid with a lot of opportunity, and from what we can tell, these kinds of workers are very attractive to employers.
institutions are emphasizing, it’s also using capital to better the experience for their students. When Invest: sat down with Angela Falconetti, the president of Polk State College, she spoke about how the school is using a legislative grant to hire more academic advisers to better their students’ experience. “We received $500,000 from the legislature to lessen the adviserto-student ratio and to bolster student services. Our college had one adviser for every 2,000 students, whereas the Florida college system averaged one to 730. The National Academic Advising Association recommends one to 400. Any institution of higher education needs to make sure that its students have the appropriate career coaching. We were able to lessen that ratio, and now we have one adviser to 1,065 students. It’s a much more manageable caseload even if it’s not where we want it to be yet. That was really a win.” Another noteworthy Tampa-area institution is Hillsborough Community College (HCC). The college celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019, having grown from a single junior college in 1967 to an accredited organization with 190 academic programs offered across five campuses. Today, HCC has an annual economic impact of $1.3 billion every year in Hillsborough County. Its students are also happy to call the area home, with 84% of HCC graduates staying put after graduation. These educational institutions, along with others in Tampa, including Saint Leo University, the Ringling College of Art and Design, the Galen College of Nursing and Leary Technical College, are helping to keep education in Tampa on the cutting edge of a rapidly changing world. Graduates overwhelmingly remain in
Tampa to start their careers and are in turn facilitating the sustainable economic growth of the whole area. “Internships are crucial, as are the practical projects in the classroom,” Jeffrey Senese, president of Saint Leo University, told Invest:. “We try to ensure both so our students are career-ready upon graduating. Our faculty in the criminal justice department all have at least 10 years of field experience in addition to academic experience. These are the people who know how things play out in the real world, and they also have the graduate degrees to teach. The same
The Tampa Bay region is looking to solve its labor shortage issue with homegrown talent from their higher education institutions.
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Randy Avent President Florida Polytechnic University
How is your university differentiating itself from other higher education institutions in the region? We have our educational program that contains lots of theory and lots of fundamentals because they create lifetime-employable students. At the same time, we have a project-based component that helps prepare students immediately for the workforce. On the administrative side, we came up with a new organizational construct. We have a flat organizational structure, unlike most universities, which are hierarchical. We have the president and the VPs, the department heads and chairs, and then faculty and staff. We were created to look a lot more like a business than academia. The benefit is that we don’t have those traditional legacy bureaucracies that we must appeal to. We’re also still forming our culture; we’re creating a purposeful culture. One of the elements will be that everything has an expiration date. Whatever we try, we’ll do it for a year or two. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll kill it quickly. If it works out, we’ll kill it after a few years. We’re trying to foster that culture of experimentation. What is on the horizon for the university? We are a new university with a state-of-the-art facility sitting in the middle of a cow pasture on the outer edge of Lakeland. One of the big developers in town calls this the best last property between Orlando and Tampa. It’s an incredibly ripe and opportune time. One of the things we’re pushing is developing a research park that would be adjacent to the university. It would be about 500 acres running west down Highway I-4. To the south of that would be multifamily and singlefamily housing. We want to foster a live, work, play environment. If we’re successful with that then the university would blend into the park and the park into the university. We already have a dozen companies that want to be on campus; we just don’t have room for them yet.
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Many universities in the region are starting programs and initiatives to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in their students.
goes for the business, arts and science, social work and education departments — they’re practitioners; that’s an important part of our model.” Expanding minds The broadening of the Tampa Bay educational system to address the area’s economic reality is also characterized by new programs and the accommodation of more students. The Ringling College of Art and Design, for one, is planning to demolish three older student housing buildings in order to build a large, stateof-the-art dormitory. The new 72,000-square-foot, five-story building will consist of 75 units capable of housing a total of 269 students when it opens in 2020. “As our enrollment has grown, our need for more facilities has increased,” Larry Thompson, president of Ringling College, told Invest:. “This expansion is happening because we’re developing new areas of focus and new majors. We are the first art school to put in a virtual reality development program. We are launching a new major called entertainment design in the fall of 2019. We are the most technologically advanced arts college in the world.” Colleges aren’t the only schools expanding in Tampa; Lightbridge Academy, a premier early learning
Rob Wolf President Tampa Bay Campus Galen College of Nursing
childcare provider, is planning to open four new locations in the Tampa area. Not only will this provide additional early learning opportunities for children, but it will also bring about 150 new jobs to the area. Available jobs include several part-time positions, as well as a director and multiple teaching positions. Lightbridge states that its decision to expand into the area is in response to the growing need for childcare and early education in areas beyond Tampa’s urban core, which indicates that families are beginning to spread into new parts of the region. Schools are also partnering with the private sector to ensure the needs of the economy are met. One area of growing strength is the technology arena that is making the Tampa area increasingly a hub for innovation and startups. The companies coming here, or starting up here, need talent, and schools are rising to the challenge. “While Tampa Bay’s tech sector is growing, it is not home to many large companies or company headquarters. There are, however, many small businesses in the region,” said Dr. Ken Atwater, President of Hillsborough Community College. “We try to be the training arm for those small businesses. We have done this by running a more robust entrepreneurship program that the tech industry takes
What is Galen’s role in Tampa’s healthcare community? Galen College of Nursing is one of the largest educators of nurses in the Tampa Bay area, and we are excited about our growth potential. Nurses are in demand in our region, and Galen graduates about 125 nursing students every quarter, which is more than many area colleges. With amazing outcomes, our students graduate prepared to practice. We are always looking for ways to expand access to nursing education, as well as to expand educational opportunities for existing nurses in the workforce. We just launched an online MSN Nurse Educator Program to support the growing need for nurse educators both in academic and clinical settings. Nurses comprise the largest segment of employees in healthcare, so we are proud to support local workforce development and high-quality patient care in our community. Why should students consider a career in nursing? Here in the Tampa Bay area we have first-class healthcare and hospitals and first-class educational providers. Never before has a profession been so dynamically poised to have as great an impact on our nation. Nursing is the backbone of healthcare and is a highly rewarding profession, not just from a career standpoint, but the emotional rewards are immeasurable. And nurses are in great demand in the Tampa Bay region. Besides being one of the fastestgrowing career fields, nursing is also one of the most flexible with over 100 specialties. Most people think of nurses traditionally in hospitals, but you can work in a variety of settings, salaries are strong and nursing offers a lot of career mobility. We emphasize the whole for our students — the compassion and dedication it takes, along with the skill-sets and the application of knowledge and learning.
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Derek Apanovitch President – Ultimate Medical Academy
We have what we call learner-services advisers who are assigned to individual students on their first day of class and stay with them through the duration of their program. One of the obvious challenges of running an online learning environment is that you don’t have students in front of you. We try to reaffirm that human element through constant interaction with our students, many of whom are single moms who are juggling part-time jobs and child care, so it’s important that someone is always available to help them. Faculty and the student support center employees are always on hand. That’s integral to the success of our students.
advantage of. We also run an incubator in partnership with Hillsborough County.” Talent pipeline The U.S. job market continues to evolve rapidly and in new ways, and education is working hard to keep up. Most notable are huge numbers of new jobs projected in the transportation, manufacturing, healthcare and hospitality industries. The South has some of the most optimistic forecasts, with a 21% increase in hiring expected in the region. This trend clearly manifests in the form of a growing focus on the trades and technical training. One notable example is Manatee Technical College’s new initiative to train HVAC repair technicians — for free. Citing a lack of qualified technicians as industry veterans retire en masse, the technical school is selecting 12 students to enroll in its HVAC training program free of charge, with a guaranteed job waiting for them when they graduate from the program. Administrators of the school want students to know what reliable jobs these are; even in the worst recession, people who can keep the air conditioning running will always have jobs in Florida. Hillsborough County Technical Schools is also seeing high demand in its industrial programs. “The hottest
topics we have right now are our industrial programs: electricity, air conditioning, plumbing, carpentry, welding, diesel and automotive technology,” Steve Briant, Career and Technical Education District, Hillsborough County Technical Schools, told Invest:. “Those programs aren’t new, but because of the turnaround in the economy, the need for skilled labor far outweighs the number of people who are ready to work in their fields. We’re training students as fast as we can, but it has been hard to keep up with the demand.” Construction is another area suffering from a shortage of skilled workers in the Tampa region. When the Great Recession devastated the global economy, construction was one of the hardest-hit industries. When construction projects dried up, many workers in that field abandoned it for other jobs they were able to get at the time. Even as the sector recovered, the required labor never came back. Companies have spent time and money to train a new generation of workers, but this slows down the pace of construction. The more desirable approach is to have more construction workers in technical training programs at local technical colleges, of which there is no shortage. Nursing is another field with explosive demand in Tampa and which offers an attractive alternative to
Nursing is another field with explosive demand in Tampa and which offers an attractive alternative to traditional university studies.
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EDUCATION OVERVIEW
traditional university studies. As a sign of the growth of the nursing career in Tampa, and the education sector’s response, the Galen School of Nursing opened a new campus in Tampa in 2018. The new facility is one of the largest in southwest Florida dedicated exclusively to nursing education. The state-of-theart facility will offer students the ability to learn in cutting-edge training and simulation facilities and unwind in comfortable and aesthetically-pleasing common areas. Online educational institutions are targeting indemand industries in their programs as well. “We have been investing locally in three key areas: health sciences, nursing and technology,” Staceyann Sinclair, Tampa Metro Area director for Rasmussen College, told Invest:. “Since 2004, when we entered the Florida market, we have been a leader and pioneer in online education. To best serve a career-ready student, we start by building a sound curriculum that aligns with the needs of in-demand industries.” Nonprofits and charity institutions are also helping train the future workforce. “This school year we launched 12 new sites across Tampa Bay for our school-to-work mentoring program, where we pair high-school juniors and seniors with area businesses,” Steven Koch, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Tampa, told Invest:. “They get a half day of mentoring on-site per month. It has become a very popular program. Moffitt is one of our key players.” K-12 Tampa’s K-12 schools also made quite a splash in 2018. Hillsborough County Public Schools, for example, topped a national assessment of student performance
in key areas. Specifically, the district’s fourth graders tied for first in the nation in reading and math, and eighth graders came in first for reading and second in math. This strong performance of public school students sends a clear signal to companies considering moving to or doing business in the Tampa area, as they represent a reliable pipeline of talented students into higher education and subsequently into the workforce. Hillsborough County students’ dominance in math is especially relevant considering that Tampa had more openings in STEM than any other professional area in 2018, and employers are concerned with minimizing the skills gap between new employees and the work they are expected to perform. The challenge for public schools is funding, and here too, the private sector is proving a partner for academia. “Funding public education continues to be a challenge across the state and country and therefore we have to be more strategic in how we overcome this particular challenge,” said Jeff Eakins, superintendent at Hillsborough County Public Schools. “What we have done to overcome this is really leverage our partnerships within the community more strategically for our schools. Federal funding is always going to be somewhat of a barrier here, so we are now looking at alternative solutions like working with our postsecondary institutions and local businesses to help us do the things that we may not be able to accomplish on our own.” Other organizations are also acting as a community partner in furthering extra education for those students who are struggling to comprehend certain subject matters, like the non-profit organization Poynter. “Through a program called the Write Field,
Ken Atwater President – Hillsborough Community College
At HCC, we design our workforce training programs around stackable credentials. This allows students to attain an industryrecognized certificate, enter the workforce and then return for more training as their schedule allows. This provides the flexibility that our students need, most of whom attend HCC on a part-time basis. Our students need entry and exit points along the way so they receive a marketable credential; get a job that pays a solid, family-supporting wage; and come back to us when they’re ready to advance in their career.
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Anne Kerr President – Florida Southern College
We live in an exciting era of technological advancements, and Florida Southern College is striving to stay ahead of the changes to best position students for the future. Computer Sciences is one of our fastest growing majors. We have hired an extraordinary group of professors with world-class reputations in their various computer sciences fields, and they are attracting talented students who want to study cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and Cloudbased computing. As we have refined our strategic plan for the college, we have prioritized this growing area of study, as well as enhancing curricular plans to ensure that graduates in all majors will be prepared with the skills they need to succeed in whatever profession and industry they are entering.
we coach about 40 African American male middle and high school students to improve their writing skills. We partner with the Tampa Bay Rays and a couple of other organizations to conduct this enhancement program. The students come to us once a month. They are learning to write and to love writing as a way of enhancing their academic performance. This program was created after an investigation that the Tampa Bay Times conducted that showed the schools who serve
Tampa’s educators are working with the private sector to design courses and programs that meet local business needs.
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predominantly African American populations are the lowest ranked schools in the county with the boys in particular under-performing by a large margin,” Kelly McBride, Senior Vice President for Poynter told Invest:. Pinellas County Schools also enjoyed a year of steady improvement despite receiving an overall B grade from the Florida Department of Education for the fourth straight year. The school district gained 22 points over last year, including gains in eight of 11 grading categories. On the individual school level, 90% of schools in the district earned A’s, B’s and C’s, with several improving from lower grades to higher. Some even moved up multiple grade levels. Another Tampa area school district, Pasco County, received similar applause for five of its schools. Land O’ Lakes, J.W. Mitchell, Sunlake, Wiregrass Ranch and Pasco eSchool all made U.S. News and World Report’s list of the nation’s best high schools. This is a distinction conferred on less than 30% of the country’s high schools. The good news was a bright spot for parents, students and administrators in Pasco County, where two elementary schools are slated for closure by 2021 due to low enrollment. The two schools, Hudson and Locke Elementary Schools, are not operating at capacity and officials worried that this would jeopardize state funding for a planned K-8 school in the county. Lacoochee Elementary was also on the chopping block, but after an outpouring of community support, the decision was made not to close the school.
EDUCATION OVERVIEW
Challenges One of the biggest challenges faced by schools at every level in the Tampa Bay region is keeping up with the demand of a constantly expanding job market. “In the Tampa Bay area and Florida we are very fortunate as we continue to see growth in population, especially people moving into the region. That inflow is really helpful for us in higher education. But, as you look at the long-term forecasts you expect to see a spike in growth overall in Florida up until about 2025 following which there is an expectation that the population will gradually decline. So, we must remain mindful as we head into the future,” Sridhar Sundaram, Dean of the Kate Tiedemann College of Business at USF St. Petersburg told Invest:. Tampa’s reputation as a growing city and a great place to do business is beginning to spread and attract businesses, which bring lots of jobs with them that require skilled applicants. It’s up to schools to ensure that there are enough workers to meet this demand, and those workers need to be among the best and brightest. However, it’s important to also keep in mind
that as Tampa’s economy grows, the cost of living will likely increase as well. Schools, particularly colleges and universities, need to stay ahead of the challenges surrounding affordable housing for students in an increasingly expensive city. In a closely related matter, as rising costs and the gradual forces of gentrification spread throughout the area, schools also need to be cognizant of the need to keep education accessible and affordable for all students in order to ensure a diverse student body and workforce. Looking ahead There is no argument that Tampa requires skilled workers to meet the needs of its booming economy. Educational institutions at all levels are rising to the challenge, expanding their physical footprint to accommodate more students and broadening their curricula to train the kind of human talent the private sector demands. From construction to high-tech, new course are sprouting up and innovations like internships or incubation programs could soon be the norm at Tampa Bay’s schools. For many, the path forward is clear: adapt and execute.
Tourism, Arts & Culture: Tampa Bay is enjoying a stellar streak of record-breaking tourism. In 2018, the industry posted milestones for out-of-state visitors and airport passenger traffic, inducing economic benefits across the local economy. Ranked third among the leading tourism markets in the U.S., its attractions include top beaches, world-class arts and culture and sports.
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Stellar feat: Tampa Bay has become a leading destination for domestic and international travelers Tourism is as synonymous with the state of Florida as sunshine and oranges. It’s the economic lifeblood of the state; it’s what keeps the money coming in and the wheels turning. Tourism is also what preserves the favorable tax conditions continuing to welcome businesses and individuals to relocate to Florida. There’s much to see when it comes to tourism in Florida beyond the famous Mickey Mouse pylon in Orlando. As a year-round destination, the state offers the ideal outlet for families looking for a relaxed environment to stretch their legs or northerners hoping to escape for a few weeks during blistering winters. Award-winning museums, cultural attractions, theme parks, historical sites and, of course, the breathtaking natural environment — there’s something in Florida for every leisure seeker. Located in a historic harbor on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the Tampa Bay area in particular is a microcosm of Florida’s arts, culture and tourism offerings. The sunshine, lush landscape, stunning sunsets and tropical climate are enough to draw visitors year round, but there’s much more to Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, including just about any 136 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE
activity or experience a traveler can ask for. Attend a pirate festival, kayak crystal-blue lagoons, indulge in world-class cuisine, grab a locally brewed beer, sample the vibrant nightlife, visit the historic cigar factorys at Ybor City or wander through any of the region’s world-class museums. And with some of the best hotel accommodations in the state, there’s enough lodging options to suit any occasion. By the numbers Tourism to Florida continues to hit record highs. In 2018, 126.1 million out-of-state visitors descended on Florida, setting a fresh standard for the eighth-straight year. The figure topped 2017 by 6.2%. Visit Florida numbers show 111.8 million domestic visitors came to the state last year, in addition to 10.8 million overseas visitors and 3.5 million Canadians. All these tourists spend money, pouring dollars into local businesses and propping up the local economy. The latest report from Visit Florida, released in January 2018, showed spending from out-of-state visitors at Florida-based businesses hit $112 billion in 2016, which signaled a growth rate of 2.7%. The report
TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE OVERVIEW
also indicated that visitor spending directly supported 875,722 jobs and earned Florida employees $27.9 billion in wages. Since 2011, the total number of Florida jobs supported by visitor spending from out of state for Florida employees has grown by nearly 20%, or roughly 140,000 jobs. According to Visit Florida: “The total impact of out-of-state visitor spending, including indirect and induced effects of the $112 billion, spending by out-of-state visitors to Florida sustained $88 billion in GDP, 1,435,341 jobs, and nearly $53 billion in corresponding wages. Putting these numbers in comparison to the overall Florida economy, tourism generated 9.5% of Florida’s GDP and 17.1% of total employment in 2016.” This uptick in tourism was also recorded in the passenger traffic of airports across the state, Florida’s 18 airports hosting 93.9 million passengers, up 7.6% on year and also a record. Tampa International Airport, which has gained a reputation as one of the premier airports in the country, had a record number of passengers for 2017 at 19,624,284, which exceeded the former record of 19,154,957 reached in 2007, just before the recession. It closed the fiscal year for 2018, running Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, above the 21-million passenger milestone for the first time, a 9.3% year-on-year rise
and another all-time record for TPA. The recent flights and routes that Tampa International Airport has added only underscores the interest Tampa Bay is generating as a prominent tourist destination. These destinations include Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Reykjavik, Iceland. Although much smaller, the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport is also seeing an uptick in traffic, exceeding 2 million passengers in 2017 for the first time ever and growing that figure last year. In June 2018, the airport processed a monthly record 217,615 domestic travelers, up 12% from the year-before period, thanks largely to a new service from Allegiant Air. Overall, 2018 was the fourth-straight record year for the airport, which saw over 2.2 million passengers, a 9% yearly rise.
Visitor spending directly supported 875,722 jobs and earned Florida employees $27.9 billion in wages.
Selling sunshine The initiatives and strategies developed by the tourism agencies in the Tampa Bay area contribute to the expansion of industry sectors and the region’s exposure on both a national and international level. Bed taxes are central to these initiatives. Keeping in mind the record-breaking statistics for the state, Tampa and St. Pete-Clearwater have seen corresponding
Tampa is home to the world famous Florida Orchestra.
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Tourism supports more than 49,000 local jobs and $2 billion in wages in the Tampa Bay region.
growth at local airports and the collection of tourist development taxes. The state’s tourism agencies have been lauded by state politicians for their “aggressive marketing efforts,” which distinguish the area as a global destination for travel and leisure. One of the local tourism agencies, Visit Tampa Bay, reported a substantial spike in bed taxes and hotel revenue for fiscal-year 2018. A record-breaking $34 million in bed, or tourist development, taxes and more than $718 million in hotel revenue were created by visitors to Hillsborough County during the period ended Sept. 30. These numbers were up 10.8% and 8.5%, respectively, from the previous year. Revenue from the Tourist Development Tax (TDT) are redistributed to bolster many different industry sectors, including facilities and venues, theme parks and attractions, sporting events, arts programs and marketing services. Hillsborough County is recognized as a high-impact destination for tourism. Behind the TDT is a desire to increase the occupancy of guest rooms in the Tampa area, as well as increase the taxes and revenues on these rentals. Projects and events selected by the TDT funding agencies are those that would generate significant amounts of overnight stays that boost the tax receipts of Hillsborough County. TDT funds collated by the county are being 138 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE
leveraged to increase tourist visits from out of state and out of the country. There’s a special emphasis on those projects and events that will spark repeated visits from tourists who stay overnight and participate in the same events or patronize the same venues each time they visit. In Pinellas County, the beaches continue to be the big draw for tourists. For the second time in three years, Clearwater was voted the No. 1 beach in the United States and No. 7 in the world by TripAdvisor. But local beaches had their share of trouble last summer with a nasty outbreak of toxic algae, or red tide. In August 2018, Visit Florida launched a new batch of programs with $500,000 earmarked to help promote all of the Tampa Bay-area counties suffering from the red tide outbreak. The counties served by this program were Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee and Collier. One of the initiatives formulated a six-month marketing partnership with the state-wide tourism agency, and others let the individual counties decide how they would like to market themselves. “Despite being affected by red tide, I think a lot of people are continuing to come to Tampa for vacation,” Dzung Do, general manager at the West Wing Boutique Hotel, told Invest:. “During the fall of 2018, our occupancy rates picked up significantly compared to the summer.” Pinellas County has also made special considerations for funding specific events with its tourism-generated taxes, as the county has shifted away from solely marketing the beach and is beginning to take advantage of the myriad experiences it has to offer. Local government is spending millions of dollars to sponsor events and draw more visitors. Pinellas County visitors pay 6 cents for every dollar spent on rentals, hotel rooms, campgrounds and RV parks. Requests for tax assistance must be from events that will draw thousands of hotel stays and visitors. Among the events that received funds allocated from tourist tax revenue are Clearwater Jazz Holiday, Clearwater Sea-Blues Festival, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the Valspar PGA Championship, Clearwater Beach Day and the The Gasparilla Bowl. Sports offers another tourism incentive and there is no shortage of professional and amateur competition in the Tampa Bay area. Professional baseball, hockey and football are entrenched here as is the North American Soccer League’s Tampa Bay Rowdies. The New York Yankees hold spring training in Tampa. The area’s university’s are represented in the NCAA. Tampa Bay also hosts top-flight events, including
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its fifth Super Bowl, coming in 2021. The Tampa Bay Sports Commission says Super Bowl LV is expected to generate 95,000 hotel visitor room nights. The overall economic impact for the last three Super Bowl hosts totaled almost a billion dollars. Fans on average spent up to $600 a day at recent games in Minnesota and Houston. Full occupancy Given all of the records Tampa-St. Pete tourism has set over the last three years, it’s no surprise that hotels in the area have been operating with extremely high occupancy rates, as evidenced in the TDT revenues. Visit Tampa Bay also reported that 10 of the 12 months of 2018 were record months for TDT revenue. These funds are allocated to venues such as Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Convention Center and Amalie Arena. Revenue per available room, which measures the profitability of hotels, grew by 5.8% as well. Projections of this metric show continued growth in the 3-4% range until 2020. As more hotels open in the market, competition will heat up. Insiders say that is a good
development. “The more competition the better,” said Kevin Scott, general manager of the Epicurean Hotel. “It keeps us constantly changing and constantly improving. The number of hotels that are coming into the market and their respective locations are appropriate for the demand of the city.” The recent reports underscore the fact that Tampa’s large luxury and boutique hotel market is not in any way artificially inflated; in fact, these figures make a strong case for how much marketing and aggressive sales can make an impact on the hotel sector. Once Tampa is able to bring more inventory online (several projects are currently under construction), the numbers are expected to skyrocket. Some of these new projects include the prodigious Seminole Hard Rock expansion, Hampton Inn & Home2 Suites in the Channel District and the JW Marriott & Edition Water Street, among others. “The hotel growth in Florida is unlike anything we’ve seen or experienced,” Joe Collier, president of Mainsail Lodging & Development, told Invest:. “We have several projects in various stages of development right now. There’s a project under construction in downtown ( )
TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE INTERVIEW
One of a kind How Visit Tampa Bay is using a different marketing approach to ensure the region’s success as a tourism destination
Santiago Corrada President & CEO – Visit Tampa Bay
distinct experiences here. You can still see remnants of the old cigar factories. You can still drive over brick roads. You can still go to a beautiful old theater.
To what do you attribute Tampa’s continued growth and success as a tourism destination? We believe strong marketing and aggressive selling go hand-in-glove. We don’t market Tampa like any other Florida destination. There are so many similarities among Florida destinations, with beaches being No. 1, but we don’t have any real beaches in Hillsborough County. Our coastline is predominantly condos and hotels. Our marketing has been focused on how unique we are — the art, the culture, the history, the diversity. We started with that, and we’ve seen a great evolution of the culinary scene and craft beer breweries. We’ve taken a tongue-in-cheek approach to why you should come here and why we’re so unique. We’re not just about palm trees, the sun and the water. You can have 140 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE
What is the impact of the Gasparilla Pirate Festival on the Tampa Bay area? Gasparilla has become a season. It started out as one parade, and then it morphed into three. We have a children’s parade that gets out of the gate first. That’s the more G-rated — for lack of a better word — event. Then there’s the invasion parade, which draws anywhere from 350,000 to 400,000 people. That’s bigger than the population of the entire city. Then there’s the night parade. We have the three parades, a marathon, an arts festival, a music festival and a film festival. It has become a broad range of events that we market as the Gasparilla Season. There’s something for everybody. The economic impact, as far as hotel occupancy, is huge because whether you’re local or not you want a place to stay near the event center. Our hotels are usually fully booked around that time of the year. What is your outlook for Tampa Bay’s tourism industry for the rest of the year? We’ve already broken the fiscal year record, and for the calendar year, we’re on a record-breaking pace. By 2021, we’ll be adding over 2,000 hotel rooms. We’re excited that we’re going to have this capacity and this inventory, including some sophisticated products that we haven’t had in the market. A JW is under construction, and it will be the first JW in Hillsborough County. Marriott is also adding an edition hotel, which is a high-end boutique hotel. We have this huge redevelopment here with an almost second downtown popping up right behind us.
TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE OVERVIEW
( ) Fort Myers, the historic Fenway Hotel in Dunedin, last year we opened the Waterline Hotel on Anna Maria Island and we are now starting a project in Wiregrass in conjunction with an indoor athletic facility.” These and other achievements have been attributed to a host of different factors, such as partnering with Expedia and various other booking agencies, the bullish marketing campaigns executed by Visit Tampa Bay and the partnerships with European countries such as Germany and Switzerland, as well as the UK and Norwich City FC soccer team, for which Visit Tampa Bay received Florida’s top award for creativity in marketing. After its annual meeting in 2018, the Hillsborough County Hotel and Motel Association concluded that in the Tampa Bay area occupancy is at roughly 2% on a 12-month average. The growth and demand seems to have been strongest for 2018 in the areas of North Tampa and Clearwater. On the national stage, the supply of hotel rooms has increased by 2%, while demand has increased by 3%. This figure is the reason daily room rates and occupancy rates have grown by more than an incremental margin year-over-year. Of course, the association also cautions that these types of favorable conditions cannot last forever; dips in occupancy are expected periodically through the coming years but not enough to take the annual average down by any significant margin. Lou Plasencia, CEO of Plasencia Group, has been encouraging growth in the hotel sector all year. There are 1,800 rooms under construction in the Tampa Bay area, but virtually no hotels with over 100 rooms are being built in Pinellas. This is a prime opportunity, local hotel expert says. “Hotel growth is not catching up to demand. Compared to other midlevel-city markets, the demand curve for hotel rooms in Tampa is favorable. With hotel demand at 3%, Tampa should remain a strong market and be able to push rates for the next couple of years,” Scott McClinton, CEO of Tampa Airport Marriott told Invest:. MICE tourism Visitors aren’t just flocking to Tampa Bay for leisure activities. Meetings and conventions also make up an important part of the region’s hospitality revenue. “Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) play a huge role at TradeWinds; it’s about 35% of our business,” Keith Overton, general manager at TradeWinds Resort, told Invest:. “It could be more, but leisure travel demand continues to be a better source of business at a higher ADR. Our leisure segment keeps us full from March all the way through to Labor Day.
We run about 95% occupancy during these months, but the leisure travel market dries up after the kids go back to school. Ultimately, we rely on meetings and conventions to fill these gaps.” In December 2018, the Tampa Convention Center announced that it would be adding two levels of meeting rooms at the Riverwalk side of the center, creating an additional 16,000 square feet in 18 new meeting spaces, with the project scheduled to break ground in July 2019. The plans also include demolition of the existing roof overhang, making a section of the convention center roof translucent. All of this is part of the center’s $30 million capital improvement plan, which is funded by the CRA and tourism tax dollars. The convention center welcomed more than 800,000 meeting and conference attendees in 2018. Riverwalk The Riverwalk is considered the single greatest development for the tourism and leisure industry in Tampa in the last 10 years. It took a long time for the Riverwalk vision to be realized, but it was finally finished in 2016. Now it does what public spaces are meant to do: everyone considers it his or her own, a place to go for a walk, paddle a kayak, spend an evening date night, browse countless museums and cultural attractions and more. People can walk or bike
In 2017, 23 million people visited Hillsborough County.
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Kevin Scott General Manager – Epicurean Hotel
Tampa continues its upward trajectory of steady growth, making it ideal for future investment in and around the city. Having so many successful Fortune 500 and other top-performing companies here has led to sustained job growth across several industries, which in turn is fueling population growth of young professionals and families and creating a larger footprint of urban housing and Class A office space. As one of Florida’s most diverse destinations, the Tampa Bay area is also a booming tourism market, with record numbers of visitors spurring an influx of upscale inventory, such as the Edition hotel and JW Marriott, with appealing amenities for residents and tourists alike. Add to that a major expansion of our top-rated international airport, transformative projects such as Water Street Tampa, and continued evolution along the Tampa Riverwalk and it’s hard not to be bullish on Tampa’s future.
down the Hillsborough River for two miles, passing the Convention Center, dozens of bars, restaurants, historic sites and museums that they can pop into at anytime to explore. These include the Henry B. Plant Museum, the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, the Tampa Museum of Art, the Glazer Children’s Museum and the Florida Aquarium. The Riverwalk has been such a big hit that it earned the People’s Choice Award in 2018, recognized as one of the Great Places in America from the American Planning Association. The emphasis on the Riverwalk was a strategic move plotted by Former Mayor Bob Buckhorn many years ago. Over the last decade, during the area’s renaissance, the Hillsborough River has become the focal point of the city and the urban core. The promenade connects just about everything Downtown Tampa has to offer, from green spaces to craft breweries and cultural events. It has established a prominent arts district with the grouping of the five distinct museums that have taken up residency there. The region has built a reputation for sustaining a rich arts community. It’s no small wonder that the Tampa Bay area was recently distinguished by the U.S. Census Bureau as one of the Top 5 most culturally diverse
areas in the country. Attractions Henry B. Plant Museum The Henry B. Plant Museum is housed in the 1891 Tampa Bay Hotel. This Victorian hotel was originally a railroad resort that helped to define the region; today it is a National Historic Landmark. The museum showcases the original furnishings that welcomed guests to the resort, reflecting the extravagance and grandeur of late 1800s America. Visitors are transported back to an era of early Florida opulence while at the same time paying tribute to Henry Plant, a transportation pioneer. In 2018, the museum received a Diversity and Inclusion Award from the Division of Cultural Affairs and Citizens for Florida Arts, Inc. The museum plans to use the award to offer sign language at performances held in its Upstairs/Downstairs live theater.
The region has built a reputation for sustaining a rich arts community.
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Straz Center for the Performing Arts The David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts opened in 1987 in Downtown Tampa and has since welcomed more than 16 million guests. In
TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE OVERVIEW
November 2009, the center was renamed to recognize the generous gift of financier David A. Straz, Jr. — the biggest donation ever made to a Tampa Bay area cultural institution. This 335,000-square-foot performance venue offers space for myriad concerts and events, including a leading Broadway series and a grand opera, and serves more than 600,000 visitors annually. In 2015, the center first unveiled a conceptual plan for redeveloping its waterfront, and a master plan with a price tag of up to $100 million was released in 2016. Since that time, the master plan has been tweaked. In early May 2018, Minneapolis-based real estate developer Ryan Cos. filed a design review request with the City of Tampa that presented the most detailed plan to date for the Straz redevelopment. The renovation plans are designed to help the Straz Center accommodate its rapid growth and will include an outdoor terrace that extends to the Riverwalk.
African-themed animal park and amusement complex with nine roller coasters and two water rides among its attractions. Tampa Museum of Art In 2010, the Tampa Museum of Art unveiled its awardwinning new building, reaffirming its commitment to providing innovative public programs that focus on ancient, modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1979, the museum boasts one of the largest Greek and Roman antiquities collections in the Southeast, and its collection is continually expanding. It also offers a dynamic schedule of special exhibitions every year. The Tampa Museum of Art is the region’s largest institution devoted to contemporary art; its wide variety of exhibits include modern photography and new media. It also offers free educational programs to students and adults, encouraging museum-goers of all ages to cultivate an appreciation for art. In 2018, the museum wrapped up a six-month space analysis on its master plan, begun 12 years ago, under consultation with more than 25 architectural firms. With a short list in hand, it plans to begin the interview process in 2019. Funds for phase two of the expansion and renovation will come from philanthropy, foundations and government funding. The Tampa Museum of Art welcomes more than 70,000 visitors each year and hosts a growing calendar of events, underscoring its need for additional space. The renovation plans could include an indoor event space that would complement ( )
The Tampa Museum of Art welcomes more than 70,000 visitors each year.
Busch Gardens Celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2019, the Seaworld Parks & Entertainment-owned Busch Gardens has come a long way since opening in 1959. What started as an Anheuser-Busch brewery that also offered a brewery tour, free beer and a bird garden, has become one of the world’s top destinations, with thrill rides, animal habitats and entertainment spread over its 335 acres. One of the theme park’s first animal care centers, the Bird Gardens Nursery, opened in 1960 while the first-of-its kind Serengeti Plain opened in 1965. Since then, Busch Gardens has steadily evolved into today’s
David Laxer Owner – Bern’s Steak House
I have a positive outlook. I think Tampa is growing at a remarkable pace, but we need to continue to manage that growth and not get ahead of ourselves. The tourism is great here. We see a lot of destination dining because the culinary scene in Tampa is growing. There are pockets of great restaurants and chefs. And obviously the craft brew scene here is one of the best in the country.
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Market voices: Culture corner
Judith Lisi
President & CEO Straz Performing Arts Center
When you look at the performing arts centers around the world, there’s a lot of focus in expanding beyond the walls. It’s no longer solely about what you do inside the theater but how you make the performing arts accessible to the entire community. We have a great opportunity in light of the transformation of the Riverwalk. Our whole master plan for the renovation of the Straz Center is being developed to address everything that’s happening on the river. We’ve already started developing a whole live and local series using all our local artists. It’s important that we become the center of gravity for the entire arts community and that people want to see what we’re doing here.
The Florida Orchestra is the only performing arts organization that bridges the bay and performs in all three cities that make up Tampa Bay. As the largest professional orchestra in Florida, we believe that music heals; as our communities, country and world experience so much divisiveness, it’s music that binds us all together. It doesn’t matter what your language is, where you were born, or your ethnicity, music is what creates community. That’s what we try to do with our music, create community.
Zora Carrier
Executive Director Florida Museum of Photographic Arts
Janet Paroo Chair The Florida Orchestra
The strategy of creating arts districts in city centers is a wonderful practice, and we benefit greatly from the Waterfront Arts District in Tampa. We often have visitors tour our museum and then ask us for advice about where they should go next. We are thrilled to be here with our neighbors like the Tampa Museum of Art, the Straz Center and the Henry B. Plant Museum. Our guests love the opportunity to come downtown and spend the day visiting the wonderful cultural institutions in Tampa.
The Tampa Museum of Art is thrilled to bring a continuation of our commitment to exploring ancient, modern and contemporary art. This year, we will continue to feature Yayoi Kusama: LOVE IS CALLING and Robert Indiana: A Sculpture Retrospective while continuing the year with a dynamic schedule of special exhibitions such as Oswaldo Vigas: Transformations; Abstract Expressionism: A Social Revolution; Tableau and Transformation: Photography from the Permanent Collection; Ancient and Modern Glass from the Permanent Collection; Ordinary/Extraordinary: Assemblage in Three Acts/ Jean-Michel Basquiat, Purvis Young, and Haitian Vodou Flags. 144 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE
Michael Tomor
Executive Director Tampa Museum of Art
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(
) the terrace.
Glazer Children’s Museum Located in Downtown Tampa, the 53,000-square-foot Glazer Children’s Museum features 170 interactive exhibits supplemented by the occasional traveling exhibit. In 2010, its first year of operation, the museum welcomed more than 250,00 visitors, donated more than 25,000 admissions tickets to underserved youth and served 26,000 students during school field trips and educational programs. Imagine Museum The Imagine Museum is located in St. Petersburg and is focused on bringing Contemporary American Studio Glass to the forefront. The museum is currently housing over 500 pieces of American Studio Glass that is representative of 55 artists over the last 55 years. The museum is also invested in bringing education about the importance of the arts to the region as expressed by Janet Buckman, Executive Director for the Imagine Museum. “We have to continue educating our local people about the importance of the arts. Having museums like ours in this region and allowing people to participate in the culture is the best way to make this happen. There are so many visual museums in this area, including Ringling Museum, Tampa Museum and the Dali Museum. There are so many cultural opportunities in the area for the community to immerse themselves in,” she told Invest:. Florida Aquarium The Florida Aquarium is a 250,000-square-foot aquarium located in Channelside. It is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which means it is a leader in conservation and education, pioneering research on coral reproduction, rescuing and rehabilitating sea turtles and other marine creatures and educating visitors of all ages on the importance of environmental sustainability. Home to more than 7,000 aquatic plants and animals from all over the world, the aquarium welcomed 800,000 paid visitors in fiscal year 2018. The Florida Aquarium was also ranked the third-best aquarium in the country in a recent USA Today poll. Ybor City Ybor City is a great example of the Tampa Bay area’s diversity. It was the vision of Vicente Martinez Ybor, the man who created what would eventually become the cigar capital of the world by attracting
The Florida Aquarium allows visitors to be up close and personal with many of the creatures found in the water surrounding Florida.
cigar factories and factory workers from Cuba. At the height of Ybor in the 1920s, there were over 200 cigar factors. Now there are 10 contiguous blocks of historic landmark destinations. The district is today one of the main entertainment centers in the city. Often called the “Greenwich Village of Tampa,” Ybor has been able to transform its historic buildings into offices, shops, restaurants, bars and boutique hotels without sacrificing any of its vintage charm. Salvador Dali Museum On the Pinellas side in St. Petersburg, the Salvador Dali Museum has been attracting visitors for nearly four decades. With a new hurricane-proof facility, it is a major contributor to the region’s cultural tourism. Housing the largest collection of Dali paintings outside of Spain, the museum brings in $140 million and roughly 400,000 tourists to the Tampa Bay area every year. While the Dali Museum might be the crown jewel of the museum gamut in St. Pete, there are many other institutions contributing to the arts and culture scene. St. Pete is quickly becoming a museum
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mecca; its reputation as an arts destination over a beach destination has grown significantly while the proliferation of museums in the downtown district continues. The Florida Orchestra Tampa Bay’s The Florida Orchestra is the largest professional symphony in Florida. The orchestra originated from both sides of Tampa Bay, merging the Tampa Philharmonic and the St. Petersburg Symphony to officially become the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony in November 1968. It changed its name to The Florida Orchestra in 1984. Among the orchestra’s milestones was its performance at Super Bowl XXV, the first symphony orchestra to be invited to play at the event. In 2011, it launched a cultural exchange with the Cuban Institute of Music and its Accessibility Initiative that helped reduce prices to its Masterworks and Pops concerts. The Florida Orchestra performs about 100 concerts a year, including educational youth concerts. Craft brews One of the greatest cultural attractions in the Tampa
Domestic visitors make up 61.4% of the market.
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Bay region is its world-class craft brewery scene. With nearly 100 state-of-the-art breweries and an aggressive marketing campaign that reaches all 50 states and international markets, Tampa-St.Pete has become a destination for craft beer tourists from all over the world. Consistently ranked among the country’s top cities for craft beer, the craft beer industry in Tampa has had a positive impact on both the local economy and job creation. A recent report from the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation concluded that “craft brewing had a $3.07 billion economic impact in Florida in 2017 and was responsible for more than 23,000 jobs with an average wage of $42,000.” “As the craft beer industry has grown in the area, it has become a top destination for craft beer lovers nationally and internationally,” Neil Callaghan, El Lector at Cigar City Brewing, told Invest:. “Being a business-friendly area with a local government that wants to help small businesses and finding a community very receptive to craft beer has contributed immensely to our growth. The community is really excited to have beer that is locally brewed and locally inspired.” Last year, Tampa was distinguished as the leading
TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE OVERVIEW
Stephen Sowards General Manager – The Don CeSar Hotel
As a development opportunity, St. Pete Beach is primed and ready for future investment opportunities. The city is positioned perfectly for future development both on the beach and near the water. We have a lot of older structures in the marketplace that are ideal for development and revitalization over the next four or five years. This beach has been fortunate to have sustained its shape and position in the face of coastal erosion, and it remains arguably the nicest beach in Florida. There’s nowhere else in the state that can offer this much available space and natural resources in such a beautiful setting.
city for craft beer in the entire Southeast. As a means of celebration, Visit Tampa Bay decided to partner with one of the city’s breweries to launch its own promotional ale. Visit Tampa Bay and Florida Avenue Brewing created Treasured Lager as a joint endeavor to highlight the rich history of commercial beer breweries in Tampa and to salute all the hard work that has turned this region into a mecca for beer tourists from far and wide. Sharing economy With $76 million of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s new budget allocated for Florida’s marketing agency, it’s safe to say that the state will continue its aggressive marketing campaign. Florida is also fervently pursuing tax revenue from hospitality platforms like Airbnb. Airbnb paid approximately $90 million in state taxes in 2018, which represents double what the company paid the previous year. The short answer for this spike is that tourism in the Tampa Bay area, as well as statewide, is booming. Hotels are performing just as well as Airbnb, which means that more people are coming to Tampa, and they’re spending more money when they get here. Much of the recent success for the hotels can be attributed to their adaptability in regards to renovations and upgrades, The Don CeSar Hotel is a perfect example of this. “The renovations to our meeting space and the guest room corridors finished earlier this year. We’re currently working on our facade
renovations. By the end of 2020, this entire hotel will have been preserved for the next generation of visitors. We couldn’t be better positioned for success in the next 10 to 15 years. The Don is back,” Stephen Sowards the General Manager for the Don CeSar Hotel told Invest:. The $90 million Airbnb paid in taxes in 2018 included approximately $27 million in bed tax dollars distributed to 40 counties in the state that have short-term rental agreements with Airbnb. Pinellas County was the first in Florida to underwrite a bed tax agreement with the Airbnb hosting platform. Although most bed taxes collected in the Tampa Bay area come from hotels, the state has become increasingly interested in striking deals like that it currently has with Airbnb to help promote the area for tourism.
Pinellas County was the first in Florida to underwrite a bed tax agreement.
Bright future 2018 was a tremendous year for tourism in the Tampa Bay area, with record-breaking revenue and visitor numbers, so it’s no surprise that the region ranks third among the top tourism markets in the U.S. From being named the No. 1 beach in the country to the announcement that a five-star hotel is on its way, Tampa Bay remains one of the hottest places in the nation for hospitality. With the Super Bowl in 2021, that trend is only going to continue. While the pressure is on to increase lodging to accommodate all the visitors flocking to the region, local industry leaders remain bullish on the future of tourism and hospitality in Tampa Bay in 2019 and beyond.
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Sports: From baseball to football to hockey and soccer, sports are integral to Tampa Bay’s character and attraction. It’s not just about enjoying the game, it’s about economics as fans descend on the city and provide a positive and widespread impact on the local economy and community. Wrestlemania, the Super Bowl … it all happens in Tampa Bay.
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Sports town: Tampa Bay’s iconic sports teams are making a significant impact on the area’s prosperity and quality of life Sports are an integral facet of Tampa Bay’s cultural identity and economic strength, and not just because of what happens on game days. Beyond the entertainment value of a baseball or football game, a trickle-down effect spreads across the entire community as fans spend their money in the city’s restaurants, bars and other venues. Tourism revenue generated just by fans coming to see the Tampa Bay Rays is between $100 million to $200 million per year. This money doesn’t just go to stadium concessions or the team itself; a fair bit of it comes to rest in the hands of local business owners and employees who serve the tourists. Overall, sports in the state of Florida are estimated to generate as much as $57.4 billion in economic impact, and Tampa Bay’s iconic teams generate a large portion of that. Tampa Bay Buccaneers With $383 million in annual revenue, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team is valued at approximately $2 billion. The team’s last playoff appearance was in 2007, which represents the second-longest NFL playoff drought after the Cleveland Browns. Despite 150 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | SPORTS
this somewhat disheartening streak, the Buccaneers are working to improve the fan experience at their home field, Raymond James Stadium, by carrying out a $160 million renovation of the stadium, which opened in 1998. The latest update was the addition of a premier sports bar called Bar 76, the name of which is an homage to the team’s inaugural season in 1976. The bar and restaurant will span approximately 10,000 square feet and feature a roster of 76 beers. One of the drawbacks of the Buccaneers’ playoff drought coinciding with Raymond James Stadium’s facelift is that ticket prices have gone up for the third year in a row after holding steady for the preceding eight years. The average ticket price to see a game at the stadium is $81, and seats that are closer to the field have gone up by as much as 37% over the last three years. While Tampa fans wait for the Buccaneers to break their dry spell, they can look forward to the NFL’s biggest spectacle, the Super Bowl, which is coming to the region for the fifth time. Super Bowl LV is set to be played at Raymond James Stadium in 2021, and officials are excited by the projected ( )
SPORTS INTERVIEW
Super potential How the Bucs helped land Super Bowl LV and what the team is doing to exceed expectations and expand its fanbase
Brian Ford COO – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
How important is customer service and experience to an organization like the Bucs? Customer service is the backbone of our business. We’re in the entertainment business, and therefore we’re competing with many different entities. People have a choice, and just meeting their expectations isn’t good enough; we strive to provide the best service possible, and we have a culture that’s built on the need to exceed our customers’ expectations. How is the Buccaneers’ organization and the city of Tampa Bay preparing for Super Bowl LV? It’s going to be Tampa’s fifth Super Bowl, which is great when you think about all the many, very exciting cities that can host the Super Bowl. We’re very proud of that. Tampa hosts a ton of big events, and we do them well. We worked closely with Rob Higgins of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, Eric Hart and Mickey Farrell of the Tampa Sports Authority, Commissioner Ken Hagan of Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa in putting together the best bid and best format for this mammoth event. When you sit down and look at it, it’s truly remarkable that so many in Pinellas County and Hillsborough County all came together for one event. What does the Tampa Bay Buccaneers organization mean to the region and how do you keep growing your fanbase? When I look at our fanbase, I put them in three distinct categories, starting with the fans that have been with us a long time — some as far back as 1976. Then there are those that may not be with us now but once were. They were probably with us during our Super Bowl years. Finally, there’s the group of people who have never been involved with our organization.
So we ask ourselves, why are the people in the last two groups not with us and how can we attract these potential fans to either come back or join us for the first time? These are important questions for our business model. Our No. 1 objective is to grow our fanbase every day, and we do that through customer service and experience. At the end of the day, you need to be a part of the community. You have to be liked as an organization before you can expect anyone to become a fan. We live in paradise, and we want to be part of the community every day. It starts at the top with the [owners, the] Glazer family. They’re so committed to Tampa. It’s a great town in all respects, and we all strive to be a representation of that.
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Brian Auld President Tampa Bay Rays
What does the acquisition of the Tampa Bay Rowdies mean for the Rays organization? It gives us an opportunity to partner with some local people who think differently about sports than we do and who manage players in a very different way. Our training staff have gotten together to talk about the best way to maximize athletic performance. We are able to bring a lot of our sales prowess and even some of our organizational strengths to the Rowdies, which, prior to the acquisition, was a much smaller group of people. We’ve got a great social media team, as did the Rowdies, and now those two teams are working together, cooperating, and sharing ideas. The Rowdies were an overall great organization when we arrived, and more than anything we’ve just tried to give them a few additional resources and a little bit more of a professional management structure, but otherwise we’ve stayed out of the way. What are some of the long term plans for the Rays organization? We’ve been forthright with the community that we want to be here in Tampa Bay for generations to come. That’s the most important thing to us at this moment. It’s also what keeps me up at night because in order to make that happen we will need a new facility. Tropicana Field is among the oldest facilities in all of Major League Baseball, especially without major renovations. We have to figure out where we can put a new ballpark and how we’re going to fund it in such a way that our attendance increases and we become more of a sustainable enterprise. We are entering a partnership with the Metropolitan Ministries to run a culinary school on site with our concessionaire Levy. We have kitchen facilities at Tropicana Field that are used 81 times a year to produce food for 25,000-plus people, but this partnership will allow us to use those facilities in the offseason to benefit the community.
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In October 2018, the Tampa Bay Rowdies were acquired by the baseball organization the Tampa Bay Rays.
( ) economic impact of the big game based on what it has done for other cities in recent years. Santa Clara enjoyed a $240 million windfall in 2016; in 2017, Houston enjoyed a $347 million economic impact; and in 2018, Minneapolis raked in $370 million. The Tampa Bay Sports Commission anticipates similar gains from Super Bowl LV, which is projected to generate 95,000 hotel room purchases; more than 5,500 credentialed media members from around the world are expected to attend the event. Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning is exciting both because of the team’s consistently impressive performance on the ice and because of the wave-making investment activities of the team’s owner, philanthropist Jeff Vinik. The franchise’s estimated value as of December 2018 is $445 million, and it generates approximately $144 million in total revenue per season, with Forbes calling the team the strongest NHL franchise in the South. The Lightning has been in the Top 10 in terms of attendance every season since 2012-2013, and last year they ranked sixth in the league. The team made it to the Eastern Conference finals in
SPORTS OVERVIEW
the 2017-2018 season, losing in seven games to the Washington Capitals. The Lightning had made it to four conference finals and one Stanley Cup playoff since 2010. This steady performance has played a substantial role in the team’s nearly $300 million growth in value since it was purchased by Vinik in 2010. Although they suffered a setback in the 2019 playoffs by losing in the first round, it was a stellar season that saw them win the President’s Trophy for leading the league in points. They also posted a record-sharing 62 victories. Like the Buccaneers, the Lightning generates an impressive amount of tourism revenue for the Tampa region, and the team along with Vinik also have a tremendous off-the-ice charitable impact. Vinik and his wife Penny have contributed more than $10 million over a period of five years to the Lightning Community Heroes program through the Lightning Foundation, which was used to support local nonprofits in
Tampa. Like his other ventures in the region, Vinik’s charitable efforts as the owner of the Lightning and the example by which he leads the team are having a vast and valuable impact.
The Rays generate as much as $200 million in tourism revenue for the Tampa region.
Tampa Bay Rays As Tampa’s representatives in America’s favorite pastime, the Rays are a storied $900 million franchise with four playoff appearances and a pennant, although a World Series still eludes the team. The Rays generate as much as $200 million in tourism revenue for the Tampa region, on top of another $200 million in net stadium revenues
at Tropicana Field. But the team believes it could do better with an improved stadium. After talks to build a new stadium in Tampa came to halt, the Rays unveiled plans in January 2019 to renovate Tropicana Field, reducing seating to create a better experience for fans. The team has invested over $50 million in the venue since ( )
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SPORTS INTERVIEW
Hockey town How the Lightning are securing success on and off the ice, with a top-notch team, community engagement and 100,000 sticks
Steve Griggs CEO – Tampa Bay Lightning
throughout their community. What initiatives is the organization spearheading to stay community minded? It is the responsibility of our sports teams to be engaged in the community. Our Community Heroes and CHARGE programs are recognized league-wide for their impact. Additionally, we’ve distributed over 100,000 hockey sticks to local students over the last four years, and we are going to distribute another 100,000 hockey sticks over the next couple of years. We’ve built a community hockey hub by the airport that teaches street hockey to our young people and we are building 10 outdoor community hockey rinks for street hockey. Our most important initiative may be our Guide the Thunder program that goes beyond just teaching kids to play hockey, and largely focuses on teaching these young adults about life, leadership and working as a team.
What are some of the long-term plans for the Lightning organization? Our brand is the most important aspect of our organization, and the key pillars of keeping it consistent are having a good team on the ice, our community engagement and our fan experience. There are key action items that we are looking at as we consider our future. One is maintaining the core of our business, which consists of continuing our sell-out streak and ensuring a great fan experience. There is a $3 billion district being built around our arena, spearheaded by Jeff Vinik and Cascade Investment, LLC, that will offer our fans and visitors a plethora of opportunities over the coming years. Lastly, any successful organization should be constantly looking at ways to be involved 154 | Invest: Tampa Bay 2019 | SPORTS
What has been the most significant factor to turning Tampa Bay into a “hockey town”? It has not just been one single silver bullet. First and foremost, it starts with our owner Jeff Vinik. He is by far the best owner in professional sports because of his authenticity, benevolence and his willingness to provide the organization with every resource we need on both the business and hockey side. Ultimately, we have been able to put all the different pieces together to not only create a winning hockey team, but also provide our fans and guests with a genuinely fun place to come to watch a hockey game: AMALIE Arena. Every game offers a memorable fan experience at a great value and winning has helped make sure that there’s a sense of tribalism and pride in the Lightning. People are proud to wear the logo.
SPORTS OVERVIEW
( ) 2005, including about $15 million in just the last two years. It has not abandoned hope for a new stadium and wants to stay in Tampa, according to team President Brian Auld: “Tropicana Field is among the oldest facilities in all of Major League Baseball, especially without major renovations. We have to figure out where we can put a new ballpark and how we’re going to fund it in such a way that our attendance increases and we become more of a sustainable enterprise.” Proponents argue that new venues increase ticket sales and tourism, while critics bemoan the cost and the apparent disposability of venues and call into question the revenue-boosting effects of a new stadium. Other sports In addition to its tent-pole franchises, Tampa is also the location of dozens of other high-profile sporting events and spectacles. Notable recent examples include U.S. Soccer’s Kickoff Series event featuring the national men’s soccer team, which was held at Raymond James Stadium in October. Tampa Bay’s very own USL soccer team the Tampa Bay Rowdies are also a local favorite. The team was recently purchased in October 2018 by the Tampa Bay Rays organization who also assumed responsibility for the Rowdies home stadium, Al Lang Stadium. The team is entering their tenth season with high hopes of bringing more wins under their new ownership. The Tampa Bay Sports Commission is also in discussions to bring Wrestlemania to Raymond James Stadium in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The massive wrestling spectacle would be a huge boon to Tampa’s economy, given that Wrestlemania 33 generated more than $181.5 million in revenue for Orlando, with 79% of fans in attendance coming from outside the region. Another sports organization, Women in Sports and Events (WISE), is also expected to increase the variety of sports and entertainment in the region when it opens its Tampa chapter. According to WISE President Michelle Harrolle, the organization’s mission is to “empower and educate women working in sports and other events, and provide them with the tools to succeed in every stage of their career.” Given that Tampa is a hotbed of sports and events activity, and that programs such as the Vinik Sport and Entertainment Management Program are producing talented women in the field, Tampa was a natural choice for the next chapter of WISE. As if there weren’t already enough sports to go
The Tampa Bay Lightning is named after the city of Tampa being the lightning capital of North America.
around in Tampa, another noteworthy sporting event in the area is the annual presence of the New York Yankees at George Steinbrenner Field for spring training, where fans are free to watch the legendary team prepare for the coming season. Also among the area’s sports attractions is college football. Raymond James Stadium hosts the Outback Bowl and in 2019, the New Year’s Day event featured the Iowa Hawkeyes and Mississippi State Bulldogs, with the latter making its ninth consecutive bowl appearance and first appearance in the Outback Bowl. The game itself is preceded by an entire week of festivities throughout the region, including a beach day in Ybor City. The Outback Bowl, and the events that lead up to it, are a tradition in Tampa stretching back 30 years, having generated roughly $1 billion in revenue and $130 million in distributions to participating universities. Looking ahead Sports have a long and successful history in Tampa,
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Lee Cohen Vice President & COO – Tampa Bay Rowdies
We’ve really focused on taking brands that were not necessarily able to touch our fan base before and really exposing them. We have a new partnership with DEX Imaging, which will be the first-ever sponsor we’ve had on the back of the jersey. From the community side of things, we’re heavily involved in the development of youth soccer in this region. Tampa Bay is one of the best markets in the U.S. in terms of developing young athletes, whether that’s helping them meet their ultimate goal of becoming a professional athlete, or teaching them valuable team and leadership skills that they can use later in their careers.
and the city’s national franchises alone have an economic impact that numbers in the hundreds of millions of dollars. All of the teams also are involved in giving back to the community in a variety of ways. Although championships have eluded them in recent years, Tampa’s teams have a demonstrated history of success, and continue to make moves to enhance the experience for fans while attracting even more tourism dollars to the area.
Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is set to host Super Bowl LV in 2021.
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One sign of success is the region’s ability to attract events. From Wrestlemania to the Super Bowl, the sports industry is generating new opportunities for Tampa residents to get involved in sports, both as fans and as industry professionals. Decades-old traditions such as the Outback Bowl and the New York Yankees’ annual spring training camp are mainstays of the area, helping Tampa remain one of the country’s premier sports destinations.