Plans by Port Tampa Bay to transform the now-vacant Port Red Wing into a cluster of steel manufacturing operations took a step closer to fruition Tuesday. The Tampa Port Authority board approved a lease agreement with Tampa Tank Inc. and Florida Structural Steel, which could result in creation of 108 new jobs for the area.
Now it is up to Tampa Tank to decide whether to take the deal, which includes an economic incentives package, or whether to expand in a location outside of Hillsborough County.
The local company, which specializes in steel tanks, silos, hoppers, stacks and bins, must sign off on the lease to finalize the deal. If the plan moves forward, the company will refurbish two warehouse buildings now standing vacant at Port Red Wing on 25.8 acres.
The company would use the warehouses to fabricate steel and iron structures, some of which would be sold domestically and some exported.
As part of the deal, the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. brokered an agreement with the county to give Tampa Tank a 50 percent property tax credit, which amounts to $778,785 over seven years. And because the property has been designated a brownfield, the company will get another 25 percent property tax credit for redeveloping the site, said Craig Roberts, project manager for port real estate. A brownfield is a previously developed site that may or may not have environmental cleanup associated with it.
If the deal goes through, the company could get also incentives from the City of Tampa and Hillsbrough County for new job creation under the state’s Qualified Target Industries program. The qualifying wage will be $50,000.
Twenty four of the 108 jobs would be for the Tampa Tank headquarters in Ybor City. The company would receive $8,000 per job, with the county and city paying 20 percent of that. The company would receive $7,500 per job for the 84 Port Red Wing positions, or $630,000 total, with the county picking up 20 percent and the state paying the remainder.
Tampa Tank CEO David Hale could not be reached Tuesday afternoon to comment on the deal.
“The most important thing is that all of these actions are part of a package being presented to Tampa Tank for its consideration,” said Rick, Homans, president and CEO of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. “This is a very competitive opportunity for Hillsborough County. We are competing against other locations for this expansion. The port today approved terms of a lease agreement that now the company can consider as part of the package.
“It’s really up to the company to make its decision on where to site this expansion. Our primary competition is the Bahamas,” Homans said. “This is a big deal because it is tied to the port and to manufacturing and tied to a company with Tampa in its name. We want to do everything possible to ensure this company continues to grow its investments and its jobs here.”
Homans called the port contract “the last piece of the puzzle,” in closing the deal.
“It’s going to take a couple of months, but we expect to move forward with construction,” said Raul Alfonso, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Port Tampa Bay. He said he already is busy shopping for other businesses that would be compatible for the Port Red Wing property and expects to have another company ready to join Tampa Tank within three to six months.
Alfonso said there is probably room for six steel businesses to operate at Port Red Wing, located at the southern end of the sprawling port, just north of Tampa Electric Company’s Big Bend Power Station.
The port authority board approved a $2.4 million bid in September to build a road on to the peninsula, creating infrastructure that would allow development at Port Red Wing.
For years now, the two warehouses, formerly used by a concrete manufacturer, have sat empty and been vandalized, with much of the electrical wiring stripped out. It will cost about $400,000 to refurbish the buildings and Tampa Tank would receive credit for that amount over the first five years of its lease. The lease agreement between Tampa Tank and the port would be for 20 years.
Source: tbo.com
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