Fast-Food Turnover
In the Sept. 2002 issue of Site Selection, Burger King's Lisa Vivero, vice president of purchasing and business services, reported that the community's position as the Latin America gateway was one of its main reasons for staying in Miami-Dade Co. In 2001, the company went through a Site Selection process that included looks at Georgia and Arizona, but ended in a new $52-million, 230,000-sq.-ft. (21,390-sq.-m.) world headquarters at Waterford at Blue Lagoon, near the Miami International Airport, as well as a 45,000-sq.-ft. (4,181-sq.-m.) lease at another Dade Co. facility.
That headquarters was designed to accommodate as many as 700 employees, opened in Sept. 2002 and received total tax abatements from the county and state that came to nearly $1.9 million, primarily derived from Enterprise Zone programs. The HQ also opened just as the company was emerging from its acquisition by a group of investors led by Texas Pacific Group.
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In May 2005, the company announced another new headquarters project, this time a $68-million facility in Coral Gables that will eliminate the need for the smaller leased space. Some 600 jobs will be retained, and 60 new jobs created over the next three years, and the square footage is up to 250,000 sq. ft. (23,225 sq. m.). The facility will be developed and owned by Codina Group in a joint venture with JPMorgan Asset Management's SSPF Fund. Codina Bush Klein was the original landlord for the company's Biscayne Bay properties it moved out of two headquarters ago. The new headquarters will serve as home to Burger King's global marketing, product development, operations, finance, information technology and other departments.
This time around, the main competitor was Houston, but a considerably higher incentive package totaling nearly $8.7 million was assembled, to be disbursed over the next 15 years. It included benefits from the Miami-Dade County Targeted Jobs Incentive Fund (TJIF), the State of Florida Qualified Target Industry (QTI) Tax Refund, and the State of Florida Quick Response Training (QRT) Program. That package overcame the lower business costs in Texas.
Coral Gables also happens to be the home of recently installed company president Greg Brenneman. According to reports published in the Houston Chronicle, Coral Gables was the original choice for the 2002 HQ project, but was passed over for the Blue Lagoon property after a development deal fell through.
Carlos Leonard, assistant executive vice president, business development for the Beacon Council, says the Blue Lagoon building is now owned by Franklin Street Investments, which will be working with the Beacon Council to market the space. BK currently occupies around 213,000 sq. ft. (19,788 sq. m.).
Leonard says the company extended its lease there through Sept. 2008 in order to give it enough time to build the new digs. Meanwhile, Burger King also will have fulfilled its obligations under the enterprise zone tax abatement program, which was in effect for a five-year period. As for the new incentive package, which is all performance-based, Leonard says the company can start applying for refunds as soon as it starts paying the applicable taxes.
Asked if he's yet seeing any surge in queries related to the passage of CAFTA, Leonard says he's working with three companies looking at Miami-Dade Co. for regional or world headquarters.
In Tampa, HQ news was made earlier this year when Mass.-based document management company Quadrant Software moved its world headquarters from Taunton, Mass., to Tampa, a move that was completed by July 1. The company said the relocation allowed better accessibility to customers, prospects and partners around the world. Among the companies Quadrant serves with its electronic document distribution solution are Chevron, Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, GE Capital and Siemens.
Quadrant CEO Gary Langton tells Site Selection the company is currently in the midst of Site Selection as it operates out of temporary space. He anticipates creating about 25 jobs in the next few years, and investing around $1.5 million in the purchase of a building.
