Pall Aeropower will move jobs to Pasco in expansion
The company will spend $4.5-million to add 13,000 square feet and move about 55 jobs from Clearwater.
By MELIA BOWIE
Published June 24, 2004
NEW PORT RICHEY - Pall Aeropower Corp., the county's largest manufacturer, once again is expanding locally.
The company is building a 13,000-square-foot addition to its Ridge Road plant. Pall will move about 55 employees from Clearwater to Pasco - further consolidating its operations here. New equipment also will be added.
The expansion is expected to cost about $4.5-million, officials with the Pasco Economic Development Council said Wednesday.
"I know one of the reasons is their lease is up" in Clearwater, said EDC vice president John Walsh.
Pall also wants to create more "synergy" among its operations, said Pat Iannuci, vice president of communications for Pall at its headquarters in East Hills, N.Y.
"We wanted the entire team to be under one roof," she said.
Pall sits on about 54 acres at Ridge Road and manufactures filters for the aerospace industry. The company's most recent expansion in Pasco County was announced in 2001 when Pall added 10,200 square feet.
The company employs 520 people in Pasco.
In past years Pall consolidated its Tampa Bay area operations by transferring workers from a defunct Pinellas Park plant to New Port Richey. Pall's planned expansion at the Pasco site continues that trend.
The added space will be offices for the company's Clearwater sales, human resources and information technology staff. Groundbreaking for the building was last week, and completion is expected in December, Iannuci said.
Pall's expansion comes as County Commissioner Steve Simon said he plans to approach the commission about revising Pasco's economic development ordinance so that existing companies are eligible for some of the same benefits that new ones receive.
As things now stand under the ordinance, a new company that brings in 10,000 square feet and 15 new employees qualifies for incentives. But the ordinance ignores existing firms relocating or expanding within Pasco.
"There's a number of projects in the past that could have benefitted from this," the EDC's Walsh said.
Such a policy mimics cell phone companies that offers free minutes to new users while rationing out the minutes of existing customers.
"Tell me how that's different from our current ordinance? It's not," Simon said, calling the practice "an inefficient method of distributing incentives."
"I intend to change it," he said.
- Melia Bowie covers business in Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6229, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6229. Her e-mail address is bowie@sptimes.com
