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HSN expanding St. Petersburg headquarters

Immediate plans would add more than one-third the size of the current complex with new storage and office space.

By MARK ALBRIGHT
Published December 8, 2005

HSN Inc. plans to substantially expand its sprawling headquarters in St. Petersburg's Gateway area next year.

The upgrades include a new four-story office building for the TV shopping network's battalion of merchandise buyers that's almost as big as the five-story corporate headquarters off Roosevelt Boulevard.

The improvements, showcased by a more lushly landscaped campus entrance, are part of the increased investment in the TV shopping pioneer promised recently by Barry Diller, chairman and chief executive of HSN parent IAC/InterActiveCorp.

IAC didn't release an estimated cost, saying it can vary depending on its internal budget discussions. Construction is scheduled to begin next summer with completion by early 2007.

"This will get us back ahead of the curve in housing our growth," Mark Ethier, executive vice president and chief operating officer of HSN said after the plans were approved Wednesday by the St. Petersburg Environmental Development Commission.

The project will add about 205,000 square feet of storage and office space to the 554,000-square-foot complex that covers the 66-acre campus. Longer term, HSN preserved city approvals for a campus master plan that envisions two more five-story office towers in addition to the work that begins in 2006. The fenced-in layout, which houses about 4,000 workers, is the biggest single-employer corporate campus in St. Petersburg.

The network's space needs have grown apparent the past few years since HSN stepped up efforts to get more of its business through its fast-growing HSN.com.

Adding to demand, the company recently acquired Cornerstone Brands, a Cleveland catalog merchant, to provide a stream of apparel and home products for HSN to sell on its TV channels.

The company's finance department and HSN.com have been housed in temporary modular buildings for about four years. The merchant staff has been jammed into sharing the corporate headquarters.

The merchants will get their own building next to the network TV studios and call center. A 65,000-square-foot, two-story storage facility will be built on the west side of the call center to store product samples and oversized TV studio sets that are not being used.

HSN three years ago submitted the campus master plan to preserve development rights granted years earlier from a development of regional impact study done for the Gateway area. That deal required HSN pay $125,000 for major highway improvements that will be required by its future growth.

"The master plan approval was really more about their vesting the development rights," said John Hixenbaugh, city development coordinator. "This time they are really moving forward. We're thrilled."

Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or 727 893-8252.

[Last modified December 8, 2005, 00:49:13]