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Financial firms to hire 470 in Tampa

The two companies also plan building projects and seek incentives to bring in high-paying positions.

By JAMES THORNER
Published April 19, 2006

Two large financial services companies are solidifying their positions in Tampa with 470 new employees and $27-million worth of new office construction.

Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP promises to hire 320 over the next two years at its national service center in Tampa Bay Park on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

To handle the growth, the company plans to invest $7-million in 60,000 square feet of new offices.

MetLife, the insurance company that runs its national finance operations in Tampa, has embarked on a hiring and building spree at Highwoods Preserve business park in New Tampa.

By early next year, MetLife plans to hire 150 employees and lease a new $20-million, 115,000-square-foot, four-story office building.

The job announcements were enough to warm the hearts of the corporations and the community.

The Tampa Bay area's unemployment rate of about 3 percent is low by national standards, but the region's average wage of $36,000 is weak compared to similar cities in the Sun Belt.

PricewaterhouseCoopers and Metlife have chased state incentives geared to companies paying higher-than-average wages.

As part of Tuesday's announcement, PricewaterhouseCoopers confirmed it would receive tax refunds from the state. The Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund program typically grants tax breaks of $3,000 to $5,000 for each job created. The status of MetLife's incentives quest remained unclear Tuesday.

"PricewaterhouseCoopers' expansion is a feather in the cap for the Sunshine State's booming financial services industry, which employs more than 330,000 Floridians," Gov. Jeb Bush said in a statement.

About 130 of PricewaterhouseCoopers' jobs will be for writers and researchers who supply data to its 30,000 employees nationally. Other hires will fill slots in the computer, human resources and finance departments.

The company employs 1,685 people in Tampa, mostly in Tampa Bay Park.

For PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tampa provides a lower cost alternative to the company's home offices in New York City. The new employees will provide a mix of entry-level and experienced people, though the company wouldn't disclose salaries.

"Tampa has a good quality of life at a reasonable cost," said Ken Cooke, a managing partner in Tampa for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

At MetLife, the hires will work in finance and administration, adding to the company's local work force of about 1,550. Pay will average about $50,000. "We're starting hiring now and will continue through 2007," spokesman John Calagna said Tuesday.

Since October, MetLife has shifted operations from Tampa's Westshore district to Highwoods Preserve.

The company bought or leased 300,000 square feet of the 816,000-square-foot office park, abandoned by the bankrupt WorldCom in 2003.

For MetLife's expansion, landlord Highwoods Properties will break ground in May on a four-story building with parking decks. MetLife has agreed to a long-term lease.

"We've been here since the early 1970s and we're looking to stay in Tampa," Calagna said.

James Thorner can be reached at thorner@sptimes.com or 813 226-8313.

[Last modified April 19, 2006, 01:58:13]