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Home Depot grows its contractor supply chain

The retailer has bought two more Florida companies and doubled the number of its Supply locations.

By MARK ALBRIGHT
Published July 29, 2006

Home Depot's growing reach into the contractor supply business has produced two new developments in Florida.

The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer struck a deal to gobble up another lumber yard, 350-employee Forest Products Supply Inc. in Sarasota.

Meantime, state government and city leaders in Orlando are trying to fill a honey-pot with up to $250-million in tax incentives to lure Home Depot's Supply Division headquarters after the recently-acquired Hughes Supply Inc. there is integrated into its new corporate parent, according to an Orlando Sentinel report.

Based on unnamed sources, the report said the players involved with negotiations are mum because they signed confidentiality agreements. They also reported the incentive package could add up to more than $400-million over several years.

Rather than lose thousands of Hughes jobs now that one of the city's two Fortune 500 companies is part of Home Depot Inc., Orlando leaders and state economic development officials are trying to preserve them and land up to 3,000 more jobs for what Home Depot hopes to transform into a $23-billion to $27-billion business unit by 2010.

The median annual wage at the division headquarters is reportedly $75,000.

Home Depot declined to discuss the talks, citing its policy of not discussing "rumors and speculation."

"We wouldn't talk about it even if we did have discussions with them," said Paula Smith, a spokeswoman for Home Depot Supply.

The size of the incentive package, however, would squeeze the city's ability to come up with enough incentives to effectively woo the Burnham Institute, a California bio-tech research center to set up a branch in Orange County. Burnham, sought in the wake of losing the larger Scripps Research bio-tech deal in a bidding war to Palm Beach County, wants up to $235-million from the state and $95-million from local sources in Orlando.

Also on the local government agenda in Orlando this summer are higher taxes on hotel bills to build a new arena for the Magic basketball team, upgrade the Citrus Bowl football stadium with luxury suites and construct a performing arts center.

Home Depot's Sarasota acquisition of a two lumber yard operation that caters to the building trades follows its June purchase of St. Petersburg's 28-store Cox Lumber Co., which had been Florida's largest independent lumber and building materials supply.

The acquisition of Hughes doubled the size of Home Depot Supply to 900 locations, 20,000 employees and annual revenue of $12-billion.

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

[Last modified July 29, 2006, 01:21:14]