Terry Hunt of TL Hunt Inc. wanted to sell office space to
the former football-playing Gramatica brothers, who now own and operate
a construction-based business in Tampa called Gramatica SIPS
International.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers place kicker
Martin Gramatica and his brothers, former University of South Florida
place kickers Bill and Santiago Gramatica, had another idea during a
meeting at Hunt's office.
"We were trying to sell him
our product," says Bill, who also kicked in the National Football
League. "He was trying to sell us an office."
The Gramatica brothers convinced Hunt to use their product, structural insulated panels, in the ongoing construction of TL Hunt Inc.'s United Business Park, located on Hillsborough Avenue about a mile west of the Veterans Expressway.
The structural insulated panels have "tremendous energy efficiency and
strength," says Bill Gramatica. "It has a stacking strength five times stronger
than concrete blocks."
The panels consist of rigid foam
plastic insulation sandwiched between engineered wood facings. They
were invented more than 60 years ago and have gained wide-spread use by
energy-conscious builders
United
Business Park already is fronted by a NAPA auto parts store and
George's Wholesale Tire. Plans call for 10 additional
10,000-square-foot office/warehouse buildings, to be partitioned into
four units of 2,500 square feet, as well as a new corporate
headquarters for TL Hunt Inc. and an additional 3,500-square-foot
building toward the front of the 23-acre property.
The business park also will include a dock for fishing, riding trails and a picnic area, says Sheryl Marks of TL Hunt Inc.
Bill Gramatica says
Gramatica SIPS International
also has begun to explore avenues to build their prefabricated
structures in Haiti. Martin Gramatica, who also kicked for the New
Orleans Saints before retiring in 2008, has explored ways to help the
victims of Hurricane Katrina by building strong, relatively inexpensive
housing in stricken areas.
Writer:
Carter GaddisSource: Bill Gramatica, Gramatica SIPS International
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