Hillsborough County woos Johnson & Johnson with $2M in incentives

Health care giant Johnson & Johnson is considering a massive move to the Tampa area.

In March 2015, Hillsborough County commissioners voted unanimously to approve a $2.1 million incentive package in hopes of encouraging the Fortune 500 company to invest in Tampa Bay. If Tampa is selected, hundreds of new jobs would be relocated or created at a new “shared services” headquarters for Johnson & Johnson.

Hillsborough County economic development director Lindsey Kimball says that the move would be a good one, economically, for the community.

“If Johnson & Johnson chooses to locate in Hillsborough County, the project will potentially represent 700 new higher wage jobs in the community and a $23.5 million capital investment,” Kimball says. “These jobs are in what we call a ‘targeted industry,’ which means the primary customers for their services are outside of our market — and that is a good thing because they expand our local economy, driving demand for local services and goods.”

By the terms of the agreement, if Tampa is selected, Johnson & Johnson would be required to create the first group of about 200 jobs by December 31, 2016.

If Johnson & Johnson does set up shop in Hillsborough, the created jobs will be “shared services” functions typical of a headquarters operation, such as accounting, marketing, human resources, IT and legal. 

The average salary for these jobs would be around $75,000.

It is likely that not every position will be relocated, meaning the potential for new hires from within the Tampa Bay community.

“I would like to add that this project, if it chooses to locate here, will strengthen the biosciences cluster within our community by adding an additional marquis company to join Bristol-Myers Squibb, Draper, and Bausch and Lomb,” Kimball says. 

The Bristol-Myers Squibb North American Capability Center opened in Hillsborough County at 5104 Eisenhower Blvd. S. in January 2014 after similar wooing efforts from dozens of cities. Draper Lab, an engineering and tech research facility from MIT, has had a presence at the University of South Florida since 2009 and in Pinellas County for years at 9900 16th St. N. in St. Petersburg. Bausch and Lomb, the pharmaceuticals company, has had a manufacturing plant presence in Tampa since 1993 at 8500 Hidden River Parkway. 

Before the deal is decided, Johnson & Johnson will continue to look to several other states for the expansion. Florida’s incentive package depends on the $2.1 million from Hillsborough County along with a state incentive package of $7 million from the state’s economic development organization, Enterprise Florida, totaling a $9.1 million overall incentive package.