Media company Time Warner will not locate a new division in metro Atlanta, choosing instead to take its 500 jobs to the Tampa area.
It’s a big loss for economic developers in metro Atlanta and the state of Georgia, who fought hard to attract the new shared services division. The jobs, in human resources and information technology, have an average annual salary of $50,000.
That’s an even bigger loss to the region’s jobless. In August, Georgia’s unemployment rate hit its highest level in six months, rising to 10.2 percent. It was the 49th consecutive month Georgia has exceeded the national unemployment rate, which is currently 9.1 percent.
And metro Atlanta still is suffering from a glut of office space -- CoStar Group says that 17.2 percent of the area’s office space is vacant. Those in the real estate industry say new jobs are needed to fill those empty spaces.
Atlanta made the short list for the Time Warner jobs, along with Tampa and Rochester, N.Y. Time Warner said it started with a list of 59 cities.
On Tuesday, Tampa won the fight.
“Time Warner looked at possible sites all across the nation, but we ultimately decided that the state of Florida was the best place to locate our new facility,” John Martin, Time Warner’s chief financial and administrative officer, said in a statement issued by the Florida governor’s office.
“You [Florida] have created a business environment where we can feel good about investing today with an eye toward growing in the future,” Martin said.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott and his economic development team at Enterprise Florida Inc. worked with Time Warner to provide "the most competitive state and local incentives," the statement says.
The final incentive package includes up to $1.5 million in tax refunds for jobs created, including $1.2 million from Florida and $300,000 from local community matches. Additional incentives include $900,000 from a quick closing fund, workforce training funds, and incentives from Hillsborough County and Tampa for $450,000.
Time Warner is investing $5 million for the new facility.
Keith Cocozza, a Time Warner spokesman at its corporate headquarters in New York, said it’s too soon to say how many jobs from Atlanta or other cities will relocate to Tampa or whether there will be layoffs across the company as the new division is created.
Alison Tyrer with the Georgia Department of Economic Development said the state offered an "aggressive incentive package while making sure it would still bring a high return on investment to the state."
"We do understand that companies make business decisions based on many different factors," Tyrer said, "and we wish Time Warner well in its new location."
Time Warner, which employs 30,000 worldwide, said the Tampa area is neutral ground for its divisions, though a Time Inc. customer service division does employ 1,100 people there.
In Atlanta, Time Warner employs hundreds of people who work for Turner Broadcasting, including the television channels CNN, Headline News, TBS and Turner Classic Movies.
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