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Ironman to add 70 jobs at Tampa headquarters

 
Ironman will add 70 jobs and expand its Tampa headquarters, state and local officials announced Wednesday. The expansion qualified for $350,000 in state and local tax refunds under Florida's qualified target industry economic incentives program. Here, Joanna Zeiger wins the Foster Grant Ironman World Championship, a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run, in Clearwater in 2008. ATOYIA DEANS   |   Times (2008)
Ironman will add 70 jobs and expand its Tampa headquarters, state and local officials announced Wednesday. The expansion qualified for $350,000 in state and local tax refunds under Florida's qualified target industry economic incentives program. Here, Joanna Zeiger wins the Foster Grant Ironman World Championship, a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run, in Clearwater in 2008. ATOYIA DEANS | Times (2008)
Published March 21, 2018

TAMPA — Ironman, the sponsor of endurance races worldwide, will expand its Tampa headquarters and add 70 new jobs, thanks to $350,000 in economic development incentives from the state of Florida, Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa.

The company has been headquartered in Florida since 1989 and already employs more than 160 people here. The new jobs will be in sales, marketing, human resources, operations, finance and information technology. They are projected to pay an average of at least $57,163 a year, according to city of Tampa and Hillsborough County records.

The company also plans to lease an additional 10,000 square feet in the Lakeside office complex at Tampa Bay Park, which is on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, east of Raymond James Stadium, and has estimated it will invest an estimated $120,000 in the expansion.

"We have found a great home here in Tampa over the last 10 years," Ironman president and CEO Andrew Messick said Wednesday in a news release announcing the expansion. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, Ironman began as a single triathlon and has grown to stage 250 contests — including triathlons, running, cycling and mountain biking — in 53 nations.

BACKGROUND: Global company Ironman calls Tampa home

Ironman will receive $350,000 in state, county and city tax refunds, records show, with the city and county contributing a total of $35,000 each as the jobs are created over what is expected to be a period of six or more years.

Prior to the approval of the incentives, the company told economic development officials that it had alternative sites available in other states, according to county records. It made receipt of the incentives a condition of locating its expansion in Hillsborough.

Ironman, said local officials, joins a growing number of corporations that have decided recently to expand headquarters operations in Tampa or Hillsborough, including Accusoft, Beneficial Blends, BlueGrace, Nitro, ReliaQuest, and Sunview Software.

Tampa's "pro-business environment, active lifestyle and culture of innovation will make it easy for Ironman to attract" the talent it needs to keep growing, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said.

"Add in an accessible airport with national and international flight options," Messick said, "and it is easy to see why Tampa is an ideal location for a global headquarters."

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Contact Richard Danielson at rdanielson@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3403. Follow @Danielson_Times