Pfizer confirms massive new operations hub in Tampa
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Feb 18, 2021

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. has confirmed plans to open an operations center in Tampa — one that will include finance, human resources, digital and sourcing employees.

The Business Journal first reported Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) had signed a lease for 105,000 square feet in office building Heights Union on Jan. 27. The Tampa Bay Economic Development Council issued a news release Thursday confirming the location.

The EDC did not confirm the number of jobs Pfizer's new location will create. In commercial real estate circles, the deal is rumored to represent up to 600 jobs. Heights Union was developed in a joint venture of Tampa's SoHo Capital and Atlanta-based TPA Ventures.

A Pfizer spokeswoman on Thursday declined to disclose the number of jobs that would be created at the new hub, though she said the company is actively hiring for about 50 open roles. Some have already been hired and are working remotely.

"We anticipate the number of colleagues and services in our Tampa hub to grow and evolve over time," Pamela Eisele, a Pfizer spokeswoman, told the Business Journal. "While the office will officially open March 1, there will be limited capacity as the company will operate under COVID-19 safety guidelines. Pfizer is taking a cautious, phased approach in adherence with government, state and local guidelines."

Ryan Reynolds, a senior vice president with CBRE Group Inc. in Tampa, represented the developers in the lease transaction. Andy May and Jimmy Garvey of Cushman & Wakefield Inc. represented Pfizer in the transaction. Neither CBRE nor Cushman has commented on the deal.

“Despite the challenges of the past year, Tampa is still one of the most exciting cities in the country and our momentum for attracting new talent and recruiting top corporations hasn’t slowed down," Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said in a statement. "If anything, it has accelerated.”

Eisele did not respond to a question as to what other cities Pfizer considered for this operations center. Tampa typically faces off with other Sunbelt cities, including Charlotte, North Carolina, and Austin, Texas, for these types of deals.

"Among many factors, Tampa showed the presence of a large and diverse talent pool, a precedent of similar life science operations and an attractive quality of life," Eisele said.

Pfizer is the fourth biopharmaceutical company to make a major move to Tampa since Bristol Myers Squibb announced an operations center here in 2013. Johnson & Johnson followed in 2015, and Axogen, which is in the same building where Pfizer will locate, committed to the city in 2017.

Bill Carapezzi, Pfizer's executive vice president of global business services and transformation at Pfizer, called Tampa an "ideal location for our latest multi-functional hub."

“After conducting a comprehensive evaluation, we are excited by the opportunity Tampa offers and we look forward to becoming an integral member of the growing Tampa community," Carapezzi said in a statement.

Gov. Ron DeSantis noted the "opportunity for good-paying jobs" that the new location will bring.

“We appreciate Pfizer’s longstanding contributions in the life sciences including of course their hard work to deliver a Covid-19 vaccine in such a short period of time — and wish them all the success," DeSantis said in a statement.