Valpak Plans 500,000-SF Art Production Plant

ST. PETERSBURG, FL-Valpak Direct Marketing Systems Inc., the Largo-based affiliate of Cox Target Media, also of Largo, has selected this city for the site of one of the largest art production plants in the US.

The 36-year-old direct mail coupon provider expects to break ground on the estimated $50-million venture in first quarter 2005 and have the facility fully operational in early 2007. The complex will be about 10 football fields in size. Valpak scoured the country for the best development site. The developer is Grady Pridgen Inc. of St. Petersburg.

“We looked at the other states very closely, in terms of available economic incentives, project future growth, quality of life, labor and much more,” says Brent Woodruff, first vice president of CB Richard Ellis Inc.’s Global Corporate Services Group in Atlanta. “When done, St. Petersburg was the clear choice for Valpak, particularly with the continuity of their business already in place in Largo, FL, the existing labor force in the market, and support offered by the Sate of Florida.”