(Carl Cronan is editor of Real EstateFlorida.)
LAKELAND, FL-The decision by WellDyneRx Inc. to open a $20-million regional operations center here reflects a new direction for economic development locally. The Centennial, CO-based pharmacy benefit management firm announced earlier this week that it will hire 670 area residents to work at its new 66,000-sf facility near Interstate 4.
Lakeland has been known as a major distribution hub, but the area has focused on trying to attract more high-tech and high-skill jobs over the last five years, says Steve Scruggs, executive director of the Lakeland Economic Development Council. He believes WellDyneRx's announcement will be the first of many to reap the benefits of those efforts.
"We've worked on this project for a long time, and the timing of this announcement couldn't be better," Scruggs tells GlobeSt.com. Given the prospect of a faltering housing market and upticks in unemployment, he says it's good news that WellDyneRx will be hiring locally over the next two years for positions averaging $42,000 a year.
"It is a good testimony for getting distribution and back-office, and building our infrastructure to get to the next level," Scruggs says. "Certainly, they are the next level."WellDyneRx, which serves more than three million health plan members nationwide, intends to more than triple its prescription mail service capacity through its new operations. The privately owned company chose Lakeland for its pharmacy and call center over other locations in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.
WellDyneRx will lease space in a 150,000-sf speculative industrial building owned by Central Florida Development at I-4 and County Line Road, east of the Polk-Hillsborough county line. Scruggs says having a finished building helped recruiting efforts, though much more work will be required to build out and equip the space before it opens in December.
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