Micro Matic USA plans even bigger expansion
BROOKSVILLE — Driving along the Suncoast Parkway, motorists don’t get a clear indication of the expansiveness of the Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport and adjoining industrial park.
As they pass the Target Department Store heading north, they might catch a glimpse of the control tower perched in the middle of the airport. But they have to know where to look.
MICHAEL D. BATES/STAFF A view of the production floor at Micro Matic USA.
The view from the parkway will change when Micro Matic USA opens its new facility next year. It will be the first manufacturer to locate in clear view of the Suncoast Parkway, and Valerie Pianta couldn’t be happier.
“That is huge,” said Pianta, the county’s economic development supervisor. “When people start seeing that, it will be a visible sign of economic growth.”
And the company’s expansion will be bigger than originally envisioned.
Last April, county commissioners agreed to give $180,000 in incentives to Micro Matic, a manufacturer of industrial beverage dispensing equipment.
Company officials opted to remain in the company’s 75,000-square-foot facility at 2364 Simon Court and build an additional $3 million, 40,000-square-foot plant on a separate site within the airport’s adjacent technology center.
Danialle Coates, the company’s services manager, said the expansion will occur in phases.
The first, to be completed in October 2015, will be a 60,000-square-foot facility, of which 40,000 square feet will be used by employees. The second phase, scheduled for completion in October 2016, will open the remaining 20,000 square feet for use.
Phase three will include a 100,000-square-foot addition to the 60,000-square-foot building and be done in October 2019. Phases four and five will include two separate 100,000-square-foot additions and their time frames have not been announced.
Coates said visibility from the parkway will be an added bonus.
“It will definitely get our name out there,” she said.
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Micro Matic, with about 200 employees, did not falter during the recession because of the nature of its product and the rise in craft beer manufacturers who need its services, she said.
Micro Matic manufactures and supplies keg valves and dispensing equipment in more than 120 countries. The Brooksville facility is the corporate headquarters and it has four other regional warehouses. Inside is the Dispense Institute, where field-trained instructors conduct hands-on draft beer dispensing courses and workshops.
Pianta said there were suitors in other counties and states for Micro Matic and company officials “could have gone anywhere.”
Pianta said the company chose to stay in Hernando because the county has the existing work force, flexible government regulations and availability of land.
“They’re continuing to invest in the county and create new jobs and keep the jobs that they have,” Pianta said.
Brennan Smith, president of Leesburg-based Wagner Construction, said motorists easily can see Target and Kohls signs from the parkway. The presence of Micro Matic along the route should change the image from being more of a retail sector to one that also is geared to industry, he said.
For starters, it will be 40 feet high, he said.
Smith, who also built the new ICTC building in the technology center, said both facilities are meant to reflect the functionality of the businesses and have a design sophistication normally seen in more urban areas.
He intends to bring prospective clients to the Micro Matic building because it will serve as a showcase for new design schemes, he said.
The Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport and adjoining industrial park is a unique area that seems to be thriving, said Smith, who does work throughout the state and nation.
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