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Zephyrhills Nears Deal To Bring In Sysco

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By NICOLA M. WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 18, 2007

ZEPHYRHILLS - The city is poised to ink a construction agreement with Sysco Food Services Corp., the Houston-based food distribution giant that wants to bring 132 new jobs and a 393,000-square-foot facility to east Zephyrhills.

The construction agreement is expected to be approved at Monday night's city council meeting.

City officials have been touting the project as a boon to Zephyrhills since July, when Sysco first made public its desire to open a distribution center here. This summer, city and Pasco County officials approved incentives to lure Sysco here, including $5 million in waived building fees and property taxes.

The city also plans to pursue economic development grants to offset some of the costs of building new roads and installing sewer lines to serve the plant.

City Manager Steve Spina said he saw many advantages to the project.

'Number one, the economic impact and the jobs it's going to bring - and the quality of the jobs because a lot of them are pretty high-paying jobs,' Spina said. 'I think it's the type of situation where once a type of company like this comes, we're put on the map and others feed off of it.'

Although approval of the construction agreement is one of the final steps in the deal with Sysco, the document also stipulates that the company is reviewing the project site - north of Sixth Avenue, near the Otis Moody subdivision - and can terminate the agreement if it finds the site unsuitable.

A Sysco spokeswoman could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.

The city council will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth Street.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.

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