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State OKs $12 Million Incentive For Firm

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: January 24, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - Investment firm T. Rowe Price has secured $12 million in state support for a proposed Pasco County office complex, according to a letter sent to company officials from Gov. Charlie Crist.

The company, which plans to build a bigger office complex for 1,200 workers, also got a $3 million road grant from the state this month. Pasco is one of five areas across the country T. Rowe Price is considering for its new office complex and the only one in Florida.

T. Rowe Price currently has 435 employees in leased space in Tampa. Those jobs would be moved to Pasco County if the company chooses to build here, county officials have said.

The Pasco site is part of the Long Lake Ranch development along State Road 54 between U.S. 41 and the Suncoast Parkway.

Company officials remain tight-lipped about where they will move.

In recent weeks, however, Amprop Development Corp., which is developing the northern portion of Long Lake Ranch, asked the Southwest Florida Water Management District for a development permit on T. Rowe Price's behalf.

The new grant comes from the state's High Impact Business Performance Initiative program, which encourages the development of financial services, corporate headquarters and high-tech manufacturing, among other things.

The money will be doled out in two parts: half when T. Rowe Price has invested as much as $121 million, finished its first 150,000-square-foot building and created 345 jobs at the site. The rest will be available when the office complex is fully operational.

To secure the grant, T. Rowe Price must sign a deal with the state by May 15.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201.

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