Fluitec International slips into town, bringing high-tech jobs with it

ST. PETERSBURG — No fanfare, no incentives, no fancy press releases announced the impending arrival of a clean technology company. But that’s the way Fluitec International likes it.

Tucked away at the bottom of a release issued Jan. 25 announcing Frank Magnotti as the company’s new CEO, the Atlanta company known for its industrial lubricants maintenance and monitoring devices, nonchalantly shared the news that its U.S. operations were moving to Tampa Bay.

More specifically, the company expects to have up to 15 people employed in the coming months in 5,500 square feet at Bay Tec Center on North Scherer Drive.

Making quality of life important

“We really looked at quite a lot of properties, some actually larger than this one, but what was very important to us was finding a location,” said Brian Thompson, executive VP of operations who will run the

St. Petersburg facility. “We have international guests in quite frequently, not to mention our own investors and our own staff. So we wanted somewhere we could be proud of, and this area was perfect.”

Fluitec is in the process of consolidating its international and domestic operations, splitting headquarters between St. Petersburg and Summit, N.J. The original administrative headquarters in Belgium will be moved to New Jersey, led by Magnotti. The other offices just outside of Atlanta and Dayton, Ohio, will be closed and moved to Bay Tec Center.

Fluitec kept its search under the radar, not even reaching out to the Pinellas County Economic Development Council, and was only interested in either remaining in Atlanta or moving to the Tampa Bay area, where two airports sit close to each other and the beach is just a short drive away.

“We find that with privately held companies, it’s such a phenomenal quality of life here, and people come here and fall in love,” said PEDC director Mike Meidel. “The area does sell itself, but what we have trouble with is trying to make sure the bottom line of the financials matches up with other areas that are trying to recruit these businesses. We can use incentives to give them an excuse to come where they wanted to be anyway.”

Fluitec is exactly the kind of industry the region needs to continue its growth as a technology corridor, said Amy Norman, CEO of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum. The technology company trade organization has been prepping a more national marketing effort to shed light on Tampa Bay’s tech community to make Fluitec’s move here more of a rule rather than an exception.

“We have a goal this year to strengthen our marketing, even if it’s through viral marketing,” Norman said. “We already have a presence on Facebook and Twitter, and we’re exploring right now how we could leverage those types of tools.”

Hiring already

Fluitec expects many of its employees to relocate to St. Petersburg, but the company already is looking to hire locally ahead of its April move, Thompson said. Fluitec is expanding its service division, helping clients utilize Fluitec’s devices in the field, especially with power plants that remain some of the company’s primary clients.

“In a perfect world, we would have these people already screened and selected in advance of us opening our doors,” Thompson said. “That way, they’ll feel connected to what we’re doing in this new office, and even get to participate in the move and setup that would help give them a sense of ownership.”

Thompson moved to Pinellas County last summer from Kentucky and has been working on setting up shop ever since while making regular commutes to Atlanta. But at this stage of Fluitec’s growth, location can be pivotal.

“When you say Tampa or St. Pete, people have a mental picture of what that is,” Thompson said. “It’s nice weather, lots of water. It’s clean and safe, and there’s a lot of outdoor activities. I can think of many, many reasons why companies should look here, and that’s why we’re coming here.”