No, it has nothingto do (directly) with downtown or Jeff Vinik or the Riverwalk, but the recent announcement by Ashley Furniture that it was establishing a major presence in Ybor City was big news around here. Ashley, the largest furniture manufacturer in the world, will be locating its e-commerce headquarters in 70,000 square feet at Centro Ybor–much of it repurposed from Muvico Centro Ybor.
The move by Ashley, which has a distribution center in Brandon, will include more than 100 employees on site, plus thousands more who will periodically visit for meetings and training sessions. Plus customers. It’s a global brand.
The Ashley commitment underscores two points.
First, well-targeted collaboration works. This coup doesn’t happen if the city, county and the state don’t ante up with incentives. The Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. deserves a special shout out. This is the cutting edge of e-commerce plus all the collateral benefits of adding employees, customers and a broadened tax base to the economic mix. This, along with cultural tourism, is Ybor’s future. This isn’t Bass Pro territory.
It’s also an endorsement of an ever-evolving Tampa and Ybor City.
“It’s an excellent environment for training, for our customers and for our e-commerce operation,” explained Ashley founder Ron Wanek. Ybor, he added at the formal announcement, is “a great place for millennial. … They are creative people and they love this area.”
How’s that for a testimonial? Any chance Bob Buckhorn hasn’t already incorporated that into his recruiting spiel?