New York City-based injection and blow molder Gary Plastic Packaging Corp. plans to pull up stakes from the Bronx and head to Florida, where it has been offered job, tax and training incentives worth almost $1 million.
By the end of next year, when the company's New York lease expires, Gary Plastic will begin moving its headquarters to Spring Hill, Fla., President Richard Hellinger told Plastics News in an email. The new digs will be just a 10-mile trek from Hernando Beach on the Gulf Coast, 50 miles north of Tampa.
Gary Plastic has agreed to create 555 jobs over three years, with one-third of the positions paying 125 percent of the average wage, according to the Pasco County Economic Development Council. The company will lease 279,000 square feet of a 400,000-square-foot building with a height of 40 feet, one of two buildings planned for a 72-acre site being developed by Harrod Properties.
Harrod has agreed to spend about $50 million for the land, infrastructure and construction. For its part, Gary Plastic plans to invest $16 million in equipment, furniture and other fixtures, the council said in a Dec. 6 news release.
The new accommodations will allow the injection molder to build a sustainable, efficient operation and boost domestic production, Hellinger said. The company has been in New York City since it was founded in 1963 by Hellinger's father, Gary Hellinger.
"The new, much larger facility will allow Gary Plastic and its Garyline division of promotional products to add facilities, with [the] opportunity to train employees, whether they relocate with our company or new ones," Richard Hellinger said.
The company makes clear and decorated polystyrene boxes and containers for collectibles and memorabilia, and its Garyline products include spray bottles, travel cups and beverage tumblers. The company also does printing on bags and totes and has more than 100 products made from recycled materials.
Gary Plastic serves the medical, pharmaceutical, automotive, cosmetic, jewelry and food markets, as well as the government, original equipment manufacturers and discount retailers.
Its Stat-Tech division offers electrostatic-dissipative rigid plastic packaging for sensitive electronic parts.
The company has been searching for a new home for several years. It announced in early 2021 that it had chosen Shelton, Conn., for its headquarters, but nixed that arrangement last year.