Monday, January 30, 2012

From Don Covington

Circus_Family_Feud_09dc4 by bucklesw1
Circus_Family_Feud_09dc4, a photo by bucklesw1 on Flickr.

Feld Entertainment to relocate 190 jobs to Florida

Feld Entertainment, which produces shows from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to Monster Jam to Disney On Ice, will permanently relocate 190 jobs from its Vienna corporate headquarters to a new $20 million world production headquarters on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the company announced Monday.
The move, which will take place over the next five years, will still leave more than 100 jobs at its headquarters in a Tysons Corner office building.

“I am pretty sure we will always have a level of corporate presence in the Washington area,” said Kenneth Feld, chairman of the company, which is one of the largest of its kind in the world.
The move is part of a corporate consolidation designed to put much of Feld’s massive operations, from refurbishment of its circus trains to costume creation to choreography of its ice and Monster Jam shows, under one roof.
Feld Entertainment, which began as a Washington record store more than half a century ago, employs 2,500 people worldwide.
The new facility in Ellenton, Fla., replaces its current operations center in nearby Palmetto, where it has been for 20 years.
The new 47-acre campus is on the site of a former General Electric turbine plant and includes 100,000 square feet of office space with an additional 450,000 square feet of manufacturing space in two buildings. Construction on the new campus is expected to take a year.
Feld said he had been eyeing the location for 15 years, referring to it as one of the few “unique opportunities” that come around.
“It’s got stuff that really works for us in every aspect of our business,” he said. “To build it, we probably could never have economically made it work.”

13 comments:

Little John said...

I am curious about the Feld Entertainment that began as a Washington record store more than half a century ago. Long ago someone once said something to me about the Beatles and the Felds but I think at the time I was considering the source and thought that his information was unlikely. I am curious; ‘as the son is beginning to resemble the father, did the father once resemble the son?’
This article seems to me to be great news for Florida as for industries moving in we could do a lot worse.

Frank Ferrante said...

(From "The Greatest Vendetta Ever" by Jeff Stein)

"Feld's knack for making serious money blossomed early, when he and his brother Israel came to Washington in 1938 and opened a novelty store in a predominately black part of the city. Two years later Irvin plunked down $500 to open the Super Cut-Rate Drugstore downtown, and hung speakers outside to blare pop tunes and gospel songs at passersby. "I knew blacks liked music and records," he was quoted as saying.

But that was only the beginning. The drug store was soon followed by record stores, and then his own recording company, which specialized in black acts. The budding impresario then originated the idea of outdoor summer concerts, and later indoor concerts with air conditioning, to promote his recording acts, showing up to take charge in his trademark crimson jackets and garish ties, and screaming orders with his ever-present cigar and diamond pinkie ring fluttering in the air. Soon, Feld was booking acts from Chubby Checker to the Big Bopper to a teenage Paul Anka in all kinds of major venues. Then, in 1956, he finally got his lifelong wish: buying a share of the near-bankrupt Ringling Bros. circus. In 1967, for $8 million, he got it all." ~frank

GaryHill said...

Does that mean there will be a Winter Quarters there?

Wade G. Burck said...

Gary,
Does a "winterquarters" in Mexico City in the soon to be finished arena, seem beyond the realm of possibility?

Wade Burck

Chic Silber said...

The story in the Sarasota paper

says they will be able to rehearse

ALL of their shows there

This joint is just down the road

(301 in Ellenton) from the Outlet

Mall at the intersection w/ I-75

Not sure that the Gulf Seminole

track runs nearby (but is likely)

If so it's the same RR Co that

forced the demise of Venice

Chic Silber said...

The only missing link is for them

to get their high powered legal

team headed by Jerry Sowalsky Esq

(whom I have always truly admired

& respected) to persuade Sarasota

County to annex the property

Frank Ferrante said...

Just what you need, a bunch of MONSTER... MONSTER... MONSTER... TRUCKS... TRUCKS... TRUCKS!!! Cruising down 301.~frank

Chic Silber said...

Yup I just checked & there's a

split track spur already into

this new compound & the joint is

less than 2 miles from their

current Palmetto site on the same

branch of track (how convenient)

Maybe he'll buy the railroad

Buckles said...

The circuses aren't off the road long enough to warrent a permanent home. Like American Airlines, the planes don't make a dime in the hangar.
But a permanent school for gymnasts to learn circus typs acts etc. would be good as well as place to stage new productions.
It works for Soleil.

Chic Silber said...

There's plenty of surrounding

undeveloped area so maybe it's

time to take another shot at a

Circus theme park just for laughs

(& a major tax write off)

Chic Silber said...

Like you said before Buckles

"It's Not My Chicken"

Mike Naughton said...

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/baybuzz/content/bob-barker-endorses-bill-young-insert-price-right-joke

Well, well, well. This is going to be interesting.

Congressman CW Young, is the representative from Pinellas County, not that far from the new world headquarters of Feld Entertainment.

Congressman Young is buddy buddy with Bob Barker long retired game show host and long time friend of the animal rights fanatics.

Congressman Young is a sponsor of HR 3359 The Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act which will effectively end the use of circus animals.

The financial impact of Feld Entertainment's expansion is a breath of fresh air to Florida's stale economy.

Mr. Young should take notice that Mr. Barker is 3,000 miles away and the Greatest Show on Earth is just minutes away. Many in Mr. Young's district will be or are currently employed by Feld Entertainment.

4pawfan said...

Very smart move Mr.Feld
Take your foe- Congressman Youg and invade his district...
Pay millions in school and local taxes,along with sales tax paid on material for rebuilding the shows.
Be sure you sponsor all the little league, jr and highschools with billboards and scholarships. Support local food banks, local law enforcement, etc.
As in the game of chess- checkmate