THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606220285
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 50 lines
Cities and states engage in cutthroat bidding wars to lure new companies and bring jobs to their areas.
If the company is a Fortune 500 firm, the competition is even stiffer - even if the new operation is only a satellite office.
Landing a Fortune 500 is usually a big media event for cities. Bragging rights, big time . . . all of that.
So when Smithfield Foods Inc. - a $3 billion company sure to make next year's Fortune 500 - was looking for a new location for its corporate headquarters this year . . . well, nothing happened.
No cutthroat bidding war. No posturing. No wheeling. No dealing.
In February, the top hog-processing company in the country moved its corporate headquarters from its namesake town, Smithfield, to Dominion Tower in Norfolk - without so much as an oink.
``We had been busy and I guess just never notified anyone,'' said Aaron Trub, vice president, secretary and treasurer of Smithfield Foods. ``I don't think it's a big deal.''
The move involved only about a dozen people, but a corporate headquarters is a corporate headquarters. Many cities have a team of staffers in their economic development departments whose only job is to travel around and recruit the headquarters of big-name companies.
Without lifting a finger, Norfolk landed Smithfield Foods and doubled its number of Fortune 500 companies. Norfolk Southern Corp. had been its only one.
Smithfield Foods didn't even ask the folks in Norfolk to help them find office space, Trub said.
``We just looked around and found a place,'' he said.
The company settled on Dominion Tower, downtown's tallest office building.
Ernie Franklin, marketing manager with Norfolk's Department of Development, says Norfolk did not recruit Smithfield Foods because recruiting from a locality within the region is ``a waste of taxpayers' money.'' But. . .
``We're delighted that they're here,'' he added.
In the town of Smithfield, of course, they're not so delighted. Smithfield had big plans for the company's corporate headquarters to be the key to the town's revitalization of Wharf Hill, a historic area of Smithfield's waterfront next to the Pagan River.
``We were concerned about it when they moved,'' said Town Manager Peter Stephenson. ``We still are.''
Smithfield is working on plans that might lure the company back, he said.
For now, the town will have to settle for a consolation prize. Just as Smithfield Foods didn't announce its move, it didn't switch its phone exchange either.
So the downtown Norfolk headquarters has a Smithfield phone number. by CNB