Another Jeb Bush deal for business crony comes true. New Office Depot headquarters opens November

[seafan]

Well, whaddya know!

Another of Jeb Bush's sweetheart deals for his former business partner, Armando Codina, has paid off.

All planned very neatly, just before Jeb left office, too. Great timing, no doubt about it.




Office Depot eyes November opening of new Boca Raton, FL HQ

By Dale M. King
May 26, 2008

On a cloudy, humid day in November 2006, a group of local, state and county leaders trekked along a muddy road to a remote section of heavily overgrown woods in Boca Raton.
On a section that had already been cleared, then-Boca Mayor Steven Abrams and Office Depot Chairman and CEO Steve Odland took shovels and broke ground for the new headquarters of the office supply giant.

Officials predicted a move to the new site by 2008. And that, apparently, will come true.
The firm should vacate its current quarters in Delray Beach and move to the facility at the southeast corner of Military Trail and Clint Moore Road by November of this year, said Office Depot spokesman Brian Levin.

“All aspects of the project are going well and we are on schedule for a November move,” Levine told the Boca Raton News.

.....

Also on hand for the event was then-Gov. Jeb Bush, who said he was “honored to recognize Office Depot's longtime commitment to Florida, the state where it first established roots in 1986.
"Office Depot is instrumental to the economic engine that is South Florida, and I’m pleased that we were able to support the decision to stay in Palm Beach County," said then-Mayor Abrams.

Actually, Office Depot will lease its new facility from Flagler/Codina Development Group, the wholly owned commercial real estate arm of Florida East Coast Industries, Inc. and joint venture partner TIAA-CREF Global Real Estate Group.

Flagler Development Group has overseen the design, development and lease of the complex.

.....


How business works the system, St. Petersburg Times, January 28, 2007

Jeb Bush in '06 facilitated Office Depot deal for benefit of former business partner, Armando Codina, January 28, 2007


What Jeb didn't want us to know when this deal went down:

- Office Depot was moving less than 5 miles, from Delray Beach to Boca Raton.

- Florida and Palm Beach County had promised a $15-million incentive package to help pay for the expansion.

- A real estate firm run by Bush's former business partner, Armando Codina, stands to benefit. That firm is part owner of the land, and it will develop the 28-acre corporate campus and lease it to Office Depot.

- Office Depot threatened to move its headquarters with 1,750 jobs out of Florida if it didn't get incentives. Yet evidence suggests the company might have chosen Boca Raton anyway.

- While Office Depot was promising to create headquarters jobs, it eliminated 350 jobs elsewhere in the county. And this month it announced that 75 headquarters jobs will be cut.

You can't say this family doesn't look after its own.

Socialize the cost, but privatize the profit.



And this name is being bandied about as a possible VP pick for McCain...


Beware.

[tanyev]

1. Certain people always do very well when Bushes are in office.

Just not we the people.