Ryder System Inc. dedicated a new headquarters Friday that will make it easier for the Broward half of its 700-person staff to commute to their jobs.
Gov. Jeb Bush, on hand for the ceremony, said it was the workers who made the 72-year-old firm stay put in Miami-Dade County. “Corporations can go anywhere. In a world where change happens at warp speed, people matter the most,” he said.
Ryder moved from its old headquarters seven miles away earlier this year. Easing its decision to stay in Miami-Dade were nearly $2 million in county property tax rebates.
To get the money, Ryder has to stay in the building 10 years, continue to pay property taxes, and not shrink its work force. The move is expected to create only about 10 jobs.
But the $40 million spent on the new 250,000-square-foot headquarters, plus property taxes on the site, are projected to generate $9.4 million in local taxes beyond what Ryder would have paid at its old headquarters.
The four-story beige building is being leased from a unit of Florida East Coast Industries, the developer of the Flagler Station office park.
Ironically, Ryder’s old headquarters, built in 1973, had become too big for it. The logistics and trucking firm had upward of 45,000 total employees in the 1990s, but has only 26,000 today. Chief Executive Gregory Swienton said the old building was 42 percent empty.
Ryder got $39 million by selling the 400,000 square feet of office space, plus about 40 surrounding acres.
The old site, at 3600 NW 82nd Ave., was farther east, and nearby roads had grown congested. The new building, at 11690 NW 105th St., is just off Florida’s Turnpike, opening up auto access from several directions.
Todd Renehan, Ryder’s senior vice president for asset management, sales and marketing, lives in Weston. He said the move has cut at least 10 minutes in the morning and a half an hour in the evening from his commute.
“I don’t have to mess with the Palmetto [Expressway],” he said. “It makes it much more convenient for me.”
Tom Stieghorst can be reached at or 305-810-5008.
