Gartner: The next HQ move?

Corporate headquarters are the great elephant trophies for politicians and economic development groups.

Lee County is still riding high from the relocation of car-rental giant Hertz' global headquarters from New Jersey to a new corporate campus under construction in the South Lee area of Estero.

Could Lee County land another big corporate headquarters relocation so soon?

Nate Swan, group vice president of sales for information technology consulting firm Gartner, told a group of Southwest Florida executives that his company might consider moving the corporate headquarters from Stamford, Conn., to Fort Myers.

Gartner, a public company whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, reported nearly $1.8 billion in revenues last year.

Swan was speaking at a meeting of the Chamber of Southwest Florida when he suggested Gartner would consider relocating its headquarters.

Swan says Gartner continues to boost its Fort Myers operations with the construction of another building in the Gateway area and intends to have 1,100 people working here within three years. “I hope to shatter those records,” Swan says.