Health care giant renews commitment to region

TAMPA — WellCare Health Plans Inc., the largest publicly traded company in Tampa, has committed to keeping its headquarters in the city through 2030.

WellCare — which employs some 7,000 people nationwide, 4,500 of whom work in Tampa — renewed the leases of its 71-acre, 380,000-square-foot corporate campus at 8725 Henderson Road and three satellite offices, also in Tampa.

“We're incredibly fortunate to have our corporate headquarters in Tampa,” states WellCare CEO Kenneth Burdick in a press release. “The Tampa Bay area is a business-friendly environment. It's a place where people from all over the country want to live, work and play and has helped us as we continue to grow as a company and recruit and retain top talent.”

WellCare, which was founded by a group of Tampa physicians in 1985, has had a presence in the city for more than 30 years. The company went public and moved to its current corporate headquarters in 2004 when it employed approximately 1,500 associates.

Today, WellCare offers government-sponsored managed care services, including Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs) across all 50 U.S. states.

Cushman & Wakefield represented WellCare in the lease renewal.