The urgent-care clinic chain co-founded by Gov. Rick Scott is expanding in the Southeast and opening a headquarters in Nashville, though it’s not clear how many employees it may move out of its current Jacksonville main office.
A company official told media outlets on Wednesday Solantic would be moving part of its executive team to a new office in Nashville, but in a statement released later in the day the company said the Jacksonville office would “continue to handle revenue cycle for the entire company and regional employees.”
Still, for a governor who has made luring jobs to the state and convincing companies to move here his top priority, it was clearly irksome that a company that until recently he owned, was choosing to add jobs to some other state’s economy rather than expanding in Florida where it was born.
“It’s disappointing that they’re moving,” Scott said, adding that he believes he’s made a good case that Florida is “the best state” in which to build a business.
“Some people don’t – I guess – don’t agree with me,” Scott said.
Solantic was recently sold to a private investment firm, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.
Solantic spokeswoman Mandy Villalva told Jacksonville business newspaper The Financial News & Daily Record that Solantic would move part of its executive team to Tennessee, but that she didn’t know how many employees would move. Solantic, which has 32 clinics in Florida, is poised to expand its presence throughout the southeast, the company says.
Villalva told the Daily Record that making Nashville the hub for its expansion, rather than expanding the Jacksonville headquarters made sense because the Tennessee capital city is a health care center.
“It’s the biggest medical hub in the entire United States,” Villalva told the paper. “They are looking at being at the jumping-off point where the magic is happening.”
Nashville is also home to HCA, the Hospital Corporation of America, of which Scott also was once in charge.
Scott spokesman Lane Wright said Wednesday that the transition at Solantic shouldn’t be characterized as the company leaving northeast Florida, saying it is only consolidating some operations with Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe — already located in Nashville. He said “a handful” of jobs would be affected.
“The company’s not pulling out of Florida,” Wright said.
None of the actual clinic employees would be affected by the move.
Wright also said neither Scott nor anyone in the governor’s office tried to convince Solantic to expand in Jacksonville instead of Nashville, saying “they never reached out to us about it.”
Solantic was founded in 2001 by Scott and Karen Bowling, who now works for Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown.
By David Royse
