ARM Leader Harvey Vengroff's Tax Protest Creating Jobs in Florida

Harvey Vengroff relinquished his title of Chairman of the Board of Vengroff, Williams & Associates (VWA) early last year. Although he remains actively involved with the accounts receivable management and financial outsourcing firm he founded more than 40 years ago, his other endeavors have been garnering a lot of attention in his hometown.

Vengroff’s latest venture is a bold attempt to create jobs in the Sarasota, Fla. area while engaging in a good-natured protest of President Obama’s tax policy.

He hopes to accomplish both by offering some of his empty office and warehouse space in Sarasota rent-free to start-up businesses. Vengroff considers the offer to be a donation, which will be written off for tax purposes. Meanwhile, businesses that are trying to launch will be able to operate without worrying about rent for the first few months of their existence. He also helps to mentor the companies in certain areas of his expertise, like dealing with receivables.

“It’s my own stimulus plan,” Vengroff told insideARM.

If the businesses are successful, then Vengroff will begin to charge rent at market rates, or even take stakes in the companies. If they are not, then he says he’s really not out anything, as finding renters in the current economy is tough.

Vengroff said that there has already been a lot of attention.

“We got 55 calls on the first day,” he said. The plan was also detailed in a story that ran on the front page of The Herald Tribune in Sarasota last week. “It’s created quite a buzz,” he noted.

And it’s not just buzz that’s being created. Vengroff said that by April 1, the businesses operating rent-free in his spaces will have spawned 126 new jobs in Sarasota.

He finds himself in the position to offer plentiful operational space – up to 200,000 square feet of office and warehouse space – because he’s been focusing on real estate for years. Vengroff said that over the past few decades, he has taken some of his profits from VWA and invested them in land around the country. When the company expanded to Sarasota, he bought up eight acres of an industrial park for the office.

VWA currently employs around 350 people in the town, but Vengroff also uses the excess space for other endeavors.

There is a railroad spur in the back of his property. He and a partner bought four train cars used by the Ringling Brothers Circus, including the personal car of John Ringling. Three of the four cars have been renovated and function as a restaurant, a bar and general meeting space. Once the final car is finished, Vengroff intends to offer a luxury transportation solution to Sarasota residents looking to attend Tampa Bay Buccaneers games. The trip would take about an hour.

He also hosts the Sarasota Boxing Club on the property in addition to a world-class weight training facility for promising athletes. Vengroff noted that the facilities are also available to VWA employees.

And VWA remains the primary beneficiary of Vengroff’s entrepreneurial spirit. He said that the company is planning to go into China later this year, not to provide outsourced ARM and backoffice accounting work for American companies, but to target the domestic Chinese business market.