Following earlier announcements that the bulk of its future expansion would come outside California, Countrywide Financial Corp. has purchased two buildings in Tampa, Fla. with plans to ultimately house between 900 and 1,100 workers in those facilities. The Calabasas-based mortgage lender said it will begin to occupy the new campus in the first quarter of next year. “In alignment with Countrywide’s ambitious strategies for continued rapid growth through this decade, we have initiated searches for new office locations in business-friendly states ” said Patrick Benton, the company’s managing director of corporate real estate administration. Countrywide has expanded its operations in Texas and Arizona as well as Florida since it announced its intention to focus its development efforts outside California because of what the company calls the state’s anti-business climate. Countrywide increased its workforce by about 20 percent in 2004 for a total headcount of about 50,000 workers.
