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1/16/06 Business Recruitment and Expansion Projects -
2005
With another record-breaking year in construction value,
the city of St. Petersburg was once again a significant contributor to the
metropolitan area’s success in 2005. And with $1 billion of development
underway in downtown alone, the future looks bright for continued business
growth. While much attention is paid to the burgeoning residential market,
the city’s business community is steadfastly growing our economic base. In
2004, significant project announcements included Valpak, Mercury Insurance,
Commercial Bedding Company, NOAA, Bright House Networks, Verizon
Information Services and American Collegiate Financial Services. The
following are some of the business recruitment and expansion success
stories of 2005:
Progress Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Progress
Energy a Fortune 250 company, provides electricity and related services to
more than 1.5 million customers in Florida. The company had its beginnings
in St. Petersburg, but had moved its headquarters out of downtown more than
30 years ago. When their future growth plans indicated a need to
consolidate its operations and develop a new headquarters building, the
company began its search back downtown. While Mayor Rick Baker and
Progress Energy Florida CEO Bill Habermeyer had agreed to work together to
secure a downtown location, an in-depth real estate site selection process
revealed no existing spaces that fit their needs. The company had to begin
considering alternate locations.
Meanwhile, in a city where redevelopment reigns and
creative solutions abound, city and community leaders were completing plans
for the future of its Florida International Museum (FIM). Mayor Baker and
St. Petersburg College (SPC) President Carl Kuttler had already agreed to
proceed with a permanent downtown campus for the growing college. Soon the
idea of co-locating a smaller more functional and efficient FIM along with
the college emerged. In early 2004 City Council approved an agreement to
lease space to SPC which in turn would be subleased to FIM.
With the former FIM space to be vacated, the city had an
opportunity to redevelop a prime downtown block and issued a Request for
Proposal. By late 2004, city official were negotiating not only for the
development of the Progress Energy Headquarters building on the former FIM
space, but also a proposed Westin Grand Bohemian hotel and condominium
development on the eastern end of the block. In 2005, Progress Energy Florida broke ground in downtown St. Petersburg on a 16-story building that will house 510
employees currently working throughout Pinellas County. The first new
office project in downtown in nearly 15 years, the building will also
feature retail space and a parking garage.
Euro-Bake, a commercial bakery located in Midtown, provides a
variety of breads and specialty bakery items to an array of resorts and
bakeries across the United States. As the plant began to reach its
production capacity, the company began searching for additional
manufacturing space. Finding little available land on which to build and
no suitable existing building near its Dome Industrial Park location, the
company was resigning itself to a move to Manatee County. However, the
company knew that its St. Petersburg workforce was critical to operations
and sought city assistance before signing on the dotted line in Manatee
With 75 existing employees and the potential to double
that amount with an expansion, city officials worked with the company to
design a creative redevelopment plan adjacent to its current location at 230 19th Street South. While Euro-Bake purchased one-half a block, the
city secured the other half which was languishing due to environmental
issues. Using federal grant funds, the city remediated the site and resold
the land to the bakery.
Ground breaking on Euro-Bake's new 55,000 square foot
facility was held March 2005 and the company is planning a Grand Opening in
February 2006. The new building will feature state-of-the-art
technologies which will allow Euro-Bake to triple production at the
location.
Halkey-Roberts, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Atrion Corporation,
is a leading component provider to original equipment manufacturers,
primarily for the medical device, inflation and container industries.
Currently housed in a 72,000 square foot facility in St. Petersburg, the
company began actively seeking real estate solutions for their growing
200-employee business in 2004. Their search included both Alabama and Texas, where its parent company has existing plants that could
accommodate the planned expansion.
In St. Petersburg the company was exploring the
locations near their current Gateway facility and expressed some interest
in a large site at Gandy and I-275, known as the “Sod Farm.” In 2003, St. Petersburg officials had negotiated with local development company, Grady Pridgen,
Inc. to purchase and develop the site. The site, now known as La Entrada,
encompasses a mixed-use master plan of more than 7,000,000 square feet
including office, industrial, residential and retail activities, with the
focus on job creation.
To secure the project at La Entrada, city staff utilized
the State of Florida Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund Program to provide
a $385,000 incentive package. In return, Halkey-Roberts will construct a 150,000
square foot manufacturing facility and building, invest more than $10
million on new equipment, and expand employment by approximately 70
full-time positions.
First Advantage is one of the nation's leading single source providers
of risk mitigation and business process solutions. Formed in 2003 by the
merger of the Screening segment of The First American Corporation and U.S.
Search.com, the business has acquired dozens of best-in-class companies to
complement its core business lines and expand its product offerings.
Although enjoying its downtown location, the fast growing company was
quickly growing out of space.
City staff worked with company officials in their search
for locations which initially focused around downtown. By expanding the
search to the city’s Gateway area, the company found its ideal space in the
Carillon Office Park. In early 2005, the company announced it had
completed negotiations for the lease of nearly 75,000 square feet of space
to accommodate its planned growth. As their relocation to Carillon nears
completion, companies searching for Class A office space in Downtown are
eager to fill their void. The new Carillon offices include First Advantage’s
corporate headquarters, as well as certain parts of it core business
services operations, consolidating at least three current locations and
placing senior management in a single location.
Pilot Mall – A small but unique project was the relocation of The
Flying Network Inc., aka PilotMall.com, to the Albert Whitted airport.
The company was based out of Stewart International Airport in New York, but was familiar with the area due to the Sun ‘n Fun festivals and transplanted
family members. Eager to relocate to the Sunshine State, the company
wanted to find a home airport for its growing retail business. City
officials worked with the owner over several months to find space to
accommodate operations at Albert Whitted Airport. The company's large
on-line sales to a national consumer base will provide new imported
revenues to the community. The company also spends nearly $100,000
annually on a national advertising campaign that will feature Albert
Whitted. In addition to this recognition by the flying community, pilots
using Albert Whitted Airport will receive the additional benefit of
convenient access to a selection of over 1,000 pilot supplies including FAA
charts, books & educational materials. This is an added attraction for
pilots to fly in and out of Albert Whitted.
Retail recruitment is also an element of St. Petersburg's economic development strategy. While 4th Street developments
reigned in 2004, the Midtown community is the clear winner in 2005.
The most notable example of this is the grand opening of the second Sweetbay
Supermarket in Pinellas County right in the heart of Midtown. While a
supermarket opening wouldn’t necessarily make news, this store represented
the first major grocer to enter the Midtown market. For nearly a decade,
city officials had tried to lure a supermarket to Midtown, producing
feasibility studies and marketing brochures with little success. Mayor
Rick Baker re-energized plans for Midtown and initiated an aggressive
recruitment program resulting in local developers partnering with the city
to develop Tangerine Plaza at 22nd Street and Tangerine Avenue. Joining Sweetbay at the new Tangerine Plaza will be five smaller
retailers, and a Suntrust Bank will soon be under construction on
the adjacent corner. Also entering the Midtown market in 2005 was the
Super WalMart on 34th Street that employs nearly 600 persons
from the area. The new Three Oaks Commerce Center and the
under-construction Twin Brooks Plaza at 34th
Street and 22nd Avenue South represent purely private-sector
driven redevelopment, a promising indicator. Renewed interest by the
retail community in south St. Petersburg indicates development in the area
will continue in 2006.
Overall 2005 was a healthy year for the city and its
business environment. Not unexpectedly, the majority of the city’s business
growth continues to come from our existing companies and primarily in the
Manufacturing, and Business and Financial Services industries. But the city
did not endure the year without job loss. In fact, nearly 400 job losses
were announced through the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act, better known as the WARN Act. These all occurred from
the demise of Titan Cruise Lines and does not represent the overall
business climate in St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg’s highly skilled workforce, exceptional
infrastructure, excellent regional access, and existing strong industry
clusters are all factors cited by the above companies for making their
business decisions. However, dwindling Class A office space, scare vacant
land, obsolete or undersized commercial buildings, and higher real estate
costs will continue to make future business growth more complex. St. Petersburg will continue to work with the private sector to meet these challenges, and
will continue to shine as a premier business location in 2006.
For more information about St. Petersburg's business
environment, visit www.stpeteshines.com
or call (727) 893-7100, or you can email a member of the City of St. Petersburg's Business Recruitment Team:
Dave Goodwin,
Economic Development Director, Dave.Goodwin@stpete.org
Cindy Margiotta,
Economic Development Manager, Cindy.Margiotta@stpete.org
Teresa Brydon,
Economic Development Coordinator, Teresa.Brydon@stpete.org
Dave Sobush,
Economic Development Coordinator, Dave.Sobush@stpete.org
Ken Jones, Economic
Development Coordinator, Ken.Jones@stpete.org
Charles Ray,
Economic Development Coordinator, Charles.Ray@stpete.org
Rick Smith, Planner
III, Rick.Smith@stpete.org
Gary.Jones, Planner
III, Gary.Jones@stpete.org
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