Market voices: City growth
Doug Lewis
City Manager City of Pinellas Park
The area in and around where Amazon has chosen to occupy was designated years ago as a development of regional impact. We have had apartment complexes go up in this area and would also like to see schools and colleges move into the area as well. With large businesses like Amazon moving in and multifamily housing complexes already developed and a variety of schools potentially interested in this area, we are starting to see substantial growth that will inevitably lead to workforce availability for businesses and education and training opportunities for residents.
Economic development can still occur in spite of COVID-19. An example of that is a project that is taking place and involves Keiser University as a tenant. In order to recruit them, the city assembled three parcels of land at its principal entrance to the Downtown area. The city always had Keiser University in mind as a potential suitor. They were of interest because they were proposing a 45,000-square-foot building where they would house up to 1,000 students and a staff of 100. That was very much of interest to the city as we forecast that the staff and students would rely on our business community for many of their needs. This project represents $14 million of private investment, which is the largest investment that has occurred in decades for the U.S. Highway 19 corridor in the city.
Shawn Sherrouse City Manager City of Lakeland
Debbie Manns
City Manager City of New Port Richey
All our indicators suggest continuous growth. Despite the impact from COVID, we are still one of the hot areas in the state. Even in our Downtown core, we have a building under construction right beside city hall, on our iconic Lake Mirror Promenade. It will be a 295,000-square-foot office building that will bring 500 jobs to our Downtown. That creates opportunities for retailers, restaurants, bars and entertainment to serve the people who will be added to our Downtown mix on a daily basis.
We are considered a suburban community, but we also have been able to expand some of our zoning to include manufacturing and industrial. We pride ourselves on our approachability with companies because we always try to accommodate any requirements businesses may have. In the last two years, we have developed a new department under the executive team that handles annexations and new developments. We have never before actively gone after businesses, so we are now ramping up efforts to help develop some economic engines. We have a way to go but we are making strides.
Charles Stephenson
City Manager City of Temple Terrace 26
| Invest: Tampa Bay 2021 | ECONOMY