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In this Special Holiday issue:
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Fill Your Stockings with Cash, City of St. Pete Grant Incentive Programs
On a shoestring budget (and what entrepreneur isn't?), it really pays to scrimp and save. We've compiled a list (and checked it twice) of money-saving incentive programs to boost your business's bottom line-from employment opportunity cash grants to $100,000 in exempted taxes. 'Tis the season for saving!
Grow Smarter Job Creation and Talent Attraction Program
Eligibility: St. Petersburg companies with 49 employees or less that hire new employees at salaries above Pinellas County's average wage. Companies must be identified with one of the city's five target industry clusters: Marine and Life Sciences, Specialized Manufacturing, Financial Services, Data Analytics, and Creative Arts and Design. Can earn an award after the employee is on the job for one year.
Award: Up to $8,000 per new employee
Eligibility: New or expanding businesses that create new full-time jobs in specified industries, including manufacturing, retail, warehousing, and research and development. New businesses must create at least 10 new jobs and existing businesses must create at least 5 new jobs.
Award: Up to $2,000 per job
Eligibility: Businesses must be in a target industry and create at least 10 new jobs that pay wages at least 115% of the local average wage. Total award cannot exceed $5 million per applicant in all years and no more than 25% of total refund may be taken in any single year. Businesses must apply and be approved prior to locating or expanding in Florida.
Award: Up to $10,500 per job
Eligibility: Q
ualifying new businesses and expansions of existing businesses that create new full-time jobs in the city. The tax exemption for qualifying businesses will apply only to the new increment of the assessed St. Petersburg millage on improvements including tangible property.
Award: Up to $100,000 of exempted taxes
Reduced Multimodal Impact Fees
Eligibility: The City collect Multimodal Impact Fees (MIF's) for land development projects to fund needed transporation system improvements to support new trips generated by the project. MIF rates are based on project type and size. Projects located in certain areas of the city are eligible for reduced MIF rates.
Award: Dependent on project type and size
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Amazon HQ2 Final Video Release Showcasing St. Pete's Site
The cities competing for Amazon's second corporate headquarters may have to wait a little longer to find out if they're on the company's shortlist.
Amazon has not commented, but with the volume of proposals Amazon received means there probably won't be a shortlist until early next year. While we wait for the shortlist, here is the final video installment that details the potential St. Pete site for Amazon's HQ2.
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Integrated Sustainability Action Plan Outreach Survey
The city is comprehensively developing an Integrated Sustainability Action Plan (ISAP) to advance the city's sustainability & resiliency initiatives, including 100% clean energy goals. The ISAP will serve as a blueprint for integrating sustainability and resiliency across departments.
The ISAP project team has created a survey for residents and business owners to help identify areas of opportunities and concerns. The information obtained from this survey will be used throughout development of the plan. Please participate in this brief outreach survey by January 31st to guide the development of the ISAP:
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Inside Panda Doc's new St. Pete HQ
PandaDoc is a San Francisco-based document automation company and opened its East Coast operations center at Station House in St. Petersburg. The grand opening and ribbon cutting event was held November 16th, joined by the City of St. Petersburg's Deputy Mayor, Kanika Tomalin, among other other local leaders and supporters.
The company plans to hire up to 100 people here by the end of 2018.
Vice President of sales and business development, Jared Fuller, said th
ere are about 20 PandaDoc employees in St. Pete now, handling customer support and sales. Most of the new hires will be for similar jobs, although Fuller also expects some tech jobs here as well.
Fuller said PandaDoc will play a pivotal role in helping grow the tech industry locally and foster more startups. The decision to select St. Petersburg as their new headquarters location came with the diverse and supportive business environment, and also, "having the right amount of weird for us," Fuller amusingly added.
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#BurgBiz: Meet the Founders of InsideOut Lab
Meet Chad and Christina, Silicon Valley tech leaders and founders of
InsideOut Lab, a first-of-a-kind, international sales innovation lab. In just 18 months, the tech startup has grown from 0 to 100 employees, with a pathway to over 150 by the end of 2018. To support their rapid expansion they've taken over the newly renovated 3rd floor of First Central Tower in downtown St. Pete.
So what IS a sales innovation lab? Basically, they work with international tech companies like IBM, ADP, Microsoft and Google, and measure, test and validate sales executives best (and worst) ideas. Pretty cool, right?
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End-of-Year Reports Show no Signs of Slowing Down for St. Petersburg Development Projects
Since 2010, the City has seen an increase in construction value and the number of permits issued.
Construction value for
Fiscal Year 2011 was at $201,693,741. Fiscal Year 2017 ended with a Construction Value of $671, 721,149, the largest contribution coming from commercial development projects. A total of 31,169 permits were issued in FY2017.
Similarly, Development Review Services has seen a surge in Zoning Case Reviews, Reviews for Permits, Customer Interactions, etc. FY2014 saw of total of 217 Zoning Case Reviews, while FY2017 ended with a total of 510.
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Continued Commitment to Job Growth in the Gateway District
The Gateway District saw great transportation improvement efforts and promoting job growth as part of the Grow Smarter Strategy. The City held and will continue to hold quarterly meetings with the businesses in this area of the city. The Gateway District is the employment center of Pinellas county and the City Development Administration focuses in this area with as much time and effort as downtown. Raymond James has created approximately 800 new jobs after the approval of FDOT of the new access to its corporate headquarters. The City is also helping to facilitate Phase 1 of the long awaited Town Center project in Carillon, which is cited as the number one priority of businesses in this area.
Read more about the Town Center here.
Recent and ongoing transportation improvement projects in the Gateway/Carillon area:
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Jabil crosswalk
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Carillon Parkway
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Fountain Parkway
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118th Avenue N: HSN
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2017 Area Development Consultants Forum
The City of St. Petersburg was a proud sponsor of an economic development conference held last week, Tuesday, Dec. 5 and Wednesday, Dec. 6 at the Vinoy Renaissance Hotel in Downtown St. Petersburg. The conference brought more than 20 site selectors and approximately 150 economic development professionals from around the country to the area - providing a unique chance to build awareness for the region and showcase available development opportunities.
"Hosting conferences like Area Development are important for our region," said Mayor Rick Kriseman, "This conference is a great way to showcase our business assets and our people. Once the site selectors experience St. Pete, selling them on our region becomes much easier."
"Job growth in Tampa Bay is remarkable. Forbes rates our region as one of the Best Places for Business & Careers, so this is an opportunity to share with the nation's top site selectors the advantages our workforce and business climate offer for growing companies," shared Commissioner Janet C. Long, Chair of the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners.
The Consultants Forum is organized by Area Development, a New-York-based publication and leading corporate site selection resource, providing insight since 1965. Events feature speakers from among the nation's leading site consultant practices. You can sign up for their weekly updates at
areadevelopment.com.
Twitter was buzzing with tweets from the event:
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St. Pete GrowSmarter Inaugural Summit
It's smart growth policies have helped St. Petersburg to preserve its "charm" while attracting a diverse group of bussinesses.
The St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce hosted an inaugural Grow Smarter Summit to bring our community together and introduce the
Grow Smarter Strategy - a transformational movement bringing together leadership from business, government and community to support initiatives for the smart growth of St. Pete - and fuel a community-wide discussion of our city's plan for the future. The event was held Friday, Dec. 8 at Pinellas Technical College.
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Upcoming Events & Opportunities
Business Planning Workshop, hosted by Keller Williams Realty
Dec. 12th, 2 - 4pm
111 2nd Ave NE, Ste 400, St. Petersburg, 33701
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Have a development update, project announcement, or success
story to share?
Contact Sarah Hughart, 727-893-7784
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City of St. Petersburg
Economic Development Division
P.O. Box 2842
St. Petersburg, FL 33731
800.874.9026 (toll free)
727.893.7100 (phone)
727.892.5465 (fax)
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