|
Pinellas, the Ideal Business Climate
Covering areas as diverse as suburban Gateway, downtown Palm Harbor, Lealman, and the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, unincorporated Pinellas County offers excellent redevelopment opportunities for a variety of uses.
 Photo courtesy of Dorianphotography.com
Background
With 287,200 residents, the unincorporated areas make up the largest population base in Pinellas County. The area is home to more than 7,800 businesses and nearly 93,000 employees. Major employers include Honeywell, Raytheon, ConMed Linvatec, Lockheed Martin Tactical, Oscor, West Pharmaceutical Services and the Innisbrook Resort.
The County is currently updating its Land Development Code to encourage job creation and high quality redevelopment projects. To assist businesses, the County provides Job Creation and Training Incentives, a Foreign Trade Zone and a Brownfield program.
Unincorporated Areas
More than a third of Pinellas’ land lies in unincorporated areas of the county. The most significant development opportunities exist in the Gateway area. With its central county location and excellent regional access, it already serves as one of Pinellas County’s foremost employment centers with sizeable tracts of developable vacant land.
St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport
and surrounding lands offer numerous redevelopment opportunities in Gateway. Airco, a 128-acre former public golf course adjacent to the Airport, is a planned redevelopment project with a future mix of aviation, commercial office and light manufacturing uses. Adjacent to the Airport is the Airport Business Center which offers spaces from small suites up to 90,000 square feet.
Lealman is an urban community of approximately 35,000 residents located just north of St. Petersburg and adjacent to Interstate-275. East Lealman includes 180 acres of industrially zoned properties adjacent to the CSX Rail Line. More than 300 acres of commercial properties exist along U.S. 19, 49th and 66th Streets, and Haines Road. A large Brownfield Area provides incentives for redevelopment and business development.
Downtown Palm Harbor is a Florida Main Street, a designation that recognizes the ongoing revitalization efforts in the area. The County has already made extensive improvements and is amending the Master Plan to allow the transfer of development rights to encourage further private investment. Downtown Palm Harbor is located along the County’s Coastal Corridor (Alternate U.S. Hwy 19), where there are additional opportunities for small-scale redevelopment in proximity to the historic communities of Ozona, Old Palm Harbor, and Crystal Beach. 
|
Print Page
