THE CHANGING FACE OF PARADISE
Like most transformations, it didn't occur overnight. Some residents say it began in 1999when the
For decades the city was known as a retirement haven, a place where seniors rested on green benches along
Today the Green Bench is a brewery with a beer garden regularly packed with millennials and young families. The city's historic shuffleboard club is run by volunteers in their 20s and 30s who organize tweed-wearing bicycle rides and weekly shuffles with food trucks and doses of alt rock. The city's 1924 Coliseum hosts brewfests where you are likely to see more purple hair than gray.
In short, St. Petersburg has gone from being just a beautiful city where people strive to end up, to a place where many want to start out.
The changing face of St. Petersburg isn't limited to age. In recent years, more people from abroad, particularly
The foundation of the local economy has changed, too. Though tourism still helps fill city coffers, St. Petersburg is more diversified in the 21st century. Marine science, medical, specialty manufacturing, technology and financial services play significant and increasing roles in the local economy.
What hasn't changed are the things that drew St. Petersburg residents when the city was incorporated in 1903: Sunshine most every day of the year, weather that rarely requires a jacket, flora that's forever green and waterfront views in most every direction.
"The sun is always shining here, and it is as bright as it has ever been."
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Best of...
The
#1
Fittese Metro
#1 Fittest Metro In Florida and #27 in the
#1
Best City for Millennial Job Seekers'
#1 Best City for Millennial Job Seekers in
With an average salary of
#1
Town for Crafters
#1 Town in America for
#8
Best City for Hispanic kEntrepreneui
#8 Best City for Hispanic Entrepreneurs. Based on everything from percent of businesses owned by Hispanics to corporate tax rates, St. Petersburg is inviting to aspiring Hispanic and Latino entrepreneurs. WalletHub 2014
#2
Most Beautiful City
#2 Most Beautiful City In the
#12
Metro for Small ^Business
#12
Getting Around
With convenient access to two international airports and a bisecting interstate, St. Petersburg is an easy reach for national and international travelers. Getting around Is simple. City streets are laid out on a grid, accessible by 1-275, which has two feeders into downtown.
Airports
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Bus and Trolley
* 40 bus routes
* Nearly 200 buses
Bicycles
* 35 miles of bike trails
* 75 miles of on-street bike lanes and growing
Outside
Quality of life ranks high among the reasons people give for moving to St. Petersburg. Whether it's dining at a sidewalk café, kayaking
The temperate climate allows the outdoors to become an extension of the indoors. Restaurants offer outdoor seating; brew pubs have beer gardens; hotels and condo high-rises have rooftop patios. Most office parks have areas for employees to lunch outdoors, sometimes with waterfront views.
The climate has been a big selling point of the city going back to 1885 when the
Early city leaders had the foresight to preserve seven miles of downtown waterfront along
Subsequent leaders built upon that, adding the
Today the city has one of the most robust recreational systems in the nation, overseeing more than 2,700 acres and accommodating more than 1,000 events a year, including the
Now the city is embarking on one of the most expensive projects in its history - a new
"There's no pretentiousness. There is a kind of friendly, laid-back, atmosphere that I think not many places have."
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Destination Downtown
On an average Saturday afternoon in October, the vibrancy in downtown St. Petersburg is on full display. A lunch crowd fills in the recently renovated Sundial shopping, dining and entertainment center. A few blocks away, thousands of hip hop fans groove at the Beats by the Bay concert in
The Saturday Morning Market is in high gear with vendors selling everything from locally grown collard greens to handmade soap. There's a line to get into the nearby
St. Petersburg is not only flourishing, it's booming in unprecedented ways.
Dialing it Up
The revitalization of downtown began in 1999 with the arrival of BayWalk, a downtown shopping and entertainment plaza, and continued with the rise of luxury condo towers, restaurants and bars near the waterfront.
Since 2000, apartment complexes, condo towers and clusters of townhouses have shot up all over downtown. About 3,000 housing units have been built since 2000.
"I don't think people realize and understand what St. Pete is," says
Local businessman
The vibrancy attracted new types of businesses. The city's tallest office building now bears the name of Priatek, a young, interactive advertising company.
Two of the city's largest hospitals, All Children's Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine and
Cranes on the Horizon
Millennial and empty nesters are moving downtown to be near the action, says
And there appears no end in sight. Cranes dot the downtown skyline as workers construct 11 new housing properties, including what will be the downtown's tallest building. Some 1,490 downtown residences are under construction and another 920 units are planned.
A second
The nation's largest
In the
"The most exciting thing about St. Pete is the melding of these special elements. It's the restaurants, it's the arts scene, it's the business climate. There are only a couple of places in the country like that, and St. Pete is one of them."
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Local and Proud
Keeping
Despite the variety of styles, the small business community is close-knit. Formal business alliances have formed along the
Other groups formed to keep the wider local scene authentic and vibrant. Keep St. Pete Local (KSPL), a grassroots non-profit, started in 2011 with the goal of encouraging residents to buy from locally-owned, independent businesses. Today KSPL has more than 500 business and non-profit members. It runs a jobs board and hosts the popular Localtopia, an annual celebration of all things local.
KSPL Founder and President
Meanwhile, two
Lending a Helping Hand
Recognizing the importance of small businesses, the city of St. Petersburg supports them through a couple of centers. In a partnership with the
To assist a growing number of tech startups, the city in partnership with the state of
For the Love of Brew
St. Petersburg catapulted onto the craft brew scene seemingly overnight. The city went from having no craft breweries at the beginning of 2013 to having seven by the end 2015. The majority are within a two-mile stretch along the city's central corridor.
Recognizing the economic potential of craft breweries, the
A New View
From the 1889
Combined, the
The pier project went through extensive city review and intense public debate before the city selected a design by the architectural team of
Real Estate Reaches for the Sky
For more than a decade St. Petersburg has been where
Real estate is on the rise in
Condominium developers say that demand is high, and units are pre-selling like tickets to a
Developers of both ONE and The
A few other downtown projects under construction include: The Hermitage luxury apartment complex,
Downtown office vacancy rate was 7% in the fall of 2015, according to
A thriving economy and record number of visitors are keeping retail stores busy, and thus retail vacancy rates low. Retail vacancy rates hover at 7.8% citywide; 5% along the city's
'There's really no other west coast
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Life is art and art is business in
The city is home to a cluster of art and history museums, including the world-famous
ArtPlace America voted the city the #1 arts destination for a city of its size in 2013, and in 2015, an American
"The city is on a great trajectory, and a big part of that is the arts," says
A 2015 study showed that the arts are significant players in the local economy. Underwritten by Bank of America, the study analyzed receipts of 32 non-profit museums and theaters, and found that direct and indirect economic impact combined was
"While an economic impact of
The large museums in the waterfront district anchor the cultural scene.
The Chihuly Collection at the
As downtown has grown, many galleries have moved west along the central corridor. Today, the overall arts district extends 31 blocks inland from
"The thing that delights me about St. Petersburg is itsaspirational nature. Whether people come here to retire or they grew up here, there's this sense of them wanting to improve themselves and their community."
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Arts Alive
The performing and literary arts are a large part of the local culture and a growing part of St. Petersburg's economy.
The number of artists, writers and performers in the
With 11 major theatrical and music venues and countless stages in parks, bars and restaurants, you can hear live music or catch a play any night of the week. The city's
The annual Tampa Bay
Boho Revival
The grittier bohemian cousin to the
The area languished for decades after the freight depot closed in 1967 and the interstate opened. It wasn't until 2000 that
During the housing boom of the 2000s, the low rents and cavernous workspaces attracted a small number of artists and craftsmen from in and outside of
Five years later, there are roughly 25 studios and more than 200 artists in the district creating everything from furniture to sculpture to jewelry.
The activity has drawn other businesses including the city's largest microbrewery, a 3-D printer manufacturer, a video production studio, a catering business, a custom furniture manufacturer, a liquor distillery and more. Brocante Vintage Market, a funky warehouse bazaar in the district, opens one weekend a month to throngs of millennials shopping for a Mid-Century piece.
"It's just become a hot neighborhood," says
To keep from being priced out of their new neighborhood, resident artists formed the
The buzz about the area has increased interest in the city's commerce center, where 14 acres are available for redevelopment. "We have good proposals to develop that," Goodwin says. "In what once was a very downtrodden area you now have a very hot area."
Up and Coming
One of the world's finest private collections of art, furniture and crafted objects from 1900 to the 1930s is scheduled to come to St. Petersburg in 2018. The
The museum is founded by
Musuem plans include an upscale destination restaurant with period pieces such as windows designed by
It all starts with art - art in all forms - then food, then the wine, then throw some yoga and movies into the mix. St. Petersburg's newest annual arts event is a multi-week September affair celebrating the creative spirit that makes St. Petersburg a city of the arts. Sponsored by the city, Suncoasters civic group and the
You don't have to step into a gallery or museum to sample St. Petersburg's art scene. You can find it covering the sides of buildings on
The city has 34 documented murals and counting. There's even a group that meets regularly to tour and discuss the murals. The city had a few murals, but the scene took off in 2015 with the SHINE mural festival. The month-long event invited local and international mural artists to take their brushes to buildings all over downtown. The results are a wide range of pieces from historical to 3-D psychedelic to whimsical.
Local donations and
SHINE keeps shining. Murals continue to show up around town. Local coffee shop Kahwa slated a St. Pete Mini-Mural Show for
Growing West
Arty and Hip
While downtown areas near the waterfront are commanding high-dollars and make tourist must-see lists, recent business and residential growth extends west along the city's central corridor. Areas that once got little foot traffic are seeing crowds of locals flock to bohemian street fairs, casual restaurants, vintage shops and brew pubs.
"The Edge and Grand Central districts are really a hotbed of creative arts and new energy," says
Both the
The vitality continues another 15 blocks through the
The gallery regularly hosts intimate musical performances by national performers such as The Neilds and
New Energy Comes to the Deuces
Adjoining the
Community events such as the weekly
The cultural jewel of the district, the
INNOVATION DISTRICT WHO'S WHO
* All Children's Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine
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* Secrets of the Sea Marine Exploration and Aquarium
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* Tampa Bay Estuary Program
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* Innovation Lab@Poynter
It Takes a District
The district is based around
Tomalin says a primary goal of the
In St. Petersburg's case the district came largely pre-made as the science-related industries were already located there.
"In most cities and communities you would have had to spend
The
The
At the crossroads of
More than 2,700 businesses operate there, including the region's largest -
The location is also popular with defense contractors such as
Since 2012 several big businesses have relocated to the
Multifamily housing has increased, and projects are in the works to add more. Echelon, developer and owner of
Just 10 minutes north of
"The thing that moves us forward is a talented workforce that is wired to be creative, wired to be entreprenuerial, and St. Pete is a magnet for that."
- Michael Vivio President Cox Target Media Valpak
Education
St. Petersburg offers exceptional educational opportunities from kindergarten through graduate school.
While the
St. Petersburg has many private and prep schools that rank among the nation's best.
The
The 188-acre campus has one mile of water frontage on
Professional Training
"We tell our students, 'You don't just enroll in USF, you enroll in
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Medical and Life Sciences
When a 2-year-old girl started showing signs of a serious heart condition, a pediatric cardiologist at All Children's Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine inserted a tiny cardiac monitor into the smallest patient in
"This is just one more tool to help us, especially when it's not clear what the right course of action is," says
All Children's Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine is known for innovative healthcare. All Children's was the leading pediatric hospital on
It is growing. In the fall of 2015, the hospital broke ground on a
Just north of downtown is
Life Sciences
The city also has a growing number of life sciences companies, including Informed DNA, Dermazone Solutions,
Marine Science
When the
In 2014 BP awarded the marine science program
Although not as visible as St. Petersburg's leading art institutions or as interactive with the public as the city's hospitals, the marine science industry plays a significant and growing part in the city's economy.
St. Petersburg's
The St. Petersburg Ocean Team, a consortium of the various groups, plans to spotlight its research at Port St. Pete. The city and state will spend
The film festival, now headquartered in
Financial Services
More than 10,600 people work in St. Petersburg's financial services industry, making it one of the city's largest employment sectors and a financial hotspot of
St. Petersburg is one of the South's major financial services hubs with a high concentration of jobs in finance and asset management, insurance and customer care services.
St. Petersburg's financial services companies exported a healthy
The area is popular for big finance due to not only the size of the
Big Finance
One of St. Petersburg's biggest success stories is
Many other national and international financial service firms are also headquartered or have major offices in the city's
Community Banking
Smaller banks and financial service firms say they find St. Petersburg a welcoming and thriving market. "There's a distinct culture of humility. When new businesses come here, they are embraced" says
"Banking benefits when the economy grows. Right now the St. Petersburg economy is doing quite well."
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Specialty Manufacturing
Often overshadowed by other sectors of the economy, specialty manufacturing is big business in
Electronic and medical manufacturing are two of the area's primary subspecialties. The city also boasts unique homegrown manufacturing operations such LumaStream, an LED lighting company. Founded by tech Innovator
Electronics
St. Petersburg is headquarters to one of the largest electronics manufacturers in the world, Jabil. The multinational company employs 180,000 worldwide, and 2,500 of them work at the company's headquarters and manufacturing plant in
In addition to corporate functions at its headquarters, Jabil's local operations include the assembly of printed circuit boards and research and design. Jabil recently announced It will add a local research lab to further develop its new smart clothing product, Peak+(TM). The clothing technology monitors biometrics such as heart rate.
Although Jabil dominates local electronics manufacturing in output, it is not the only player. Elreha Printed Circuit Boards, established in
Medical Manufacturing
St. Petersburg also is home to many medical manufacturers. The largest specialty products are ophthalmic goods such as prescription eyeglasses, contact lenses, reading glasses and protective and magnifying eyewear. Second to that are electromedical and electrotherapeutic devices - imaging and ultrasound equipment, pacemakers, hearing aids, prosthetics and others.
A few medical manufacturers stand out due to local impact and worldwide prominence. Headquartered in
Eyewear manufacturer IcareLabs develops a wide range of lenses. in 2012, Vision Monday ranked It the fifth largest independently owned prescription eyewear manufacturer in the nation. Aurora Surgical produces sculptors for ophthalmic surgeons.
A Community with Heart
St. Petersburg has many philanthropic organizations, but the
Residents donate items and hold fundraisers. They volunteer to organize donated goods, paint and landscape facilities and a host of other projects. Local businesses contribute money, food and logistical support.
First Tee of St. Petersburg
A youth development program using golf is a natural fit for a city like St. Petersburg. First Tee of St. Petersburg utilizes three city courses and has plans to build a youth mentoring and learning center at
They call them the army of blue due to their matching "
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