"Pinellas by Design at a Glance" for Businesses

More than 35,000 businesses make their home in Pinellas County, a 280-square-mile peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay. Pinellas has a diverse industry mix and is one of Florida's leading counties for manufacturing (including high-tech specialties such as microelectronics, medical technology, and aviation/aerospace), financial and business services, and information technology. Our pro-business climate is matched by the exceptional quality of life enjoyed by business owners and citizens.

To keep our economy thriving, Pinellas County has embarked on a unique redevelopment strategy that includes facilitating new construction projects, updating and renovating older commercial/industrial buildings for a variety of mixed-use, residential, and commercial projects. By definition, redevelopment is a process in which older structures are rehabilitated or replaced, and new, sometimes different, uses replace the old ones. Successful redevelopment projects include older downtowns renewed with townhomes and shops, obsolete malls reborn as open-air shopping centers, and updated communities.

Through cooperation between the business community and local governments, a comprehensive redevelopment plan can be developed to ensure Pinellas remains a competitive business, tourist and residential destination. Business incentives, including streamlining local regulations and procedures, allowing greater flexibility and creativity, and offsetting costs of demolition and site preparation, are examples of positive redevelopment outcomes ensuring business and high wage job growth.

About Pinellas by Design

Pinellas by Design is a cooperative effort to address the issues of buildout and redevelopment in Pinellas County. It began in 2000, led by the Pinellas County Economic Development Department, the Pinellas Planning Council, and the Board of County Commissioners. The project has tapped the expertise of consultants in the fields of economics, real estate, and urban design, and has included broad participation from all twenty-five local governments, developers, the business community, homeowner and neighborhood associations, and interested citizens.

Its most innovative feature has been a series of successful economic development and redevelopment summits, communitywide workshops that gathered input from hundreds of participants from the public and private sectors. A collection of reports, surveys, slideshows, and other publications has also been produced.

The cornerstone of Pinellas by Design has been the creation of the Economic Development and Redevelopment Plan for the Pinellas Community, an initial attempt to define how we want to evolve as a county. The plan includes a set of strategies and techniques to help local governments guide redevelopment, including:

Simplifying land development regulations and procedures
Allowing increased densities and intensities in specific, well-planned areas
Rewarding quality urban design
Providing an environment where business can thrive

Pinellas by Design is an ongoing effort that will continue to study the issues and provide the tools to shape our communities, resulting in a smarter future for businesses and citizens.