Market voices: St. Petersburg

Alison Barlow Executive Director St. Pete Innovation District

We are excited about our progress on our smart city project. The St. Pete Innovation District is partnering with Spectrum and US Ignite to test concepts around smart city technology to improve the lives of the people in our community. It is also a chance for us to try sensor technology and think about what it would mean for educational and workforce opportunities. We are getting closer to installing four smart light poles on the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus that will have power, internet and the ability to host environmental and tra©c sensors.

We have 16 Opportunity Zones in Pinellas County, and we have a prospectus for all the zones on our website. Every one of the zones has a little white paper associated with it, with details about that zone’s demographics, types of land and land use, our ideas and potential development opportunities. That is a big emphasis of ours for the coming year, and one of the biggest areas of land that will have future development is the Tropicana Field site, where the Rays’ stadium is. The mayor and city council have committed to begin redeveloping that site, and they are willing to share some of the development benefits with the Rays. There are several other great Opportunity Zones in Pinellas County, and they are going to be a huge benefit to the region. Mike Meidel Director Pinellas County Economic Development

Jason Mathis CEO St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership

There is a common misconception that greater density is worse for the environment, but it is actually the opposite as greater density is the most sustainable way to build. As opposed to an individual family living on a quarter acre lot where they will be taking up more space and having a greater impact on the environment, we can have these families in condos, multifamily units or townhomes where they will consume fewer resources and ultimately have less of a negative impact on the environment. If we want to preserve the elements that make St. Petersburg so unique, like our green spaces, beaches and parks, it really does require people to think about where they live and be open to the idea of living in closer proximity to one another.