Unidentified company could bring nearly 500 jobs to St Petersburg by 2015
The incentive package is worth 1.2 million dollars
Photographer: WFTS
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: 09/16/2011
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Florida law protects its privacy. We don't know the name of the biotech company that wants to bring jobs to St. Petersburg, but they are in the field of advanced medical therapies.
The City of St. Pete, along with Pinellas County, the State of Florida and the USF Research Foundation are expected to approve an incentive package at next week's city council session.
The City of St. Pete is pitching in the land. The State of Florida, Pinellas County and the University of South Florida Research Foundation are all contributing money.
Jim Kennedy, Chairman of the St. Pete City Council supports the proposal.
"The objective here is to not only be the home of the research and development , but as that research and development turns into manufacturing, to be home to those manufacturing jobs," said Kennedy.
The incentive package totals $1.2 million, with the land space accounting for a little more than a quarter million dollars.
That land will be somewhere within the Dome Industrial Park Redevelopment District west of Tropicana Field, "Which is a location where the city has been accumulating property for the specific purpose of having an industrial site to bring in jobs," Kennedy said.
After the initial 200 research and development jobs are in place, the company has plans to add nearly 300 more jobs in manufacturing.
This is another in the city's efforts to land jobs in the high-tech science and manufacturing area.
The recent proof is the visit over Labor Day weekend of the USS Independence. Its security while in Port is directly tied to SRI, an industry leader in Port Security that settled in St. Pete just a few years ago.
"SRI is on the cutting edge of that technology. They've received those federal grants. And they're bringing that federal money back home here to St. Pete doing their research and development here," said Kennedy.
The unknown company is expected to have the manufacturing portion of their business up and running in 2015.
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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