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Redevelopment Areas
Redevelopment Info
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Pinellas County Redevelopment Areas
Located on a 280 square-mile peninsula, Pinellas offers a diverse array of cities, towns, and neighborhoods, replete with small and large downtowns, historic main streets, traditional neighborhoods and beach towns galore. Find out more about our redevelopment 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, which includes portions of St. Pete rsburg, Largo and Pinellas Park. 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. The nearby St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport and its surrounding lands offer numerous development opportunities.
Toytown, a closed 240-acre landfill, and Airco, a county-owned golf course are two of the County's planned redevelopment projects located in the Gateway area.
Downtown Palm Harbor is a Florida Main Street, a designation that recognizes the ongoing revitalization efforts in the area. This historic downtown is pedestrian-friendly and features many small shops and eateries. With a waterfront park and many recreational amenities, including the Pinellas Trail, which passes through the downtown area, its residents and visitors enjoy a rare piece of old Florida. It also contains a redevelopment area in which the county has made extensive improvements and is encouraging private investment.
Ongoing revitalization efforts are also underway in four communities: the Dansville Redevelopment Area, the Greater Ridgecrest Area, Central Lealman, and High Point. Using various revitalization strategies and funding sources, Pinellas County Community Development is making extensive improvements in these areas.
Opportunities: Large-scale office, industrial and mixed-used projects are located in the Gateway area. Smaller retail, office and mixed-use projects are available in Downtown Palm Harbor.
For more information on the unincorporated areas of Pinellas County, contact Cindy Margiotta.
A resurgent downtown is the hub of activity in St. Petersburg, with nearly $2 billion in new development and redevelopment since 1998 producing an array of office towers, condominiums, and retail, restaurant and entertainment venues. Since that year, approximately 2,000 housing units were built or are under construction in summer 2009. Another 500,000 SF of retail and over 900,000 SF of general, medical or campus office have been built or under construction.
With large institutions including All Children's Hospital, Bayfront Medical Center, the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg College, Downtown is a growing employment center with 29,000 employees, which complements an already vibrant urban neighborhood with a renown entertainment and cultural scene.
Midtown St. Petersburg is priority for redevelopment. The $30 million federal Job Corps facility is expected to spur investment in the adjoining Dome Industrial Park. In addition, a new GTE Federal Credit Union opened in 2010 across from Tangerine Plaza on 18th Avenue South to expand banking options for Midtown residents.
To continue redevelopment success throughout St. Petersburg and its seven Community Redevelopment Areas (CRAs), the City Council approved new land development regulations. The new regulations are designed to increase development intensity downtown, promote mixed-use opportunities along corridors and expand housing opportunities in neighborhoods; ensuring development in St. Petersburg meets the demands of the 21st century marketplace, while preserving its high quality of life.
Opportunities: Downtown offers prime sites for high-rise hotel, office and residential projects. Midtown offers affordable industrial, residential and commercial sites. Primary transportation corridors offer opportunities for higher density and mixed-use projects.
Clearwater (Population: 109,168)
As the second most populous community within the county,  Clearwater is home to a diverse economy with businesses of every size. Downtown Clearwater enjoys a unique location on a bluff overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, with public green space lining the waterfront. It is a traditional urban downtown anchored by a newly streetscaped Cleveland Street, which acts as the city’s Main Street.
The downtown contains a 540-acre CRA and is primarily designated for higher-intensity uses. Recent public investments, including the signature Memorial Causeway Bridge linking downtown to the beaches, have set the stage for continued private investment. A new promenade and plans for new boat slips will create a more active waterfront that will mark Clearwater’s downtown as a dynamic destination.
Clearwater Beach is the beach destination at the heart of the Pinellas County tourism market. The city’s dramatic new Beach Walk is a lushly landscaped beachside promenade will help ensure this area meets the expectations of future visitors through it design that brings visitors closer to the beach. The new environment continues to draw new hotel, retail, entertainment and restaurant businesses, bringing new vitality to Clearwater Beach.
Hercules Industrial Park, located to the northeast of downtown, is Clearwater’s primary industrial area. It provides a diverse mix of industrial uses surrounded by residential neighborhoods and includes Clearwater Airpark, a small-craft airport.
Opportunities: Downtown offers a wide variety of redevelopment opportunities, including high-rise office, mixed-use residential and retail. Hotel development is encouraged on the beach. Much of the industrial land is underutilized by older developments and is ripe for land assembly and other redevelopment projects.
 Largo (Population: 69,394)
Centrally located in Pinellas County, Largo is close to everything from beaches to airports. Growth has been spurred by affordable land values and a family and business-friendly setting. The city has large areas of office and industrial space, and a major retail project is underway at U.S. 19 and East Bay Drive.
Largo has two CRAs: the 330-acre West Bay Drive, its traditional downtown area, and the 288-acre Clearwater/Largo Road. It has already invested heavily in streetscaping in both CRAs. The city is assembling land in the West Bay Drive CRA to entice future higher density and mixed-use developments. Clearwater/Largo Road is a neighborhood-based CRA with retail, restaurants and affordable housing elements.
Opportunities: West Bay Drive offers prospects for high-rise office, hotel and residential projects, including those mixed with additional retail and restaurants. Clearwater/Largo Road CRA has opportunities for smaller mixed-use development, including affordable housing projects. Larger industrial and office development projects can be located in Largo’s gateway area.
Pinellas Park (Population: 46,438)
Conveniently located with excellent transportation access and affordable land  costs, Pinellas Park is already a major industrial and office employment center. It offers prime redevelopment opportunities for businesses and a variety of affordable lifestyle options for residents.
The city has a 1,340-acre CRA centered along Park Boulevard, where major streetscape work has been completed and additional infrastructure upgrades are underway. The Shoppes at Park Place is a new open-air shopping center located on U.S. 19, a major corridor for ongoing retail development. The city is encouraging higher-density development in parts of its CRA.
Opportunities: The CRA area has retail, hotel and mixed-use opportunities. The gateway area offers space for larger industrial and office projects. U.S. 19 offers prime real estate for commercial and mixed-use redevelopment projects.
 Dunedin (Population: 36,277)
Dunedin’s Main Street provides a delightful, pedestrian-friendly environment for residents, small businesses and visitors. The city also boasts four miles of waterfront, a municipal marina, two state park islands, a spring-training facility, and portions of the Pinellas Trail - all of which contribute to Dunedin’s vibrant quality of life.
The downtown area includes a 217-acre CRA that contains a mix of single and multifamily residential, specialty retail and professional office uses, along with a large medical complex. A new eastern gateway to the downtown is being created by a major mixed-use redevelopment project that will include office, retail and residential space.
Opportunities: Opportunities exist in the CRA for additional mixed-use developments including hotel, professional office, restaurant and retail uses. A major site with ample surrounding workforce for office and industrial uses exists near downtown.
 Tarpon Springs (Population: 24,196)
Located on the scenic Anclote River, Tarpon Springs is one of the oldest and most charming communities in the Tampa Bay area. Famous for its historic sponge industry and Greek heritage, its downtown is also known for its art galleries, antique shops and historic neighborhoods. The downtown has a 226-acre CRA, and the Pinellas Trail passes through this area. An extensive industrial area north of the Anclote provides a strong employment base, and the marine industry remains a backbone of this waterfront city.
Opportunities: There are tourism-related opportunities, including hotels, as well as other small retail, office and mixed-use projects. A large industrial area north of the Anclote is a primary employment district containing substantial vacant acreage suitable for light industrial, mixed use and recreational development.
Safety Harbor (Population: 17,245)
 Safety Harbor is primarily a residential community with a quaint, walkable downtown composed of neighborhood and tourist-oriented retail and office uses. The internationally-known historic Safety Harbor Resort and Spa is the centerpiece of the community.
The downtown is part of a 160-acre CRA, where the city has made extensive streetscape improvements, including restoring the brick streets and undergrounding utilities. Safety Harbor is encouraging quality redevelopment such as Harbor Pointe, its new $30 million mixed-use redevelopment project that features residential, retail and office spaces.
Opportunities: The CRA provides many opportunities for small infill redevelopment and mixed-use projects including specialty retail and restaurants. Unique live and work use projects such as artist lofts are also encouraged.
While the majority of Pinellas County lies within a peninsula, Oldsmar lies on the mainland, bounded by the 8,500-acre Brooker Creek Preserve to the north and the county line to the east. Significant industrial areas include the Tampa Bay Park of Commerce and Brooker Creek Industrial Park.
Oldsmar’s Town Center is a 141-acre CRA in which pubic investment focuses on preserving old Florida charm while encouraging a more vibrant business environment. The Oldsmar Galleria, a redevelopment project with retail, office and residential uses has been completed, and the city is encouraging additional mixed-use redevelopment projects.
Opportunities: The CRA provides opportunity for mixed-use development, including retail and office projects. Vacant and developable land is available in the city’s industrial areas.
Gulfport (Population: 12,376)
Gulfport is anchored by a 13-acre beachfront park and recreation complex, which includes the famed restored 1930s-era Gulfport Casino. Gulfport is known for its friendliness, diversity, thriving arts community, and offbeat historic Florida flavor. Comprising about 10 percent of its land area, Gulfport has two designated CRAs: the 84-acre Waterfront Area and the 186-acre 49th Street Redevelopment Corridor.
The city has invested heavily in its waterfront recreational assets and is completing streetscape improvements in the 49th Street area. Around 49th Street, the city seeks a more unified appearance, the redevelopment of older buildings, and the creation of a more pedestrian and bike-friendly atmosphere.
Opportunities: Opportunities exist in the waterfront areas for mixed-use developments including artist live/work space and smaller retail, restaurant and office space. Along 49th Street are infill projects for larger mixed-use prospects including those with professional office and commercial uses.
Pinellas County's White Sand Beaches:
 The Beaches span the Gulf Boulevard corridor, from Clearwater in the north to St. Pete Beach in the south. Eleven barrier island communities provide a combined 35 miles of beachfront, serving as the premiere tourism corridor in Pinellas County. Each community has its own character, ranging from intensive, tourist-oriented development, to traditionally styled beach villages, to quiet neighborhoods of estate homes. Most of the area is tourist-oriented, with commercial, recreational and multifamily uses intermixed with single-family residential neighborhoods.
Significant public investment is planned for Gulf Boulevard to ensure this important corridor remains competitive for future tourism. The extensive corridor-wide beautification plan is a cooperative effort between the barrier island communities and Pinellas County. A number of beach communities are actively pursuing redevelopment investments, most notably Madeira Beach and Treasure Island.
Madeira Beach (pop. 4,404) is redeveloping its town center area and seeks to attract new hotels, restaurants, retail and residential projects while preserving its unique heritage. The city is encouraging redevelopment with new mixed-used land use codes, the revitalization of its marina and a redesign of the city’s downtown corridor. Already, John’s Pass, a shopping and tourist attraction with a fishing village motif, was redeveloped with a new parking garage and significant new retail and restaurants.
Treasure Island’s (pop. 7,608) downtown is an 87-acre redevelopment area. The city seeks to redevelop its older buildings and strip centers with higher-end retail, restaurants, residences and mixed-use developments in a more pedestrian-friendly environment. As an example, its most recent project, a new Publix grocery store, features an integrated parking deck on the ground floor and a plaza area.
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