St. Petersburg’s economy, by the numbers

ST. PETERSBURG — Natives like Mayor Ken Welch have watched their hometown’s renaissance from a sleepy sister city to a bustling destination with pride.

He and his staff on Wednesday gave an hourlong presentation with data points demonstrating St. Petersburg’s growth spurt with charts and graphs. On a screen next to him, headlines praised St. Petersburg as a top travel destination and one of the happiest towns in the country.

That’s how Welch kicked off his inaugural State of the Economy address, the first such event since former Mayor Rick Kriseman gave one in January 2021. More than 100 business and community leaders enjoyed liquor and hors d’oeuvres before and after the city-led event at the Tampa Bay Innovation Center near the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Four City Council members, state Sen. Darryl Rouson and state Rep. Lindsay Cross were there, as were former council member Darden Rice, Kriseman’s deputy mayor Kanika Tomalin, now the president and CEO of the Foundation for a Health St. Petersburg, and his former chief of staff Kevin King, who is working with Red Apple Group to build The Residences at 400 Central.

“It’s gratifying to see the rest of the nation recognizing the vibe and the vitality that defines us, and we definitely have the awards and accolades to prove it,” Welch said.

The meeting, which happened the day before the Tampa Bay Rays’ season opening game, had a theme. Rays president Matt Silverman touted the team’s plan to redevelop Tropicana Field and its surrounding parking lots into the Historic Gas Plant District. Ark Invest founder and CEO Cathie Wood announced her endorsement of the plan.

It ended with a call to action from city development administrator James Corbett, who described the project as “the biggest economic opportunity that we will have in our lifetimes.”

“It’s now time to do more than just speak about change,” he said.

Here are the highlights from the city’s presented statistics. You can view the presentation here.

Growth center: The audience gasped when Economic and Workforce Development Director Brian Caper showed a slide of population growth among cities in Pinellas County. St. Petersburg’s bar nearly ran off the slide with the city accounting for 48% of the population growth since 2020. Largo saw the second-most growth at 12.5%.

Top taxpayers and employer: Raymond James & Associates is the city’s biggest employer and top taxpayer. Residential buildings made up the rest of the city’s top 10 taxpayers.

Unemployment rate: St. Petersburg’s unemployment rate of 2.7% is lower than Tampa Bay and Florida (both 2.9%) and the country’s (3.6%).

Taxable value: The city makes up a quarter of Pinellas County’s taxable value, with a record $31 billion. That’s a 12.3% increase since 2022.

Permitting and construction: Over 33,000 permits were issued for a total construction value of $1.3 billion in 2023.

Office space: Citywide, there is an 11% vacancy in high-end office space with rents at $27.62 per square foot. Vacancy rates are going up but rents per square foot haven’t suffered a big dip. That’s a point the city wants to make in favor of the stadium and redevelopment deal, which has plans for at least 1 million square feet of office space. The city’s presentation did not include vacancy and residential rates on residential homes.

Housing goals: The city wants to create and preserve 3,200 multifamily homes; 598 are complete and 1,632 are in progress. City development officials would like to see construction of at least 400 new residential units on existing single-family home lots, such as garage apartments and mother-in-law suites. The city has seen 131 apartments completed and 155 in progress, to go with a goal of 150 new single-family homes. For those, 75 have been built and another 206 are planned.