Company bringing 500 jobs eyes Gateway site

More details have emerged regarding an unidentified company from California looking to expand into Pinellas County. 

During a Tuesday Pinellas County commission meeting, the commissioners unanimously approved a request from a California manufacturer to become a qualified applicant for an economic ad valorem tax for a proposed expansion project in Pinellas Park. 

The company’s project, codenamed Project C2030349259, would create at least 496 new jobs in Pinellas County at an average wage of $54,926 per year, which meets the wage threshold for a manufacturing business.

In the first year, it would create 107 jobs, followed by 94 jobs in the second year and 155 in the third year. 

It would invest over $46 million in the new site. The economic impact of this capital investment is $9.3 million. 

The unanimous approval for the seven-year tax abatement comes after the City of Pinellas Park approved a resolution in late October to support the project. The city agreed to provide a tax abatement; however, a specific amount was not determined as the city is working through its procedures, said Suzanne Christman, director of business at Pinellas County Economic Development. 

According to Pinellas Park documents, the unknown company is “on a mission to treat and transform the lives of patients suffering from venous and other diseases” and has developed two minimally invasive novel catheter-based mechanical thrombectomy devices. 

The documents also state the company is eyeing the 3201 Gateway Centre Parkway property for its expansion. E-commerce giant Amazon was utilizing the warehouse as a delivery station, referred to as DTP8. 

3201 Gateway Centre Parkway, Pinellas Park. GoogleMaps.

The 100,000-square-foot property is owned by Atlanta-based Stonemont Financial Group, according to the property’s records. Stonemont purchased the warehouse last year in a roughly $28.55 million deal from Orlando-based Tavistock Development Company. 

The confidential company would lease the facility rather than purchase it, according to county documents.

The documents show the company is considering alternative sites in Orlando, Minneapolis, and in Plano, Texas. 

“The incentives are necessary to keep the company’s operating model competitive with other locations, and to support/offset some of the costs” associated with the facility, the company wrote in its application. 

Christman said that once a company goes through a tax abatement program, it must be compliant and submit an annual report as well as payroll documents and other materials.