County considers investing over $270M for new HQ, facilities

After more than a decade of discussions about developing a new administrative campus and dealing with deferred maintenance, Pinellas County is preparing to sell its Clearwater properties. 

The county has 14 facilities scattered throughout the downtown core that are “functionally obsolete” and highly underutilized, according to a 400-page report. 

“We currently have about 560,000 square feet in downtown Clearwater. (A consultant) went through our staffing and said, ‘the way you do business today, you only 330,000 square feet’ – that’s a 40% reduction in space,” Assistant County Administrator Kevin Knutson said during a commission meeting last week. 

The county spends $4 million annually on maintenance for the facilities. Over the next several decades, the county’s spending would total $146 million to keep the existing facilities afloat. 

To avoid falling into a money pit, the county could sell off the downtown and waterfront properties and build a completely new campus with a courthouse and permitting and admin buildings. The envisioned modern campus would be at U.S.  19 and Ulmerton Road. 

Although a specific site has not yet been identified in that corridor, Knutson said it’s the central point of the area’s growing population, it would become more efficient, be more easily accessible from a transportation standpoint, and save on future costs with a smaller footprint. 

In today’s market, the current properties would likely yield $61 to $83 million in revenue if sold. The profit would go towards the county securing the new site. Additionally, if the current sites were redeveloped, they could generate $133 of tax revenue over next 50 years. 

A sketch showing examples of how the current campus could be redeveloped. 

The new campus project is estimated to roughly cost $270 to $333 million. The estimation is based on price per square foot and structured parking for the facilities, which costs nearly $30,000 per parking spot. Knutson said the team was instructed to also evaluate existing buildings that could be flipped, but they determined it would be more feasible to build from the ground up. 

According to the criteria for the new site, it must be a minimum of six acres and have off-market opportunities. 

“I’ve been in favor of exploring this for over 10 years as long as we could make the dollars work,” Commissioner Charlie Justice said. “The time has come.” 

A map showing the current HQ site with the black X while the green X shows the primary area for the new HQ site. 

He said there are potentially more county-owned sites that could also be consolidated. Justice explained if the county purchased 30 acres and only needed 10, there would be an opportunity to sell the remainder. 

After gathering the input from the commissioners, Knutson said a contract for the next phase of work would be brought back to the board at a later date. 

Knutson said a 67,000-square-foot development services building would be the first project developed at the future campus. 

When questioned about the gap in funding that would need to be covered, Knutson said the commissioner should keep several things in mind. 

“Anytime we pledge ad valorem taxes towards a bond, there’s a referendum,” Knutson said. However, he noted that it’s unlikely the county would pursue the ad valorem route. 

“We would look at other revenues within that would offset the increase in ad valorem, and we have the opportunity as we go to the next penny [Penny for Pinellas taxes] in how that could support this as well. It’s a long-term plan and we need to think about the different sources of revenue we could tap into.”