New details hint the Fortune 500 firm locating HQ in St. Pete is Foot Locker

Newly-published county documents all but confirm that Foot Locker Retail Inc. is the Fortune 500 company that will relocate its global HQ to St. Petersburg. 

The St. Pete Catalyst first broke the news that the Fortune 500 project, codenamed Project Athena, would bring at least 300 high-paying jobs to the area, and lease at least 100,000 square feet. 

County documents, which refer to the project as Project C1071544713, reveal the company is a Fortune 500 firm currently located in New York City that earns over $7.5 billion in revenue, and that it has stores in 27 countries around the world. 

Foot Locker, based in New York, ranks as No. 385 on the Fortune 500 list and has $8 billion in revenue. It also has stores in 27 countries around the world. 

The documents also showed Tampa Bay is competing with New York and Atlanta for this project.

The documents were made public due to an economic development ad valorem tax exemption the company is seeking. The ask will go before the Pinellas County Commission on Oct. 26. The St. Pete City Council approved a financial incentive on its part for the unknown company during Thursday’s board meeting. 

Additionally, it indicated that the company receives 92% of its revenues from outside of Florida.

In city documents, the applicant indicated it would require at least 100,000 square feet of office space, while the county documents state the company would be the sole occupant of a 150,000-square-foot building. 

The county documents indicate the building that the company is pursuing currently incurs $146,466 in property tax liability per year. Local real estate experts told the Catalyst the company will likely locate its HQ in the Gateway area as downtown St. Pete does not have the available square footage it’s seeking. 

The company will invest $10 million in the property and $6.5 million in equipment for the new facility, according to the county records. 

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Additionally, the county records state it will create 350 jobs, a bump from what earlier city documents showed. 

The direct payroll impact of 350 new jobs with an average annual wage of $120,000 a year represents $42 million per year and $460 million over 10 years.  

The business activities of the company will generate approximately 1,300 annual hotel room rentals in the county.