Pinellas awards $8.8 million to expanding manufacturers

Four local companies will receive between $400,000 and $3.54 million to expand operations and storm-harden facilities through Pinellas County’s Employment Sites Program. 

Commissioners unanimously approved allocating $8.84 million to the four projects at their July 22 meeting without discussion. The workforce development and retention program has provided $44.6 million through seven funding rounds. 

Here are the four recipients from the application cycle that closed Sept. 20, 2024: 

• Monin Americas: The gourmet flavored syrup manufacturer received $3.54 million to demolish an existing building and build a new stormwater conveyance system as part of a $35 million expansion in Clearwater. Monin has 260 employees and plans to add 30 new hires.
• Bardmoor Palms Redevelopment: The developer received $3.25 million to demolish two unoccupied Class B office buildings in Largo and build a new state-of-the-art, 140,400-square-foot speculative industrial complex. Over $1.6 million will go toward purchasing fill dirt to raise the site at 8333 Bryan Dairy Road.
• Pharmetric Laboratory: The company received $1.65 million to upgrade a recently purchased building at 7265 Ulmerton Rd. in Largo. Pharmetric needs a sterile facility to manufacture microbiological growth media, a critical component of environmental monitoring and pharmaceutical testing.
• St. Joseph’s Holdings: The limited liability corporation owns Yo Mama’s Foods and received $400,000 to retrofit and expand its Clearwater headquarters at 1125 Eldridge St. The specialty sauce manufacturer will also create a stormwater conveyance system and fill 12 new roles.

A map highlighting the four project locations.

Commissioner Vince Nowicki questioned the application process during a July 17 workshop. He said previous contracts “seemed a little light on some of the requirements for giving out millions of dollars.” 

“There weren’t a lot of controls,” Nowicki added. “If they (recipients) just up and left, it would be a little bit harder for the county to get some money back.”

County Administrator Barry Burton noted that officials have updated the process and funding criteria. Pinellas County Economic Development (PCED) staff score each application before seeking input from several other departments. 

An independent consultancy firm now conducts additional due diligence before PCED presents the projects to the commission for conditional approval. Burton subsequently reviews the agreements. 

“A lot of times, we really need to get these projects going to the market,” said Dr. Cynthia Johnson, director of PCED. “That third-party consultancy firm really looks into the financials.”

Johnson expressed confidence that, with the independent firm’s assistance, her department now provides enough background information on recommended projects for commissioners to make informed decisions. Burton said he can make revisions before presenting final contracts for approval. 

Johnson said recipients must typically reach milestones to receive funding. “It may be after the first pour of the foundation, then they get a payout.” 

The county’s legal team also writes and reviews contracts. Johnson said there is a legally defined “claw-back clause,” should a recipient default on the agreement. 

Program contracts carry over to new ownership. PCED receives annual reports from awarded companies highlighting the jobs created and conducts site visits to ensure ongoing compliance. 

Companies must also prove project funding gaps. “We needed to tighten up that process,” Burton said.

Johnson said the county has never had to claw back Employment Sites Program funding. The initiative garnered international acclaim in September 2024. 

Commissioners have dedicated $98 million to the program. Nearly $38 million in previously awarded funding garnered $269 million in private investments for 26 projects throughout Pinellas. 

Bardmoor currently lacks a tenant for its new facility at 8333 Bryan Dairy Road. Commissioner Dave Eggers said speculative redevelopment is a “very different” project than what they typically support.

However, the county has previous experience working with the firm. Bardmoor’s application states that spending $1.2 million on demolition, $310,000 on stormwater improvements and $1.6 million on fill dirt to “bring the site up to a usable grade” makes the project “financially unfeasible given the current market rental rates.” 

Eggers said officials must trust that the developer “knows the kind of tenant that we’re looking for.” He also noted Bardmoor has “done it before and they’ll probably want to do it again, so they want to behave themselves and bring the right people.” 

“It’s not a perfect system,” Burton said of the application process. “But I think they’ve got much tighter criteria to work from in trying to make these … recommendations.”