A city-owned building at 450 8th Avenue Southeast in St. Pete will soon become a hub for marine science, defense, and technology companies once a lease proposal is approved by City Council. The St. Petersburg Innovation District has proposed to lease the 30,000 square foot building which was recently vacated by SRI.
Under the proposal, the building would become home to a new project called the St. Petersburg Maritime and Defense Technology Hub (Hub) and will house SPID’s main office. Space in the building would be sub-leased to companies in the city’s Grow Smarter target industries. The building sits in the Innovation District which is anchored by USF St. Petersburg, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, and Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.
The Hub is expected to bring together industry, government, and academia to provide a collaborative environment for its subtenants. The hope is that, while SRI struggled because of their isolation, the Hub will create an environment for tenants to pursue joint funding opportunities and facilitate other collaboration.
“The Innovation District's mission is to develop St. Petersburg into an environment that fosters job growth, economic development, and learning and inspiration by bringing innovative people and organizations together,” says Alison Barlow, Executive Director of the St. Petersburg Innovation District. “The Maritime and Defense Technology Hub will be a key addition to this mission through the work of the curated organizations that will come together in the building and their collective reach into the community.
For more about the Hub out St. Pete Rising.com (click here) , St Pete Catalyst (click here), or the Tampa Bay Business Journal (click here).
The Innovation District and six partners were recently selected to help grow startups that are working on technology/data solutions for the ocean economy. This powerful collaboration is made possible thanks to $13.9 million awarded by the NOAA Ocean Enterprise Accelerators program.
Kudos to Lauren Bell, the Innovation District's Hub Community Manager, for her acceptance into the Leadership St. Pete Class of 2025. Lauren is a rock star at the Innovation District.
Are you like me? Give me a physical map and I get excited! Maybe its a carryover from the pre-GPS days, but I think it is such a fun way to explore an area.