Jackson Falconer
BRADENTON – At Wednesday's meeting, the Bradenton City Council heard from Sharon Hillstrom, President and CEO of the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corporation, on what her organization believes to be future steps in bringing more young people and tourists to the Bradenton-Palmetto area.
Multiple possible future projects that Hillstrom talked about were "aimed at realizing our community's potential", she said:
- Developing what Hillstrom called a village of innovation in the city's downtown area, in order to promote start-up entrepreneurial activity.
- Another project would be for the city to focus on becoming a "significant player in developing a life sciences hub for Florida's west coast."
- Developing a culinary market or district near the Village of the Arts.
- Foster the development of an entertainment district in downtown Palmetto, near that city's riverfront.
- Develop a distribution and logistics business park in Port Manatee.
Since 2009, she said, the EDC has worked with more than 60 businesses on relocation and expansions that are projected to add 3,800 jobs through 2021. Those jobs represent more than $1.9 billion in wages into the local economy. Those businesses, she said, are expected to make capital investments of over $374 million through 2021.
Hillstrom said that such progress was made possible by assistance from local governments and organizations. She named Manatee County Government in particular, which has consistently funding performance-based incentives, which she said allows the
area to stay competitive with other regions in recruiting for new jobs.
She advised that the EDC's set performance targets from 2016-2020 are 4,000 new and retained jobs; 62 business expansions and relocations; 11 new startup companies established; and $460 million in capital investment.
Another focus of the organization, said Hillstrom, is marketing Manatee County as a business location; one aspect of that has been marketing the region as the 'Bradenton-area' instead of Manatee County.
That decision came from surveying the area's "external target audiences," who were found to know the region as the 'Bradenton-area' as opposed to Manatee County. "We honor the external research ... since November of 2012, we've been reaching out to the world as the Bradenton area," she said.
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