City-Developed Website Brings Development, Investors To St. Pete

The number of building permits issued in St. Petersburg is up about 10 percent during the last year, rising from 12,701 in 2011 to 13,869 in 2012. The construction value associated with building permit activity also increased.

With approximately $232 million now in construction values permitted for 2012, the fiscal year is in the running for being the highest building permit activity since 2007. City officials attribute some of the activity to more accessible information provided by Blue Chip, an online map service developed by the City of St. Pete.

“Blue Chip helps promote future development efforts in the community through the pre-selection process of prime sites, which must meet a 5-point criteria for inclusion on the Google Map application service,” says Kimberly Bailey, the the city's economic development analyst and Blue Chip developer. "Blue Chip is then promoted to Real Estate business journals and publications for investor attraction from around the world.''

Designed to identify prime real estate properties available for development and investor interest, the site launched in November 2011 and has seen eight of the initial Blue Chip properties sold with two additional sites under contract for purchase.

Blue Chip information is categorized by land acreage or zoning designation, providing contact information for the listing's real estate broker. The site also provides a link to the city's six major business clusters: medical technology and life sciences; information technology; marine and environmental sciences; financial services; manufacturing; and arts, culture, events and tourism.

“Residents can benefit from the site to determine if any prime Blue Chip parcels have been identified within their nearby business activity corridor, which brings investor awareness to their section of the community for the development and redevelopment of currently underutilized land,” Bailey says.

According to Bailey, Blue Chip has had more than 620 unique website visits, giving St. Pete international exposure to the United Kingdom, Canada, France, India, Kenya, The Philippines, Portugal and Siberia.

Writer: Alexis Quinn Chamberlain
Source: Kimberly Bailey, City of St. Pete