Presenting

A side from the allure of hav ing such diverse personalities accessible all in one general locale, there are other factors that draw nearly 200 people to move to Tampa Bay each day. e gorgeous weather, low cost of liv ing and year- round, vacation atmosphere hold tremendous appeal. But what specifically about the Suncoast aracts the likes of Jeff Vinik, ow ner of the Tampa Bay Lightning? With $100 million of support from Bill Gates, Strategic Propert y Partners (a joint venture of Vinik and Cascade Investment, LLC) is planning a massive, game-changing project located just east of dow ntow n Tampa. e almost nine million square feet of new commercial, residential, hospitalit y, cult u ra l, enter ta i n ment, educat ion a nd reta i l space—tota l i ng approx i mately $3 bi l l ion i n pr ivate i nvest ment—w i l l a lter t he face of t he cit y over t he nex t decade. Ja mes Noza r, CEO of Strateg ic Proper t y Pa r tners, says, " We have a u n ique oppor t u n it y to bu i ld a la rge-sca le u rba n, m i xed-use water f ront d istr ict...t hat of fers a new ex per ience on ever y block a nd ever y cor ner. We pla n to cont i nue to tra nsfor m dow ntow n Ta mpa i nto a world-class dest i nat ion ." SEEING THE GLASS AS HALF FULL is potential that SPP sees is ev idenced in the number of local programs and initiatives in place that are churning out exciting new ideas by the minute, buoyed by the presence of so many well-respected educational institutions. e goal of the Universit y of Tampa's John P. Low th Entrepreneurship Center, for example, is to get UT on the map as one of the nation's top private universities for entrepreneurship and innovation. With a one-t wo punch of classroom study and applied learning , the Center aims to arm students w ith the sk ills necessar y to bring their concepts to fr uition. Since it began in 2003, the Tampa Bay Innovation Center has guided hundreds of technolog y clients through the "mind to market" process, who as a result I n recent decades, this once sleepy corner of Florida has dusted itself off to begin its transformation from God's waiting room. A new generation of disrupters, mavericks and artists moved into town and began shaking up the old guard, reinventing the picturesque seaside towns that had remained mostly quiet since the early 1960s, when retirees descended upon Florida en masse. Now a gleaming , culturally diverse, technologically advanced hub of innovation is taking shape above the famous turquoise waters. JUST THE RIGHT BLEND More and more, the cities that make up "the Suncoast" are emerging as a unified, multi-faceted entit y; yet each has its ow n distinct flavor and personalit y. St. Petersburg/Clear water is no longer your grandmother's hushed seaside destination. Dow ntow n St. Pete is a v ibrant menagerie that pulses w ith a youthf ul and artsy v ibe…from the v inyl record stores on Central Avenue to the imaginative architecture of the Dalí Museum. Across the bay, Tampa buzzes w ith its ow n k ind of energ y, stemming from the technolog y, engineering and medical companies that make their home there. e cit y is hard at work morphing into an entrepreneurial mecca, w ith aspirations of becoming a li le "Silicon Valley" w ith sunshine. At the southernmost point of this region lies Sarasota, a cultural haven where the ballet, opera, theater and a world-renow ned art college all converge. Downtown St. Petersburg COMMUNITY Renaissance 50 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com

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