Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp. reveals Build Bradenton Area Plan
BRADENTON -- Manatee County will be the most desirable region south of Tampa Bay for business expansion, at least if the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp. has anything to do with it.
Imagination was the key word at the Bradenton Area EDC's presentation of the Build Bradenton Area Plan on Friday. The plan covers business expansion and job retention goals, among others, for Manatee County between 2016 and 2020.
More than 200 bank executives, the marketing team from The Mall at University Town Center and many other business leaders from the community joined officials from Palmetto, Bradenton and Manatee County to watch the plan's unveiling at the Manatee Performing Arts Center.
The Bradenton Area EDC, a private corporation, paired with Boyette Strategic Advisors, an economic development research firm, to design the plan. Sharon Hillstrom, CEO of the Bradenton Area EDC, said the study was paid for with private funds.
The plan's goals include 62 new business relocations or expansions, 11 startup creations, 4,000 new and retained jobs and $460 million in capital investments.
Specific plans for reaching those goals include pairing with a university or college to create a "village of innovation" in downtown Bradenton. The village would encourage entrepreneurship and provide a space for networking and peer-to-peer membership.
Others include entities working to help the area become a life sciences hub for Florida's West Coast, developing a culinary market or district near Bradenton's Village of the Arts, creating an entertainment district near Palmetto's riverfront, building a distribution and logistics business park at Port Manatee and creating the best sports performance sector in the nation.
The Bradenton Area EDC will hire a director of business recruitment, Hillstrom said. The director will be in charge of reaching out to businesses and cultivating relationships. The EDC will also continue building relationships with site-selection consultants and lead generation firms, Hillstrom said.
To fulfill the plan, the agency will need an additional $400,000. SunTrust bank contributed $25,000 on Friday morning.
Johnette Isham, executive di
rector of Realize Bradenton, said the plan is "very innovative, on-target and focused. It's going to take everybody working together with the economic development corporation to bring the county to the next level."
Many attended the presentation to see what's next for Manatee County and how they can help the community move forward.
"We're always interested in knowing what's coming downtown," said David Wymer, commercial lender at Synovus Bank. "The bank is invested in Manatee County and Sarasota. It's our community."
Palmetto Community Redevelopment Agency director Jeff Burton said the presentation helped him understand where his agency should focus their efforts.
"We want to know who the EDC is after so we can target our incentive programs to bring those businesses into Palmetto," Burton said.
Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant looks forward to seeing the plan in action but wants to assure Palmetto's history as the oldest city in Manatee County is never forgotten.
"I'm hoping it doesn't lose sight of the history in Manatee County," Groover Bryant said. "I'm hoping there's more emphasis put on cities as they try to do this broad branding package."
Dave Gustafson, executive director of the Bradenton Downtown Development Authority, expressed his satisfaction with the Bradenton Area EDC's focus on "many different areas of the county."
"Especially downtown and the urban core of Palmetto and Bradenton," Gustafson said. "They are like the hearts of our communities."
The Build Bradenton Area Plan should market Manatee County without hampering the efforts of individual cities and communities, Hillstrom said.
"A professional research firm determined this is the best way to draw attention to the area," she said. "It makes it more identifiable on a global scale and it doesn't cause the communities to lose their ability to market their own identity."
No matter how each city or community chooses to integrate with the plan, it's necessary to have one in place.
"Any good business model has a strategic plan," said John Barnott, director of Manatee County building and development services. "It's as important as the mission statement, and it has to be flexible and it has to be able to move with the market."
Janelle O'Dea, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7095. Follow her on Twitter@jayohday.
This story was originally published August 29, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp. reveals Build Bradenton Area Plan."