CLEARWATER - Call it a glimmer of light for new jobs and downtown development.

The U.S. office of British lighting company Aurora wants to move its headquarters to downtown from its current location on U.S. 19 between Nursery Road and Gulf to Bay Boulevard.

The company is interested in vacant city-owned land that sits in the heart of downtown, where Court and Chestnut streets meet.

"It really is a gateway to downtown and the beach and it's been an eyesore for a long time," Mayor Frank Hibbard said during a City Council workshop Monday. "I really want something tasteful."

The council agreed to seek proposals from developers for the site. However, officials have spent years helping Aurora look for a new home and the lighting company is an obvious frontrunner.

In March 2008, the company paid $650,000 for 915 Court St., which used to be home to a gas station. The city-owned land is immediately to the south of that.

Prospect Avenue is the western edge for the entire plot - both Aurora's land and the city's.

No terms have been decided on for Clearwater's sale or transfer of the land, which is valued at $400,000 in property tax records.

According to city documents, Aurora is considering investing up to $5 million in a 20,000-square-foot building and creating roughly 20 jobs with an average wage above $50,000 a year.

The company, which specializes in energy efficient lighting systems for homes and businesses, promises something special.

"It is going to be an iconic-type building and we are going to treat the land as being more of a green space," said Aurora's project manager, Susan Raineri.

The city's request for development proposals for the site could be ready in about a month and a half, and Raineri said drawings for the new project may be available then.

Contamination worry

One challenge is contamination from the old gas station. Currently, groundwater monitoring equipment is in place, though the state is not cleaning up at the site because the contamination isn't severe enough.

The city is not involved in the work and Andrew Moore, a geologist who handles remediation at old gas station locations for the Pinellas County Health Department, said Clearwater has no liability for the contamination.

Raineri said that when construction occurs, the groundwater monitoring system will have to be adjusted and contaminated soil removed. That work will be done with state oversight, she said, and Aurora will pay.

"It's going to be costly to build at this site," Raineri said, "but the exposure is marvelous."

If all goes smoothly, she said the project could be done in perhaps 21/2 years.

Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4166.