St. Pete ranked in top 15 cities for 'new normal' corporate headquarters
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: May 5, 2022

St. Petersburg has ranked as one of the top U.S. locations for the “new normal” corporate headquarters office.

The Boyd Co. Inc., a corporate site selection firm based in Boca Raton, completed a national site selection study that reflects trends that have sprung up in the corporate world since the pandemic began. Remote working, rethinking preferences for office space and the growing demands for amenities to entice workers have shifted focus toward new cities as corporations look for homes that fit their needs.

“A thousand people a day are moving to the Sunshine State, and given the new preferences for corporate offices — this ‘live, work and play’ — St. Petersburg is showing up on the radar screen for a number of our projects," John Boyd Jr., principal of The Boyd Co., told the Tampa Bay Business Journal, "and I think you’re seeing new speculative developments adding more office inventory to address this."

Orange Station at the EDGE is a mixed-use development that will feature 50,000 square feet of top-tier office space. Boyd said The Residences at 400 Central by billionaire developer John Catsimatidis Sr., founder of Red Apple Real Estate, will also put the city on the radar of wealthy business owners who might've chosen Palm Beach or Miami-Dade five years ago. When paired with the 45,000 square feet of top-tier office space in the building, Boyd said it will undoubtedly mean big things for the corporate footprint in St. Pete.

“That was a major score to get John Catsimatidis to do that project,” Boyd said. “It’ll be the tallest tower on the gulf and will include office space. That’s an interesting project. Another big picture theme is remote working. A lot of people don’t know this, but St. Petersburg was an early pioneer of this model with the Home Shopping Network. Decades ago, really ahead of the curve, the city pioneered the home office.”

Companies are moving toward a “hub-and-spoke” model with a central office and additional satellite offices. The report said millions of employees are working from home still and will continue to do so. What has happened following the pandemic, according to Boyd, is there is the option of designating a satellite office as the company’s formal corporate headquarters, which allows it to take advantage of superior business and tax climates and offer lifestyle amenities.

The spotlight is thus turning toward “attractive, smaller market suburban locations,” often in states that have an ideal corporate income tax climate, superior personal income tax climate, locations with favorable demographic and businesses trends, locations with “attractive housing markets for C-suite executives,” areas with travel and hospitality support for any corporatewide meetings, sites with unique lifestyle amenities and places with “favorable operating cost structures.”

The 15 top U.S. locations that meet the new headquarters standards as identified by Boyd alphabetically by state are:

Lake Nona, Florida

Punta Gorda, Florida

St. Petersburg, Florida

Westlake, Florida

Minden, Nevada

Cary, North Carolina

Kannapolis, North Carolina

Blue Ash, Ohio

Dublin, Ohio

Mt. Juliet, Tennessee

Leander, Texas

Plano, Texas

Round Rock, Texas

Woodlands, Texas

Bellevue, Washington

In St. Pete, the annual operating costs for a corporate headquarters based on the construction of a top-tier, 75,000-square-foot corporate head office employing 200 administrative support workers was $17.86 million, according to the report. St. Pete had the fifth-lowest annual ranking on the list.

“This study reaffirms the cost competitiveness of St. Petersburg,” Boyd said. “Despite all the growth and all of the success, despite some inflationary wave pressures, there are significant operating cost advantages in St. Petersburg versus New York and California and other major markets we look at.”

Pro-business elected leaders and the impact of institutions like the University of South Florida being engaged in workforce issues have created an attractive environment for companies.

“This report really emphasized this new philosophy of economic development. Economic success is really a people-first operation,” Boyd said. “Offices are getting smaller, so the real estate criteria are evolving. Projects that would have eliminated St. Petersburg even five or six years ago are now seriously considering it.”