CLEARWATER – The city of Clearwater could forgo more than $1 million in tax revenue over the next decade on improvements to General Electric Co.’s nearly 40-year-old manufacturing site.
City officials, though, say they’re getting a good deal – an overhauled manufacturing plant in the aging Hercules Avenue industrial zone, more than 200 new jobs and, most importantly, a commitment by the global company to build its Center of Excellence here rather than at a factory in upstate New York that’s shutting down.
In Pinellas County, where undeveloped land is scarce and many commercial buildings worn, cities are taking extra steps to ensure their best employers stay put when they start growing.