City of Largo, Florida

Building Better Business Relationships: A Major Priority in Largo

In July of this year the City of Largo adopted its first ever Economic Development Plan. The adoption of this Plan demonstrates the City's desire to provide a vibrant economic environment that supports resident employment and a stable tax base through urban design, planning and result-based economic development initiatives.

One of the major goals outlined in this Plan is to focus and create opportunities with existing commercial developments in the neighborhood activity centers. The goal will be to inventory the commercial sites in order to provide expanding businesses information on these locations for consideration. Economic Development's Amanda Montgomery will head up the commercial inventory process and establish a working database to keep up with the changes that may occur with these sites. Data gathered will include: size and condition of the commercial structures on the property, ownership, and if the space is occupied/type of business.

The first activity centers to be evaluated will be Largo's two Community Redevelopment Districts. Ms. Montgomery will be visiting the commercial locations and introducing herself to the businesses in order to "reach out" to them and establish relationships with the businesses.

"The City of Largo is very progressive and understands that it is the small businesses that are the backbone of the City's economy. We want to foster a relationship in which if there is a problem the businesses feel comfortable calling the Economic Development Division. We see ourselves as 911 operators, call us and we get the emergency taken care of" says Amanda Montgomery, Program Planner.

Collecting data in the two Community Redevelopment Districts allows the Economic Development Division to better serve as an advocate for downtown properties. The Division hopes to assist the community, realtors, developers and new businesses in site selection. Ultimately, the downtown database is crucial for evaluating the current supply of products and services. The combination of this information with consumer demand statistics will help in business expansion and recruitment opportunities.

To make sure that your commercial property is included in the process please contact Amanda Montgomery by telephone at 727-586-7360 ext 3 or by email at amontgom@largo.com

To visit the Economic Development Website click here

To download the Economic Development Plan click here

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