Like-minded neighbors include the U.S. Geological Service, the Florida Marine Research Institute and USF.
By SHARON L. BOND
Published October 17, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - A National Marine Fisheries Service office is moving to Third Street S to get more room for its 80 workers, and at the same time hook up with related entities.
"We are looking forward to the synergy we will be able to establish with the scientific community already down there," said Chris Smith, a spokesman for the Southeast regional office of NOAA Fisheries. That office now is in the Koger Center in north St. Petersburg and plans sometime next year to move into the first two floors of the old Florida Power building on Third Street S at 13th Avenue.
Nearby are the U.S. Geological Service, the Florida Marine Research Institute and the marine and environmental programs at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
"We see it as an incredibly positive move that will get us in the mix geographically with marine research and resources agencies," Smith said.
Those agencies are in an area of renewal, with expansion by the university and other businesses and plans for a mixed-use development nearby in the works.
Details with the lease and how the space will be refurbished are not final, so the date of the Fisheries Service move is uncertain, Smith said. Some NOAA workers will remain at the Koger Center, where the agency has had an office for about 20 years.
The old Florida Power building is a three-story brick structure with enormous windows. It dates to 1924. It stood empty for many years after Florida Power moved out. It was refurbished in the late 1990s, and the energy company returned.
Offices of Progress Energy Florida, formerly known as Florida Power Corp., are on the first two floors. The College of Business for USF St. Petersburg is on the third floor.
Progress Energy leases the building from Strong Properties in Largo, according to Aaron Perlut, Progress spokesman. Progress subleased to USF.
Perlut said the energy company will move the 50 workers it has in the old Florida Power building to three locations, the bulk of them to the Bank of America building in downtown St. Petersburg. He was not sure when they would leave.
Progress is bidding on a piece of downtown property where it wants to build a new office tower and consolidate its Pinellas employees in one location.
