Just a few miles north of St. Pete’s downtown and a short drive west from South Tampa, the Gateway area is home to many of the region’s top employers including Raymond James Financial, Home Shopping Network, and Jabil.
The Gateway area’s strategic location supports more than 2,700 businesses and 60,000 employees. With highly accessible transportation assets including two international airports, three seaports, four bridges, and six major roadways, businesses have access to a talented workforce population of over 712,000 within a 30-minute drive time.
The Gateway area also benefits from a strong customer base. Nearly 1.5 million Tampa Bay residents can access Gateway driving 30 minutes or less. This 1.5 million population represents $1.8 billion in entertainment spending, which Gateway businesses are advantageously located to capitalize on.
Among Gateway’s small and large industry leaders, a unique concentration of defense contractors and high-tech firms have emerged specifically at the corridor of 16th Street North and Roosevelt Boulevard.
St. Pete’s “16th Street High-Tech Corridor” is home to Jabil (NYSE: JBL), a Fortune 500 company, headquartered in St. Pete since 1982 and the third largest electronics manufacturer in the world.
Jabil celebrated the completion of the first of four phases of construction planned as part of a $67 million expansion of its St. Petersburg HQ campus in March 2019.
Neighboring Jabil’s Strategic Development Center, PlasmaTherm,
Just down the street, the global defense and aviation company, General Dynamics Ordnance & Tactical Systems, serves x clients around the world…
NAC Semi (NAC Group, Inc. is a global electronic component design services & distribution company)
Plasma-Therm, manufactures equipment for the production of electronic chips for current and futuristic applications. ntrated in the 16th Street corridor..
Among Gateway’s global medical manufacturers based in St. Petersburg are: Halkey-Roberts, which makes medical valves, clamps and other specialty devices; Aurora Surgical, a manufacturer of surgical tools for ophthalmic surgeons; Synergy Health, a medical products sterilization company; MTS Medication, which produces specialized medical packaging; and Plasma-Therm, a maker of blood plasma processing equipment.
St. Petersburg electronics manufacturers have evolved to the challenges of rapidly changing digital technologies. In addition to manufacturing, Jabil is now also a manufacturing and supply chain solutions provider.
Jabil may be largest, but it’s not the only electronics manufacturer in St. Petersburg. Some others include Aurora Semiconductor and HT Global Circuits.
Consequently, the area is also home to global electronic component distributors, including NAC Semi and America II Group.
- Jabil
- Jabil new R&D
- FIS
- PowerDesign
- iVenture Solutions
- (Global defense and aviation company)General Dynamics Ordnance & Tactical Systems
- PlasmaTherm
- (Electronics Manufacturer) Aurora Semiconductor
- Crabil Manufacturing, Inc. ( is an ISO 9001:2008 and AS9100C certified job shop specializing in tight tolerance parts for defense contractors, aerospace etc.)
- NAC Semi (NAC Group, Inc. is a global electronic component design services & distribution company)
- Compulink (Compulink has been an industry leading manufacturer of wire harnesses and custom molded cable assemblies since 1984. We are an ISO 9001:2008 certified manufacturer of high quality, build-to-print cables and harnesses for commercial and military applications)
- RevTech Manufacturing Solutions
- L3 recently expanded downtown..
- Just across 275, Lockheed Martin
- Just north of the Gandy 275 crossing, Intellitech
- America II Electronics (next to Intellitech & one of the world’s largest distributors of semiconductors and electronic components)
Since 2014, major companies have relocated or expanded their existing offices and facilities including Valpak, HSN, Maxi-Blast, AGR Florida, and Great Bay Distributors. New mixed-use and residential projects, such as Ibis Walk and Peridot Palms, continue attracting new residents and businesses.
The Gateway Express Project will provide a direct connection from I-275 to US 19, the St. Pete/Clearwater Airport, and the Bayside Bridge via an elevated fixed toll expressway. The new expressway will give the community faster travel times and will include a dedicated transit lane.
Echelon City Center is a proposed mixed-use development in Carillon Park with 2.8 million SF that will include office space, apartments, retail, and a boutique hotel. Echelon predicts a five to seven-year buildout with development costs ranging between $600 and $700 million.
