Surprising St. Pete takeaways from the Downtown Development Summit

The Downtown Partnership held its fourth annual Downtown Development Summit at the St. Petersburg Distillery on Wednesday and the takeaways might surprise some people. Speakers and statistics throughout the afternoon continually returned to a few common themes: 

The beautiful February weather reminded the diverse audience of developers, city officials, affordable housing advocates, and business leaders of exactly why St. Petersburg is a city in high demand. But rather than relaxing in the sunshine, the Downtown Partnership offered a meaty agenda, packed full of revealing statistics and illuminating observations from local and national experts. Read on for some of the afternoon’s highlights, including surprising statistics, development trends, and areas of concern…..