Today, the path to a brighter future for Florida passes through the door of a new two-story building on downtown St. Petersburg’s waterfront. SRI International will open a 37,000-square-foot laboratory three years after local and state officials wooed the California-based nonprofit with a collection of incentives. It’s the latest milestone in a concerted effort, launched in 2003 by then-Gov. Jeb Bush, to make Florida more than a land of home builders, beachgoers and agriculture. Particularly in the aftershocks of the Great Recession, the ribbon-cutting is worthy of celebration.
The St. Pete Times covered this story.