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St. Petersburg business climate entices eLease
Web-based small business relocates from California'ss coast -Jane Meinhardt, Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG -- A San Francisco online leasing company with $15 million in annual revenue moved its headquarters to downtown St. Petersburg.
Lured by the business climate, demographics and economic development incentives, eLease opted to relocate in St. Petersburg instead of Sarasota, said Tom Williams, the company'ss president and chief executive officer.
The company provides online equipment leasing and financing services for small and new businesses.
Vendors and clients urged Williams to explore opportunities in Florida when he began considering relocation because of the expense of operating a business in San Francisco.
"We are extremely entrepreneurial," he said. "We needed to find a place where we could grow, and vendors were excited about us coming here. That and the local economy were some of the things we considered.
"It also seems like there are a lot of small businesses here, which is great because that'ss our target market."
The company moved into leased space on First Avenue South and plans to eventually move into larger offices or buy a building.
When exploring Sarasota, Williams learned from chamber officials there that the state in partnership with local governments offers various economic incentive programs for businesses to relocate.
He met with St. Petersburg Economic Development Department officials while looking at the city as a relocation site and decided it was where he wanted eLease to be. Williams noted that he and a business partner are in their 30s.
"I think it'ss a better fit here," Williams said. "St. Petersburg has more energy and more opportunity and more of a financial district. They also worked with me for some great financial incentives."
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Teresa Brydon, economic development coordinator for the city, said eLease has applied for incentives under the state'ss Qualified Target Industry program. The governor is expected to approve the incentive package.
The program provides tax refunds of $6,000 per job if a relocating business is in an Enterprise Zone. To qualify, a company must create at least 10 jobs, pay on average at least 115 percent of the area wages and have a significant positive impact on the community.
Williams's company is in an Enterprise Zone, meets the requirements and has agreed to provide 20 jobs during a five-year period, Brydon said. This means eLease would receive at least $50,000 in incentives such as tax credits or direct rebates.
"The bottom line is the city and county agreed to pay some of those dollars," she said. "We'sre excited to have to have them here."
Don Shea, president and chief executive officer of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, viewed eLease'ss move as a measure of the city'ss success in putting together business incentives.
"They'sve been aggressive in packaging these incentives for the kind of businesses we want to encourage," Shea said. "Incentives are critically important."
Similar financial incentives attracted the professional Women'ss Tennis Association to the city, he said. In March, the WTA decided to consolidate its worldwide headquarters in the Bank of America Tower downtown.
Williams said he is committed to St. Petersburg and expects to grow eLease revenue by 30 percent this year.
He invested about $150,000 into putting the company together with a lease exchange and licensed software. About 10 percent to 15 percent of his clients are in Florida.
"We were going through growing pains in San Francisco, where the costs are astronomical," Williams said. "We'sre a third-party leasing company that'ss growing fast and making money. The city, county and state cater to small businesses here. They don'st in California."
To reach Jane Meinhardt, call (813) 342-2476 or send your e-mail to jmeinhardt@bizjournals.com.
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