What is Shovel Ready Palm Beach?
Shovel Ready Palm Beach is one of the first programs of its kind in Florida. Under the program, the BDB identifies vacant commercial and industrial property that is Shovel Ready. This is an important new initiative since shovel ready sites increase an area's competitiveness to attract new relocation and expansion projects. In order to become a Shovel Ready Site, property owners submit an application which outlines general information about their sites and includes the necessary information that provides details about the development approvals obtained. Once submitted, each application is first reviewed by BDB staff to make sure the application is complete and all supporting documentation is present. If the BDB staff identifies missing documentation or needs additional information, the property owner or agent is notified.
|
|
Once the application is complete, it is submitted to the Shovel Ready Palm Beach Committee, which is comprised of professionals from the architectural, engineering, and construction industries with many years of experience in commercial and industrial real estate development in Palm Beach County, prior to its monthly meeting for each committee member to review.
Finally, during each monthly meeting, the Committee discusses each application received and then votes to admit the property into the Shovel Ready Palm Beach program. To maintain the program's integrity, no Committee member can have any commercial or industrial real estate holdings and any member who has been involved with a particular site must abstain from voting. The information collected will then be placed on the BDB's NEW website, ShovelReadyPalmBeach.com. This new website has been developed for site selectors and relocation executives, and is part of the overall intiative called Smart Start Palm Beach. SmartStartPalmBeach.com provides information on incentives, such as expedited permitting, available office buildings that are part of the Palm Beach: HQ program, as well as other relevant information about Palm Beach County.
What is a Shovel Ready Site?
There is no single, industry-wide definition of a shovel ready site, since many programs use varying ways to classify a site as shovel ready, and many types of sites have industry-specific needs that further complicate the qualification process. However, there are some general attributes that all shovel ready sites share that can be used to form a general description thereof. Typically, a shovel ready site is an industrial or commercial property that has been pre-qualified as having the appropriate land use designation, infrastructure, availability, and pricing (Paulsell 2008; Renzas 2009). Despite the type of program, shovel ready sites typically must meet three common criteria. The site must be: available, fully served, and developable (Goldsmith 2006). Based on these common criteria, the BDB's shovel ready site program defines a shovel ready site as a property that possesses a development order and can be ready for building within one year.
References
Goldsmith, Jeannette (2006). "Shovel-Ready Sites: If you need a site and you need it yesterday, take a look at shovel-ready site programs." Business Facilities, May 2006.
Paulsell, Mary (2008). "City Needs More 'Shovel Ready' Site to Attract Industry." Columbia Business Times, May 2008.
Renzas, James H. (2009). "Shovel-Ready Sites Attract Industry's Attention." Business Xpansion, accessed February 2009.
View Shovel Ready Sites in Palm Beach County
If you have a site that is Shovel Ready fill out the Shovel Ready Application and fax to:
Shawn Rowan, Assistant VP - Research, 561-835-1160
Shovel Ready Application
For more detailed information on Shovel Ready sites, or to arrange a site tour specific to your company's needs contact our Development Team to make a confidential inquiry:
Relocating Companies:
Andrew Duffell, Senior VP - Business Recruitment, Retention & Expansion
561.835.1008 x4131, or aduffell@bdb.org
Local Companies:
Becky Magaw, VP - Business Retention & Expansion
561.835.1008 ext. 4108, bmagaw@bdb.org
Shovel Ready Inquiries:
Shawn Rowan, Assistant VP - Research
561-8351008 ext. 4103, srowan@bdb.org
