LARGO, Fla. — Right now there’s a huge redevelopment effort happening in Downtown Largo.
“We’ve really enjoyed being here," said Laura Guroian, Co-owner of Evermore Cafe in Downtown Largo.
Guroian and her staff have been serving the Largo community for the past four years.
“It’s one of those laid back, have fun kind of scenarios and we’re happy to have everybody, everyone is welcome... We wanted to develop a concept that offered healthy, made in-house food alternatives for people coming in to patronize and obviously good coffee,” said Guroian.
Evermore Cafe is just one of several businesses now in the downtown district, but the city hopes to attract many others as they make improvements in the area.
“Downtown Largo's in a great position because it's in the center of Pinellas County, and it has access to the beach communities and access to major transportation networks,” said Karisa Rojas-Norton, Largo Economic Development Manager.
That’s why the city is working on several major projects to revitalize the area.
“There's a lot of cool stuff happening in downtown. Some of it's taking a lot longer than I had hoped, but some good things are really happening,” said Woody Brown, Mayor of Largo.
“The redevelopment has really been part of a multi-year ongoing effort. Some of the major redevelopment efforts include the downtown multimodal project, and those are improvements along West Bay Drive to both the corridor and to the West Bay Drive trailhead. That’s the Pinellas Trail at West Bay Drive… The city also installed new benches, bike racks, bus shelters, and two midblock crossings, with flashing beacons at West Bay Drive and 5th Street and West Bay Drive and 2nd Street,” said Rojas-Norton.
Leaders have also been working on sidewalks and making improvements so walking and biking are safer downtown.
“We have all these things that are developing and it creates a really exciting ambiance for the residents, the community, and also for the business owners,” said Guroian.
With more townhouses and apartments in the works, the city has big goals to redevelop the neighborhood.
“A walkable downtown that's active and has restaurants and things to do and places for people to live and work,” said Brown.
“What drew me to Largo was the city’s vision for an active and connected downtown area and that’s why we decided this would be a great location... and it has been,” said Guroian.
The city plans to have all the downtown revitalization projects complete by 2030.
