Business View Magazine September 2018

96 97 to bring it down on the east side of Bartow, very close to the Clear Springs properties,” he explains. “When that happens - between 2022 and 2025 - that’s when Clear Springs is going to make its big move to start marketing. That will be real, major growth for us.” In fact, when the buildout of the Clear Springs Development is completed by 2030, the population of Bartow is projected to be over 45,000 residents. Meanwhile, part of Bartow’s current strategic plan includes revitalization of its downtown core. “We do have funding available that allows for rehab or restoration of some buildings,” says Stephen Cox, Executive Director of the Bartow Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). “We’ve been working with the property owners to try and get some movement. There’s been a lot of stagnant ownership and a lot of second and third generation owners who haven’t been investing in their property. In recent years, we also put a lot of focus on residential, and we’ve been trying to create housing in the area.We’ve had a number of vacant parcels that we’ve identified and are trying to acquire, and we’re trying to incentivize builders to come in and build new homes.” Other aspects of Bartow’s incipient renaissance include a complete renovation of its high school, first build in the 1950s, and the appearance of BARTOW, FLORIDA several new businesses. “We’re getting a Star- bucks, and a Waffle House broke ground, last week,” says Jeff Clark, Executive Director of the Greater Bartow Chamber of Commerce. “A lot of retail, restaurants, and chains are looking at us. And we’ve seen an uptick in the past year of new mom-and-pop shops, downtown, and it’s been exciting to see that happen.” Clancey adds that HPP Fresh Florida, a company that uses high pressure to preserve food without the use of chemicals, has just opened its new plant in Bartow. The facility represents a $7.7 mil- lion investment in the building and equipment, and has produced 20 new jobs. Bartow is also planning to expand its role as a provider of electrical power for itself and its surrounding customer service area. “The city has been a provider of electrical service since the early 1900’s,” says Wiegers. “We wholesale it from others who generate it and resell it to customers through our distribution lines. So, we’ve always been in the power business, and our City Com- mission had the vision to take into consideration the opportunity to incorporate some renewable energy into our energy programs.” We did a partnership with a group out of Or- lando called NovaSol and developed 40 acres worth of photovoltaic generation capabilities that will directly benefit Bartow residents,” he continues. “It’s capable of generating about seven megawatts a day. In addition to that, we’ve also recently worked on two large photovoltaic sites with Tampa Electric Company with each one of them capable of generating about 55 megawatts of power. They will use them to feed into their transmission and distribution system throughout Central Florida.While we’re not directly going to be a customer, currently, we’re working on some