Florida Seating Expands in Pinellas County, Florida
Pinellas County Commission Celebrates Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to Open New Facility
Pinellas County, FL, February 10, 2025 – Today, the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners celebrated a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark Florida Seating’s expansion in Pinellas County. Florida Seating used Pinellas County’s Employment Sites Program (ESP) to help finance the expansion, which added more than 18,000 square feet of manufacturing space and ten new jobs to the company’s campus. Florida Seating has been woman-owned and operated since 2004 and is a leading supplier of commercial furniture to the restaurant, hospitality, and design industries. The company’s client portfolio holds various beach resorts in Pinellas County, such as the Tradewinds, Sheraton Sand Key, and Bilmar Beach Resort. It also includes well-known local and nationwide brands like the Tampa Bay Rays, Bloomin’ Brands, Bay Star Restaurant Group, Hooters, PDQ, Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille, World of Beer, and Darden Restaurants.
The Chair of the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners, Brian Scott, stated, “I am delighted to be here today for the celebration of Florida Seating’s expansion. Helping growing businesses stay in Pinellas County is critical to our community’s economic prosperity. Their success brings new jobs, more spendable income, and increased opportunities for support industries. It is always a proud day when we can celebrate the expansion of a company like Florida Seating.”
The ribbon cutting was attended by Pinellas County Commission Chair Brian Scott, Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala, Pinellas County Administrator Barry Burton, Pinellas County Economic Development (PCED) Director Dr. Cynthia Johnson, PCED staff, Florida Seating President and Owner Maria Nikolova and her family, and the company’s staff and leadership team.
“We’ve enjoyed a lot of success here in Pinellas,” explained Maria Nikolova. “Florida Seating serves a large market in the restaurant, hospitality, and design industries at local, state, and national levels. To support our continued growth, we needed to expand and maximize our manufacturing, production, and inventory space. We own an almost 7-acre campus but could not build on it without upgrading the site – and the cost of that was unfeasible without help from Pinellas County.”
Pinellas County’s ESP provided Florida Seating with $606,940 to offset the cost of stormwater improvements, site demolition, and laying sidewalks, all of which were necessary for the larger project of installing a pre-engineered building to house expanded manufacturing operations.
Dr. Cynthia Johnson explained, “Our goal is to keep thriving businesses in Pinellas County, where their growth benefits our entire community through job generation and capital investment,” says PCED Director Dr. Cynthia Johnson. “ESP funding comprised less than a third of Florida Seating’s $2.2 million investment in this project but was crucial to realizing the expansion. I’m thrilled to see the ESP in action and applaud Florida Seating on this momentous occasion.”
To learn more about Florida Seating, visit FloridaSeating.com.
For more information about ESP and Pinellas County’s Ideal Business Climate, visit www.pced.org.
A media package of the event is available for download via Dropbox.
About Pinellas County Economic Development
Pinellas County Economic Development (PCED) works with existing businesses to encourage expansion and seeks to attract new companies with high-wage careers to our community. Through investment tools, business classes, professional consulting services, trade missions to open new markets, and strategic partnerships, PCED fosters a pro-business environment and promotes the ideal business climate of Pinellas County, Florida. Learn more at www.pced.org.
