Six shipping-container buildings will become a small-business launchpad in North Greenwood after Pinellas County Economic Development spotlighted The Village on Thursday, July 30, putting the project on track for a December container installation and an early 2027 opening.

The Clearwater Urban Leadership Coalition expects to place the first containers at North Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Tangerine Street by December, with the incubator fully operational by early 2027. The 0.35-acre site will support 10 to 12 small businesses, according to PCED's profile, with about 10 additional rotating pop-up vendor spots, WUSF reported. The project is officially named The Grove @ 1105.

"We are a grassroots community organization focused on economic development," Executive Director Gloria Campbell said in the PCED feature. "North Greenwood is the highest concentration of poverty in Pinellas County, and we wanted to create a vehicle to bring opportunity back to the community."

Campbell and Director of Communications Marilyn Turman have steered the project for about six years. The Clearwater Community Development Board unanimously approved it in May, and the Clearwater CRA allocated up to $500,000 for container purchases, construction, and permitting, according to Tampa Bay Business & Wealth. The coalition is raising an additional $100,000 through a capital campaign.

No new commercial facility has been built in North Greenwood in roughly 50 years, Campbell has said.

The model lowers barriers by repurposing containers to cut build-out costs and sharing utilities across tenants. Planned operating hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The site plan includes a central courtyard with benches, decorative lighting, bike parking, and fire-pit seating, surrounded by landscaped buffers and a 6-foot masonry wall.

Demand already outstrips supply. At a Tuesday, June 16 preview event called "A Taste of the Village," more prospective tenants showed up than there were available spaces, WUSF reported.

Confirmed tenants include LáWanda Griffin, a nurse practitioner and Clearwater native who runs Hydration & More Lounge in New Port Richey and wants to establish a permanent local presence; Jerida Lane, owner of coffee company Boss Lady Fuel; and Krystal Campbell, who runs RemiTea, a tea and herbal health education business. Kimberly Brown and a partner plan to open The Wine Down Blue, a nod to the former Blue Chip club that once anchored the neighborhood's social life.

Campbell anticipates about 30% of tenant businesses will outgrow their container space within three years, at which point pop-up vendors could move into permanent spots.

Pinellas County Economic Development has been working with future tenants on business planning, budgeting, and operations ahead of the opening.