BRADENTON — The city has nearly 2,500 more people than it did in 2020, according to a study by the University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research, the City Council learned at its Sept. 9 meeting.
Far from skyrocketing, that growth rate amounts to slightly less than 1% a year, City Administrator Rob Perry told the council.
“I’ve heard about the prolific growth, and there certainly is in Manatee County,” he said. But with the city spanning only 14.4 square miles, most of which is already developed, “There’s kind of a misunderstanding that we’re proliferating growth.”
The study shows 55,698 residents in the city on April 1, 2020, and 58,185 on April 1, 2026, an increase of 2,487 people over the last six years. The population estimates are based on U.S. Census data.
“I think the takeaway from this is if you hear people saying that there’s outlandish overdevelopment, high levels of growth in the city of Bradenton, the data doesn’t flush that out,” Perry said. “There’s measured growth and it’s good growth in my opinion.”
“It’s the traffic that’s grown, but it’s the people who are working in Bradenton and living in Parrish,” Mayor Gene Brown said. “We’ve got to give them a reason to stop.”
In a city the age of Bradenton (123 years old), development is more precisely “redevelopment,” Perry said, adding that density increases in the urban core are not uncommon with new multifamily housing.
An example is the former Bradenton Herald property on S.R. 64 and U.S. 301 that is now a multistory apartment complex, Brown said.
Another is a $14.1 million development planned downtown to replace Bradenton City Hall and the Bradenton Police Department with The Vias, a 20-story residential building, 14-story hotel and eight-story parking garage. City Hall may relocate to Manatee County offices while the PD is moving to a new building, not yet completed.
The census data doesn’t detail the city’s demographics, council member Lisa Gonzalez Moore said.
“If we really want to have a robust redevelopment, especially economic redevelopment, our demographic, specifically income levels and higher education levels, I think those things are going to continue to be relevant,” she said.
One important demographic is parents whose children have grown up and moved away, and who are looking to relocate from their former neighborhood to housing more suitable to their current needs, council member Marianne Barnebey said.
“We have to have every part of that market to be able to continue to redevelop and revitalize and reenergize our downtown,” she said.