Webull, the trading app that once occupied two floors on Wall Street, has quietly traded the canyons of Manhattan for the palm trees of St. Petersburg, staking its global headquarters at 200 Carillon Parkway. Company leaders insist this was not just a tax play. They describe it as a bet on local talent, quality of life and the chance to stand out in a market that is not already jammed with big-name transplants. The move has helped anchor a growing fintech presence at the Carillon business park and has brought dozens of jobs to the area.
Carlos Questell, Webull’s chief of staff and the point person on the relocation, said the company spelled out its criteria early: a business-friendly environment, a strong local talent pipeline and a city where employees would actually want to show up to the office. In an interview with Business Insider, Questell said Miami was seriously considered but ultimately passed over because of what he called an “oversaturation of business traffic” that could make it harder for Webull to stand out. He also noted that lower operating costs in Florida free up capital that the company can plow into product innovation.
The Building And The Buy
Webull bought the former Catalina Marketing headquarters at 200 Carillon Parkway, a five-story, 157,755-square-foot building, for $29.5 million at the end of 2022, according to the St. Pete Economic Development Corporation. Local reporting from St. Pete Catalyst confirmed the sale and noted that Catalina continues to lease space in the building. The purchase gave Webull room to pull together teams that had been working out of a downtown co-working hub while the company ramped up local hiring.
Questell told Business Insider that Webull now has more than 150 people based in St. Petersburg, and that the relocation has helped cut operating expenses. Webull’s own company pages list 200 Carillon Parkway as its headquarters, with an additional office at 44 Wall Street in New York, a sign that the firm is keeping a foothold in Manhattan even as it builds a larger in-person culture in Florida.
Why Not Miami?
Miami has been the loud, flashy headline in Florida’s corporate boom, with a flurry of high-profile headquarters moves and a steady drumbeat of coverage about South Florida’s rise as a finance and tech hub. Moves such as Palantir’s shift to Miami, along with broader reporting on the region’s corporate influx, helped fuel concerns among some leaders about getting lost in the crowd. That backdrop is part of what pushed Webull to look for a different patch of the state…