As he steps away from the city he\u2019s called home for nearly six decades, Mario Farias is looking back with a mixture of pride, wistfulness and the satisfaction of a job well done.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father always told me that legacy isn\u2019t something isn\u2019t something to leave to somebody, it\u2019s what you leave in somebody,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd over these years I\u2019ve been able to mentor young entrepreneurs and help found a great company.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look around at different things and know that I\u2019ve had a hand in those. And that\u2019s legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farias Consulting Group will continue even as Farias and his wife Susan pull up stakes for Hickory, North Carolina this week.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not retirement, Farias insisted. \u201cI\u2019m re-allocating my time. At 68, I\u2019m not going to continue the pace that I\u2019ve been running the last 15 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
An economic strategy development firm, Farias Consulting Group specializes in public\/private partnerships, helping new businesses connect and form relationship with governmental entities and make progress. They\u2019re proficient at clearing red tape.<\/p>\n
As representatives for Harborage Marina, the company helped built the first mega-yacht marina on Florida\u2019s west coast. They\u2019ve built affordable housing units, apartments and retail. The FCG team, Farias explained, has experience in renewable energy, marketing, transportation, hospitality and international business.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve surrounded myself with people who understand government. And I understand the business end, because I\u2019ve been an entrepreneur since I was a very young age. We\u2019ve been able to build that bridge, between business and government, just to facilitate. I guess I\u2019m a facilitator \u2013 that\u2019s probably the best description of what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other FCG clients include Marinetek NA, Angelo\u2019s Recycling and St. Petersburg\u2019s Commerce Park.<\/p>\n
While Farias will no longer serve as Managing Partner, he will remain a stockholder in FCG. He will also continue as managing partner at The Big Catch at Salt Creek restaurant, which he and several business partners opened in 2019.<\/p>\n
He is Board Chair of the Shirley Proctor Fuller Foundation, which creates educational opportunities for traditionally underserved South St. Petersburg youth.<\/p>\n
The move to North Carolina \u2013 where Mario and Susan will be close to their much-loved 3-year-old grandson \u2013 is permanent, but, Farias insisted, merely \u201ctransitional\u201d at this early stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some important projects going on with the marina right now, which will require me to come back to St. Pete about every other week, for a couple of days,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019ll remain with the projects I have now, but we\u2019re taking nothing on in St. Petersburg after this. We\u2019re involved in several projects in Kissimmee, but I have another team on that.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy focus will be mainly the marina, and work with the Innovation District to get re-zoning for multi-use development. Stuff that I like doing, instead of having to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, he admits, those projects \u201cwill wind down. And at that time I will wind down. St. Pete will always be my love and my home. St. Pete made me, from elementary school all the way on, and gave me a really bright career here at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
His father, Mario Farias Sr., was a Portuguese immigrant who spent his early American years in Connecticut; he moved his wife and two young sons to St. Petersburg in the mid 1960s, when Mario Jr. was 10.<\/p>\n
As owner\/proprietor of the Astor Hotel and Mike\u2019s Happy Lounge\/Mario\u2019s Bar downtown, Farias Sr. instilled in his boys both a strong work ethic and a sense of community pride.<\/p>\n
Younger brother Rui Farias taught high school history for many years, and is the director of the St. Petersburg Museum of History. It was Chris Steinocher of the Chamber of Commerce who observed: \u201cThere\u2019s one brother who protects the past, and one brother who looks at the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mario Farias is optimistic about St. Petersburg\u2019s future. \u201cI love the skyscrapers downtown,\u201d he said. \u201cIt shows growth, and vertical growth is always smart growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I believe that every time there\u2019s a development like that, it should have a master plan. And that master plan should envelope everything that\u2019s needed in that neighborhood, be it recreation, be it offices, doctor\u2019s offices and all sorts of different housing. I think there\u2019s a place for everything if it\u2019s master planned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, he added, \u201cMy fear for St. Petersburg always is that we lose the identity that made us great.\u201d<\/p>\n
He feels as if he\u2019s \u201cleft his mark\u201d on his beloved city, and can put it in the rearview mirror. \u201cI\u2019m leaving St. Petersburg physically, but I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever leave St. Petersburg,\u201d Farias stressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s parts of me that are going to stay here. I\u2019m just doing what\u2019s best for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
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