South Florida City Selects $8B Mixed-Use Proposal for Historic Site
The plans would revitalize 58 acres with housing, office and retail space, recreation areas and cultural institutions.
An $8.1 billion mixed-use plan by Blake Investment Partners and Related Group to redevelop 58 acres in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., has been selected by the city to move forward.
Dubbed The Burg Bid, the team’s proposal includes a mix of housing, hotels, office, retail, a park, museums and centers for workforce training and small business startups, that would be built over approximately 15 to 20 years in three phases.
The Burg Bid has proposed buying roughly 58 acres of the city-owned 86-acre district, known as the Historic Gas Plant District, for $275 million. It was the highest land offer of the various submitted proposals.
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Other local and national firms working on The Burg Bid proposal include architectural firms Wannemacher Jensen Architects and Zyscovich (now known as Stratus), Skanska, Gilbane, KAST Construction and Greystar Real Estate Partners.
St. Petersburg Mayor Kenneth T. Welch simultaneously announced the selection of a second partnership with the Pinellas County Housing Authority to develop a seven-story, 80-unit affordable senior housing community on a smaller parcel within the district.
Both proposals need further reviews and final approval by the City Council. The Burg Bid proposal must also be reviewed through the City’s Community Benefits Agreement program, which includes the selection of an advisory committee and opportunities for public engagement on the development’s proposed community benefits and impacts. The CBA process must be completed before final agreements are brought to the City Council for approval.
The PCHA proposal does not need to move through the CBA process because it is a fully affordable housing project. PCHA would buy a city-owned parking lot at 1659 3rd Ave S. for the senior housing community.
The developments would be built on the site of the current Tropicana Field baseball stadium and the parking lots and area surrounding it. The city currently has an agreement with the Tampa Bay Rays that runs through 2028, but Welch said there could be a one- or two-year extension if the team needs more time to move into a new facility which has been proposed for Hillsborough County. An earlier $6.5 billion deal between the Rays and Hines to build a new stadium at the current site and create a mixed-use district fell apart in early 2025.
Historic neighborhood revitalization
The Historic Gas Plant site was an African American community that was displaced about 40 years ago to build the baseball stadium. For the developers and city officials, it was important that new plans both honor the legacy of the neighborhood and create opportunities for the new district. The PCHA plan will offer displaced residents the option to move to the new senior housing community.
T.W. Blake, founder of St. Petersburg-based Blake Investment Partners, said in prepared remarks The Burg Bid’s team respects the site’s history and will incorporate urban planning characteristics consistent with the city’s waterfront district. It has also established a volunteer advisory committee composed of leaders of more than 20 organizations in the city to provide guidance and feedback throughout the process.
The Burg Bid plan calls for 3,600 units of affordable and workforce housing, with 1,800 to be built within the Historic Gas Plant District and the remaining 1,800 to be constructed throughout the city. Each of the three phases would include new housing. Blue Sky Communities, an affordable housing developer based in St. Petersburg, will oversee the housing components.
Other key components
Key proposed public improvements include a 15-acre central park anchored by Museum Row as a cultural destination. A new Woodson African American Museum would be the centerpiece and would be joined by a Museum of Public Art and Discovery Center Museum and Education Facility.
A multipurpose event venue with 4,000 to 5,000 seats and up to 100,000 square feet of flexible space would also be built in this area and included in a third phase with the Discovery Center. This area would also include a workforce training and small business success center to be built in the first phase along with the Woodson museum and a new multimodal transportation hub.
Driftwood Hospitality will be the team’s hotel and hospitality development partner. The plan calls for a diverse range of properties totaling approximately 800 rooms to be built within the district.
Retail advisory firm Open Realty is working on the retail component of The Burg Bid proposal. Retail offerings will be woven into the streetscapes and public spaces linking the neighborhoods, cultural institutions and entertainment venues. It would include a mix of local, minority-owned and national brands in retail as well as food and beverage options reflecting retail market trends.
Stadler Development, a St. Petersburg-based firm that focuses on mixed-use development, including office space, will focus on bringing Class A office space to the district. The team also envisions adding coworking and flex space to the office mix. Incubation spaces for startups and small businesses will also be part of the plan to offer more opportunities to residents.
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