A 30-day window for proposals opened Sunday and will close Feb. 3.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Right now, no one really knows what the Historic Gas Plant District is going to become. But what many developers do know is that it’s a gold mine.
Over the weekend, the city of St. Pete opened the 30-day window for developers to make their pitch to redevelop the 86-acre Tropicana Field site. The process was triggered by an unsolicited $6.8 billion proposal submitted Oct. 3 by Ark Investment Management, Ellison Development and Horus Construction. Florida law requires the city to give other developers an opportunity to send in their own proposals.
Early proposals from prominent developers have ranged from green spaces to entertainment venues to affordable housing.
But Ron Diner, a former executive at Raymond James Affordable Housing, says the approach is all wrong.
“It absolutely is a gold mine. This is probably one of the most, if not the most valuable, ready to go, huge parcels of land in the United States,” he said. “We should stop the process that is occurring, and we should do it ourselves.”
Diner started the advocacy group Home Runs Matter, which led a campaign against the Rays’ stadium deal. Now, he says the city of St. Pete is potentially losing out on close to a billion dollars in long-term public value by selling the Gas Plant District as a whole, rather than planning out the land itself and selling it in parcels.
“We can’t afford to give up a billion dollars,” he says. “We have billions of dollars in needs to stop the flooding from our next hurricane.”
“The proposal is for the city to sign an agreement with one developer and sell them the entire parcel of land. Once that happens, the developer is in charge. We’re not in charge,” Diner stated.
Diner is urging the city to pause the process and adopt a plan for the Gas Plant site before choosing a developer. He also suggested creating a community advisory council to study the options.
Lastly, he’s urging developers to step back and let the city take control.
“Once the property is laid out, they can buy the property’s parcel, this parcel here, parcel there, at fair value,” he said. “That way, they win, and the city wins as well.”
10 Tampa Bay News reached out to the city of St. Pete for a statement about the process but did not hear back. For the time being, the city is moving forward with this proposal window, which is set to close on Feb. 3.