Mayor Ken Welch said he is compelled to honor a campaign promise to move forward with redeveloping Tropicana Field despite a recent 6-2 vote from the City Council to pause the process and create a plan for the 86-acre site first.
In his last State of the City address of his first term as mayor, Welch on Wednesday called redeveloping the Trop’s homein the Historic Gas Plant District a “test” of whether the city is “distracted by election-year politics and political agendas.”
Welch is up for reelection this year. City Council member Brandi Gabbard,who said she will run against Welch, has led the council’s opposition to Welch choosing a developer for the site. A non-binding resolution she wrote also potentially signals a lack of support for any redevelopment deal brought forward by the mayor.
Welch has made it a priority to make good on promises of affordable housing and jobs that never came to fruition for the Black community that preceded the Trop. He dedicated his first three years in office to brokering a deal to build a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays, only for the team to pull out after2024’s Hurricane Milton.
Since then, Welch has been eager to restart development efforts. In October, he said he was pleased withan unsolicited proposal from investor Cathie Wood, developer Casey Ellison and Horus Construction.Welch then announced plans to open a 30-day window for competing proposals just before Thanksgiving but postponed it to the new year under pressure from the council and developers. The city received nine proposals, though one was withdrawn.
“Now is not the time to halt the process,” Welch told the audienceWednesday at the Palladium.
Welch told reporters afterhis speech that he would not speculate on whether the council’s vote was a political attack on him. He said thecouncil’s move slows the timeline down but he hopes to choose a developer by the fall.
Welch said his administration will work on the council’s request but won’t do so in a way that would “return us to paralysis or postpone the progress that may be possible.” He said the first priorities should be building affordable housing and a new home for the Woodson African American Museum of Florida west of the Trop.
Gabbard, who was in the audience, said she was happy to hear that Welch is interested in exploring the planning proposal she put together at the request of some members in the community. She said she did not take the mayor’s comments about election-year politics personally.
“That’s not my intention,” Gabbard said. “I don’t take something personally if it is not the intention that I come with.”
Gabbard has opened a political committee to raise money for her mayoral campaign.
Maria Scruggs, a past president of the St. Petersburg branch of the NAACP, already has filed to run for mayor and was present Wednesday. Charlie Crist, a former Florida governor and U.S. representative, also is expected to jump into the race.A political committee supporting Crist announced Tuesday that it has raised $1 million.
Other potential candidates includeretired fire chief James Largeand formerShore Acres Civic Association president Kevin Batdorf.
Batdorf on Wednesday criticized Welch’s address.
“He paints a rosy picture, but he conveniently leaves out all of the failures over the year, past two years,” hesaid. Batdorf noted that Welch didn’t mention Shore Acres and the continued work of residents there to recover from historic flooding wrought by the 2024 hurricanes.
The primary election is scheduled for Aug. 18, with a runoff in the general election set for Nov. 3. Welch’s choice of a developer and presentation of a deal to the council could coincide with elections.