At its Thursday meeting, the St. Petersburg City Council approved the purchase of a CSX rail corridor section after years of negotiation. It will become a public walking/biking trail.
The Welch administration was unanimously authorized to acquire the approximately 0.86-mile piece, located between 5th Avenue North and 1st Avenue South, from the Trust for Public Land for $7 million.
According to a St. Petersburg government document, the Trust for Public Land has entered into an agreement with CSX for the conveyance of a Quit Claim Deed for the property – which will be transferred to the City.
Some of the track runs through Ferg’s Sports Bar and Grill.
“The land is currently underutilized and much of it isn’t adding good value to the community,” said St. Petersburg’s Transportation and Parking Management director Evan Mory at the meeting. “This vision has withstood the test of time. Acquiring the line and putting it to higher and better use has been adopted in many planning documents dating back to over 20 years ago.”
City representatives worked actively, he added, on acquiring the corridor in 2019. After CSX secured a deal to sell the rail line section to another buyer, the St. Petersburg government sued the company.
In 2023, a court ruling required CSX and the City to collaborate on negotiations. St. Petersburg was granted a notice of interim trail use by the federal Surface Transportation Board. This provided a timeframe for working out a deal.
However, extensions were granted. The latest was scheduled to expire in August.
Mory said that the City will contribute $1 million towards the acquisition plus approximately $200,000 for estimated due diligence costs. Ferg’s owner Mark Ferguson and Ellison Development, which also owns property near the section, will help fund the purchase as well.
“Due to approximately 70 feet of the width of the property not needed for trail use in the applicable blocks, the City engaged with abutting property owners to gauge interest in contributing to the acquisition cost,” according to a St. Petersburg government document, “in exchange for the use of the unused portions of the property in conjunction with their abutting business operations.”
Ferg’s will provide $4 million, he added, and Ellison will pay $2 million.
Additionally, the City is working on 99-year ground lease agreements with the two organizations “to allow for certain trail related or commercial uses of the property in conjunction with the operations of their abutting property.”
Mory explained that the goal is to close on the property by the end of June. Once the City has ownership of the land, it will “seek” state and federal grants to assist with the construction of the trail.
The project will connect the Historic Gas Plant site and the Pinellas Trail to 5th Avenue North.