Mayor Ken Welch appears to have made the biggest development decision of his administration one day before he planned to publicly announce it.
Welch has reportedly selected The Burg Bid, led by Blake Investment Partners, along with the Pinellas County Housing Authority, as his preferred team to redevelop the Historic Gas Plant District. The city is expected to formally announce the selection Thursday morning.
Florida Politics publisher Peter Schorsch broke the news Tuesday, during a Suncoast Tiger Bay forum. He did not cite a source.
“I won’t lie, I’m very excited to see this news,” Council member Corey Givens Jr. told the Tampa Bay Times Tuesday, confirming the choice. “My hope is that whatever happens after this election won’t impact this development.”
Welch himself would not confirm the apparent selection Wednesday morning, telling the Catalyst “The process is complete and we will make the official announcement at 9 a.m. tomorrow.”
Givens did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Catalyst.
The decision follows months of presentations, public meetings and evaluations after four finalist teams emerged to compete for one of the city’s most consequential redevelopment opportunities. The 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District became available after the collapse of the Tampa Bay Rays and Hines redevelopment agreement last year.
If confirmed Thursday, Welch’s selection would pair two local entities with markedly different strengths.
Blake Investment Partners’ proposal, dubbed “The Burg Bid,” offered the city $275 million for roughly 58 acres of the site – the highest cash offer among the finalists. The proposal also promises approximately 3,600 income-restricted housing units, though roughly half would be constructed off-site. During the city’s public town hall, the development team emphasized immediate construction of housing, office, retail and parking while also proposing a community investment fund that would allow residents to invest in portions of the project.
The Pinellas County Housing Authority emphasized that they “do not build anything except quality affordable housing,” representatives said during the April town hall, arguing there would be “no opt out” from affordability. Their proposal prioritized mixed-income neighborhoods, affordable housing early in the development phases and included plans for a health clinic and direct connections to the Pinellas Trail.
But Thursday’s announcement is unlikely to settle the future of the Gas Plant District.
While the mayor chooses a preferred developer, City Council must still approve any eventual redevelopment agreement. Negotiations remain ahead, and with St. Petersburg’s municipal election approaching, the project is poised to become one of the defining issues of the mayoral race.
Councilmember Brandi Gabbard, one of Welch’s challengers for office this November election cycle, has repeatedly called for slowing the redevelopment process, arguing the city should pause before committing the land to a single developer.
If Welch is not reelected, or if City Council rejects the final agreement, other proposals that reached the final round could remain in contention, and those competing visions differed dramatically.
Foundation Vision Partners proposed a master-planning approach that would keep the land under city control while parcels are sold incrementally over decades, allowing future leaders to adapt development as community needs evolve.
ARK-Ellison-Horus centered its proposal on innovation, pitching research facilities, startup incubators and an employment hub while committing that nearly 40% of its on-site housing would be affordable or workforce units.
The Burg Bid focused on immediate vertical development and reconnecting the former Gas Plant neighborhood to the surrounding city, including restoring historic connections across Booker Creek with nine new bridges.
Meanwhile, the Housing Authority distinguished itself by making affordable housing the foundation of its proposal rather than one component of a broader mixed-use development.
The Historic Gas Plant District was once a thriving Black neighborhood before it was cleared in the 1980s to build Tropicana Field. Since the Rays’ redevelopment deal unraveled, city leaders have faced renewed pressure to determine not only what should replace the stadium district, but how the project can fulfill decades-old promises to the community that was displaced.
If Thursday’s announcement confirms Blake Investment Partners and the Pinellas County Housing Authority as Welch’s choice, the selection will mark a major milestone for a long-awaited project – it will not, however, mark the finish line.
The situation echoes the issue that faced the last administration. In 2020, then-mayor Rick Kriseman identified a preferred development team for the Historic Gas Plant District after a lengthy selection process. But before negotiations reached the finish line, voters elected Ken Welch, who ultimately scrapped the proposal and restarted the redevelopment process from scratch, arguing the city needed a fresh approach that better honored promises made to the former Gas Plant community. Now, that same outcome may squelch Welch’s chance.