ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Petersburg has received a $2 million state grant for the Shore Acres Denver Street Storm Damage Improvements project which will reduce flooding for more than 350 homes in the lowest lying neighborhood in the city, according to Public Works Administrator Claude Tankersley.

“We’re looking to both upsize the pipes,” he said. “As well as put in a new stormwater pump station there.”

Tankersley said the $25 million Denver Street project is currently in the design phase and is expected to be completed in 2028. The $2 million grant is the second appropriation the city has received for the project. Last year, the state awarded the city $1 million, bringing the total from appropriations to $3 million, which will help reduce the impact to rate payers, according to Tankersley.

“Normally for a project like this, people would pay for this through their monthly water and sewer bills,” he said “That’s a significant project and so this helps offset about 10 percent of that cost, so that it’s not going to be going onto the ratepayers.”

Tankersley said the larger drainage pipes, along with a pump station, should keep the streets in the area clear from tidal and rainfall flooding but won’t help against storm surge flooding, which happened with Hurricane Helene in 2024. The 6.3 foot storm surge from Helene flooded nearly 2,200 homes in Shore Acres, which was 82 percent of the neighborhood.

“If we get a storm surge, where the storm surge comes over the seawalls, unfortunately there’s no pump station in the world that can handle that,” he said. “This is for those times when we have a lot of rain and we get flooding from rain, or from what we call the sunny day flooding.”

The Denver Street project will be the second pump station for Shore Acres. The first will be the $32 million Connecticut Avenue Pump Station project, which is expected to break ground later this year. Tankersley said the city is planning on bringing two more pump station projects to Shore Acres. The other two potential pump stations are anticipated to be in the Arizona Avenue area and near the Shore Acres Rec Center.

“A total of four,” said Tankersley. “When you combine them all together, we’re looking at $100 million worth of investment in Shore Acres.”

Mayor Kenneth Welch said the city is grateful for the support from the state legislature.

“I want to thank our state legislative partners for their ongoing commitment to our residents and our community,” he said. “As we work together to address infrastructure and resilience needs.”

Welch said the Denver Street project was chosen to be accelerated under his St. Pete Agile Resilience or SPAR plan.