The Burg Bid is adding St. Petersburg-based Power Design to lead workforce development for its $8.1 billion plan to remake the Historic Gas Plant District.
Power Design would focus on skilled-trades training and construction career pathways tied to the redevelopment of Tropicana Field and the surrounding public land.
Through its Build the Nation initiative, the company plans to create an interactive skilled-trades experience inside the proposed Collaboratorium, a workforce and small-business center envisioned as one of the district’s early anchors. Potential partners listed in the plan include CareerSource Tampa Bay, the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce, The Greenhouse, Boys & Girls Clubs and Skanska.
The Build the Nation initiative focuses on expanding awareness of skilled-trades careers, creating apprenticeship pathways and building partnerships among employers, schools and community organizations.
“Power Design brings something the Burg Bid needs from day one, a real plan to make sure the people building this district are people from St. Pete,” said Peter Van Warner, Vice President of Real Estate Development for Blake Investment Partners.
“A project of this size can either pass through a community or invest in it, and we’ve been clear from the start that we will do the latter. That means good wages for good jobs. It means real training, not a false promise. When we say we’re building careers, Power Design and Build the Nation are how we back that up. We’re honored to have them on the team.”
Power Design is a family-owned, multitrade contractor headquartered in St. Petersburg and is the city’s largest private employer, according to The Burg Bid team. The company says more than 2,000 of its employees live in the Tampa Bay region.
Power Design also operates a federally accredited apprenticeship program that the company says has brought hundreds of skilled-trades workers into the construction industry. It has worked with the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce and its Workforce and Talent Committee on research identifying current and future workforce gaps across multiple industries.
“Many young people are finding the traditional path to college more difficult and expensive, while the construction trades are short several hundred thousand workers,” Power Design Chief Growth Officer Lauren Permuy said.
“Skilled trades offer paid on-the-job training — without debt — and great earning and lifelong career potential. We believe Blake Investment Partners’ vision is the kind of investment that strengthens communities, develops talent and helps St. Petersburg continue growing as a global destination.”
Power Design joins a development team led by Blake Investment Partners and Related Group. Other partners include Skanska, Greystar, Gilbane, Blue Sky Communities, Open Realty, Stadler Development, KAST Construction and Driftwood Capital.
The Burg Bid aims to redevelop the land surrounding Tropicana Field into a mixed-use district with housing, hotels, offices, retail, cultural institutions, public space and workforce facilities.
The proposal includes 3,600 income-restricted housing units over a 15-year buildout, split evenly between the Historic Gas Plant District and other sites around St. Petersburg.
The selection is not final. The city must still negotiate terms with the development team, and any final agreement requires approval from the St. Petersburg City Council.
The Burg Bid has offered $275 million to purchase 58 acres of city-owned land and values the overall package at $405 million when including land that would remain under city ownership. It has also proposed a $20 million deposit when a purchase-and-sale agreement is executed.
Mayor Ken Welch selected The Burg Bid as his administration’s preferred redevelopment team in July, arguing that the proposal would help deliver jobs, housing, economic opportunity and recognition of the predominantly Black neighborhood displaced from the site to make way for Tropicana Field decades ago.