A one-year extension is requested for affordable housing units and a grocer in the plaza.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A move to reshape the future of St. Pete’s Tangerine Plaza hinges on a vote on Thursday.
Developers from the Sugar Hill Group are asking for a one-year extension on its lease option agreement with the city and also public funding. The lease option was approved in June of last year and expires in January. Under the agreement, Sugar Hill Group must secure funding, identify contractors and secure a grocer.
“Folks who are engaged and involved in this business realize that real estate development is not a linear business,” said Oliver Gross, president and CEO of Miami-based New Urban Development and part of Sugar Hill Group.
Despite the extension request, Gross said his team has been intentional in making sure all the boxes are checked to bring a successful project to the market.
“We think that warrants at least a doable and a realistic kind of extension,” Gross said. ” Real estate development, as is life, is just not a linear kind of equation at the end of the day.”
The area hasn’t had a grocery store since there since 2017, after Walmart closed.
Developers have an interest in building 186 affordable housing units with area median income requirements, according to city documents. Gross said their team is aimed at taking a “holistic approach,” meaning finding ways to help the area thrive as a whole.
“The project can be seen as a catalyst and a catalytic component for redevelopment,” Gross said. “It all starts with one project.”
On the eve of the vote, members of Positive Impact gathered outside the shopping plaza to pray for progress. Founder Karalynne Brubaker said she is not opposed to the developers in the area, but said people cannot wait any longer for a grocery store and hopes to see a space that can benefit the community.
Positive Impact has been helping provide food to those in need in the community for years, with lines stretching down blocks on some days.
“We believe that the children, the adults, and the seniors deserve to have fresh fruit and vegetables,” she said. “That’s why we’re here.”
Others believe there’s a need to have long-term, community-centered solutions over short-lived projects, including Erica Hardison, One Community Grocery Co-Op lead steward and board president.
“What we’ve seen so far is things come and go, projects come and go, people providing solutions, but not necessarily long-term solutions,” she said.
Hardison believes it’s important to find solutions that help stabilize the area by finding ways to spur economic development and provide opportunities for people to live and work in the area, too.
While a grocery store may prompt a positive reception from many, Hardison also notes transportation challenges that many may also face.
With food access being tied to health and economic opportunity, Hardison believes residents should have a project that values their voices.
“Co-ops really become a hub, a place where people not only find food, but find community, find belonging, find a way to make a way,” Hardison said. “It’s important that there’s really a community-centered solution, and one that doesn’t just kind of hinge on one person, one thing, one idea, but one that can be collaborative in nature, but really represents the community.”
The city administration recommends the extension, but city council members have the final say, depending on the vote. If the lease option agreement isn’t approved, it will expire in January.
“Should the option agreement expire, the administration would move forward with evaluating the next best path for the site, to ensure alignment with community needs and the city’s long-term goals for the corridor,” stated Samantha Bequer, St. Pete public information officer.