After five years of planning, local government leaders and housing partners came together to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Fairfield Avenue Apartments project Wednesday.
Construction on the 264-unit affordable and workforce housing community, at 3300 Fairfield Avenue South, will begin next week. It will take approximately 20 months to build the three-building complex. St. Petersburg-based HP Capital Group is overseeing development.
The initiative is a product of state legislation that allows local governments to put affordable housing communities on industrially-zoned land. In 2022, the City of St. Petersburg became the first municipality in Florida to approve a project under House Bill 1339.
For former Florida state senator Jeff Brandes, the effort is personal. The 6.9-acre site was once home to Tibbetts Lumber, which was founded by his grandfather Linton Tibbetts.
“The genesis of this project was really a conversation I had with our hospitals,” Brandes said at the Wednesday event. “I was talking to hospital leadership while I was in the legislature and they were talking about what a struggle it was to find housing for some of their employees.”
An entity tied to Brandes would eventually acquire the land for $6.18 million in October 2024. This process was not easy, HP Capital Group partner Angelo Cappelli told the Catalyst.
“We ran out of time with the lumber company with our contract so we had an angel investor buy the property,” he explained, ”and then we bought it back from the investor.”
The site is now owned by Pinellas County in a land trust, Cappelli added. This will ensure affordability for 99 years. The Pinellas County Housing Authority will own and manage the apartments.
“These homes are designed for working families – the parents balancing jobs, school schedules and rising costs. The people who keep our local economy moving but still struggle to find housing that they can afford,” Pinellas County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners chair Chloe Firebaugh said at the ceremony. “The development says something important to them – you do not have to leave your community to build a stable life.”
Households in multiple income levels will have the opportunity to move to the complex. According to the City, 53 units are reserved for individuals and families earning 50% or below the Area Median Income, 67 units for those earning up to 80% of the AMI, and 144 units are reserved for households at 120% AMI or below.
The development will have 74 one-bedroom, 162 two-bedroom and 28 three-bedroom units. Amenities include computer labs, playgrounds, picnic areas, a swimming pool and a bike corral.
“At its core, this groundbreaking represents a shared belief – that affordable workforce housing is essential infrastructure, that families deserve quality places to live,” she added, “and when a community commits to the long game, real progress happens.”
A public and private partnership, the approximately $94.2 million initiative was funded through multiple sources. These include a $9.7 million allocation from the City, $12.4 million from Pinellas County and a HUD 221(d)(4) construction loan.
“The project is really a unicorn,” Cappelli said. “We are serving a very important part of the citizenry and workforce group in an incredibly centralized location.”