ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The St. Petersburg city council approved a state grant agreement last Thursday to invest an additional $1 million for a pump station in the Shore Acres Flood Mitigation Project.

“I was honored to be able to carry a budget request with Senator Nick DiCeglie for that money,” said State Rep. Lindsay Cross, D-St. Petersburg. “We know it doesn’t fix all of the problems but it helps.”

What You Need To Know

St. Petersburg was awarded a $1 million matching state grant for a pump station in Shore Acres

The pump station is part of a much larger $33M flood mitigation project 

Construction is expected to begin in summer 2026

State Rep. Lindsay Cross (D) and Sen. Nick DiCeglie (R) secured the state grant 
MORE INFORMATION: Shore Acres Flood Mitigation Project

The pump station will be located under the roadway at the intersection of Connecticut Ave. NE and Bayshore Blvd., according to the Director of Engineering and Capital Improvements Brejesh Prayman.

“The discharge piping will then extend underground easterly towards Tampa Bay,” he said. “The existing outfall will be modified to allow the new piping to convey stormwater to Tampa Bay.”

Prayman said the station will have 6 pumps installed allowing for redundancy and will have emergency backup power.

“On average the pumps which will be installed underground are expected to be approximately 10 feet tall,” he said. “Giving a sense of the stormwater capacity based on the size of the pumps.”

The discharge piping from the pump station will include a design feature of creating an inverted “U” which will act as a flow control not allowing high tide to flow back into the stormwater pump station and eliminates the need for a backflow preventer, according to Prayman.

A building for the electrical components will be constructed on the right of way east of Bayshore Blvd. which will be at an elevation above the FEMA floodplain. Pending permit approvals, construction is expected to begin in summer 2026 and will to take one year to complete.

The relief can’t come soon enough for the lowest lying neighborhood in St. Petersburg. Last year, Hurricane Helene flooded nearly 2,200 homes, which was 82 percent of the neighborhood. Shore Acres Civic Association President Kevin Batdorf said he’s frustrated with the city’s timeline.

“My honest opinion, the timeline sucks,” he said. “We were told it was going to start September of this year.”

Despite wanting to see the project happen faster, Batdorf said he’s grateful for a shovel ready project which should eliminate sunny day flooding.

“I’m excited to see that this is finally going to happen,” he said. “It can’t come soon enough.”

The pump station is part of a much larger flood mitigation project for Shore Acres which has been estimated to cost $33 million. The project also includes box culverts, backflow preventers and elevating sections of roadway and intersections.

Rep. Cross said these types of projects are really easy to champion in Tallahassee.

“It was a very compelling project for the legislature to fund because we knew it’s shovel. We’re ready to use this money. It’s part of a larger comprehensive plan,” she said. “The city has got skin in the game with significant amount of match.”