ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.\u00a0\u2014 St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch says his administration is taking a new, community-focused approach to redeveloping the Historic Gas Plant District, as housing advocates and residents raise concerns about transparency, timing and who ultimately benefits from the project.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch is defending his approach to redeveloping the Historic Gas Plant District, saying it puts long-time residents and equity first
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Some community advocates argue the city should slow down the process
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Mayor Welch says his administration is focused on ensuring the redevelopment honors long-standing promises made to the displaced community, including affordable housing, jobs, and opportunities for minority-owned businesses
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The deadline to submit alternative proposals for the Historic Gas Plant District redevelopment is Feb. 3<\/p>\n
The 86-acre site, located just west of downtown, was once a thriving Black neighborhood before residents were displaced decades ago to make way for interstate construction and what is now Tropicana Field. After the city recently regained control of the land following the termination of a previous redevelopment agreement tied to the Tampa Bay Rays, officials are once again considering proposals for its future.<\/p>\n
Some community advocates argue the city should slow down the process.<\/p>\n
William Kilgore with the St. Pete Tenants Union says redevelopment decisions should not be rushed, even as political and economic pressure builds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it exhausting? Yeah, it is,\u201d Kilgore said. \u201cBut we can\u2019t rush into things. We have to do it right\u2026 not because there\u2019s a reelection campaign coming up or moneyed interests pushing to get shovels in the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kilgore also described the land as one of the city\u2019s most valuable assets and said residents deserve to see direct benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to have robust public participation. These acres of land \u2014 this is an invaluable asset,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to be seeing a return to the people of St. Pete, not just giving it away to rich billionaire developers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welch says his administration is focused on ensuring the redevelopment honors long-standing promises made to the displaced community, including affordable housing, jobs and opportunities for minority-owned businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know what folks want to see out of that \u2014 the original promises being honored,\u201d Welch said. \u201cJobs and economic opportunity, particularly for minority businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welch emphasized that the project is no longer being framed around the baseball stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the Tropicana Field redevelopment,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the Historic Gas Plant redevelopment and all the things that entails.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor also pointed to the city\u2019s renewed control of the property as a major shift.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe now have the land back in the city\u2019s possession \u2014 something we haven\u2019t had for 25-plus years,\u201d he said, adding that new proposals include increased affordable and workforce housing and a 40% minority participation target.<\/p>\n
City leaders say negotiations with developers and community engagement efforts will continue in the months ahead.<\/p>\n
Advocates, however, say they will keep pushing for legally binding guarantees to ensure long-time residents and future generations benefit from one of the most significant redevelopment projects in St. Petersburg\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
The deadline to submit alternative proposals for the Historic Gas Plant District redevelopment is Feb. 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.\u00a0\u2014 St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch says his administration is taking a new, community-focused approach to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[274,2375,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-118659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-app-top-stories","9":"tag-fadia-patterson","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pinellas-county","12":"tag-st-pete","13":"tag-st-pete-headlines","14":"tag-st-pete-news","15":"tag-st-petersburg","16":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","17":"tag-st-petersburg-news","18":"tag-tampa","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}