{"id":14848,"date":"2025-10-22T00:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T00:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/14848\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T00:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T00:26:07","slug":"city-opens-trop-site-proposals-amid-another-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/14848\/","title":{"rendered":"City opens Trop site proposals amid another pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Ken Welch told the Catalyst in May<\/a> that St. Petersburg would prioritize creating affordable senior housing around Tropicana Field. That is the sole focus of a redevelopment proposal submitted Oct. 8.<\/p>\n

The Pinellas County Housing Authority (PCHA<\/a>) hopes to construct an 80-unit facility for low-income seniors, particularly those who once lived in the Historic Gas Plant District, at 1659 3rd Ave. S. The site is currently a city-owned parking lot used for Tampa Bay Rays games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the city referenced a $6.8 billion plan<\/a>, submitted Oct. 3 by Ark Ellison Horus, when announcing its intention to welcome additional proposals. Officials said Tuesday that they will open a 30-day window for \u201calternative or competing proposals\u201d in mid-November, as required by state law when selling property in a community redevelopment area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI intend to ensure that any redevelopment reflects the values and priorities of our entire community- honoring our history<\/a> while creating pathways for inclusive progress and a thriving future for all in our city,\u201d Welch said in a prepared statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many insiders believed the public notice was imminent after ARK Ellison Horus submitted its offer Oct. 3. The city\u2019s announcement states that it is \u201cin receipt of an unsolicited proposal to redevelop the approximately 86 acres of property in the Historic Gas Plant District.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida Statute 163.380<\/a>\u00a0 requires the 30 day period for competing proposals if the City plans to dispose of some or all of a property, indicating administrators think enough of the Ark Ellison Horus proposal to begin that process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Council Chair Copley Gerdes previously said that Ark Ellison Horus \u201cchecked a lot of boxes.\u201d He noted that the city \u201ccontinues to attract great talent to a site that we know can be something very special.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

PCHA\u2019s team includes St. Petersburg-based Ascension Real Estate Partners and Storyn Studio for Architecture, a key member of the previous Rays and Hines development team. The group believes its proposal \u201crepresents a unique opportunity to transform a currently underutilized parcel into a community asset that addresses a pressing need for affordable senior housing in St. Petersburg, while honoring the city\u2019s commitment to the Historic Gas Plant Community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Welch has also prioritized<\/a> building a new Woodson African Museum of Florida. Black-owned Story Studio<\/a> has continued to work with the institution\u2019s leadership after the Rays exited an arduously negotiated stadium deal in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neil Brickfield, executive director of the PCHA, noted that Story Studio initially conceptualized the proposed project when part of the Rays and Hines development team. \u201cThey\u2019re an awesome architect and firm, and it was a natural fit to join up with them,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brickfield said his group, which suggested a $1 purchase price to create \u201cdeeply affordable\u201d senior housing at the .58-acre site, was already working on its proposal when Ark Ellison Horus broached a partnership with the Pinellas and St. Petersburg Housing Authorities. The agencies would oversee the \u201cmuch bigger\u201d project\u2019s affordable housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe let them know right away that we had a potential conflict and that we intended to go ahead with this,\u201d Brickfield added. \u201cNobody in those discussions thought that would preclude us from anything else. Everybody was aware of what\u2019s going on, and we still intend to be involved in whatever the City of St. Petersburg decides.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ark Ellison Horus said in a prepared statement Tuesday that the team \u201cis aware of the proposal submitted by the Pinellas County Housing Authority and plans to thoroughly review it, to better understand what the plan entails.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city could potentially select both proposals. Its announcement stated that interested parties could lease, purchase or develop \u201call or a portion of the Historic Gas Plant District property.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city council recently agreed to discuss hiring the Urban Land Institute, the world\u2019s oldest and largest network of land-use experts, to study the site. Councilmember Brandi Gabbard said the report<\/a> would help determine if \u201cit\u2019s even right to go with a master plan developer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHonoring the promises made to our community, including the residents of the Historic Gas Plant District, has been a top priority of my administration, and we continue to explore ways to pursue impactful outcomes that reflect the needs and aspirations of our residents,\u201d Welch said Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brickfield believes his proposal will help accomplish those goals. He noted that PCHA\u2019s mission is to provide quality affordable housing and improve the lives of residents, \u201cand that\u2019s what we intend to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The agency already houses approximately 2,500 low-income seniors, those earning less than 80% of the area median income. Brickfield thought the Gas Plant provided a \u201cgreat opportunity to be in downtown St. Pete\u201d and a \u201cgreat way to fulfill the city\u2019s desires.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the vision of affordable housing that has a preference for Historic Gas Plant residents is a wonderful vision,\u201d Brickfield continued. \u201cAnd I think the Ark Ellison Horus vision is a fantastic vision for the City of St. Petersburg.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Ken Welch told the Catalyst in May that St. Petersburg would prioritize creating affordable senior housing around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-14848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14848","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=14848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}