{"id":215533,"date":"2026-04-02T03:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T03:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/215533\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T03:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T03:58:16","slug":"heres-how-st-petersburg-will-pick-a-developer-for-tropicana-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/215533\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s how St. Petersburg will pick a developer for Tropicana Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Petersburg has announced the next steps for choosing a developer for the Historic Gas Plant District, home to Tropicana Field.<\/p>\n

The timeline, laid out from April through July, acknowledges the City Council\u2019s request to create a planning framework for the 86-acre site before selecting a developer. Negotiations with a selected developer would begin in July, culminating in a term sheet and contract that would go before the council for approval.<\/p>\n

The latest attempt to redevelop the Gas Plant will run up against the August primary election, where Mayor Ken Welch faces at least five challengers in his bid for reelection. One of those opponents is council member Brandi Gabbard, who led the charge for a 6-2 vote to pause selecting a developer before planning priorities for the site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If no one candidate receives a majority, the two candidates with the most votes will head to a runoff election in November. Four council seats are also on the ballot.<\/p>\n

The city received nine proposals by a Feb. 3 deadline to redevelop all or part of the Gas Plant, an homage to the Black community that preceded the Trop.<\/p>\n

Three top city officials last month evaluated eight proposals after one was withdrawn. They recommended four for shortlisting<\/a> and gave strong marks across the board to pitches made by Blake Investment Partners and Ark Ellison Horus. Welch will choose which pitches make the shortlist.<\/p>\n

This month, city staff will begin working with the Urban Land Institute to plan the development. According to the city\u2019s announcement, that includes reviewing previous studies and soliciting community feedback.<\/p>\n

Similar to the last attempt to find a developer for the Gas Plant, the city plans to host a meeting with the shortlisted developers at the Coliseum where the public can meet with developers and ask questions. The city will open a 30-day window to gather feedback from residents.<\/p>\n

In May, top city staff will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each shortlisted proposal. The Community Benefits Advisory Council, a community panel that vets city-subsidized projects on whether they provide enough public benefits, will begin finding community members for the specific Gas Plant project. Council members are expected to vote on which applicants can join that group at a May meeting.<\/p>\n

Welch is expected to select one or more proposals in June. Any selected pitches will be vetted through the community benefits process and City Council.<\/p>\n

The Community Benefits Advisory Council will host two meetings in July. One will include theopportunity for public comment and the second meeting will only feature a discussion by those on the Community Benefits Advisory Council.<\/p>\n

With that feedback, Welch and city staff will begin to negotiate a term sheet and contract, which are ultimately subject to the council\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg has announced the next steps for choosing a developer for the Historic Gas Plant District, home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[5225,15844,13644,2346,202,204,203,199,201,200,8125],"class_list":["post-215533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-developer","tag-gas-plant","tag-historic-gas-plant-district","tag-ken-welch","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tropicana-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215533","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=215533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}