{"id":21626,"date":"2025-10-26T23:08:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T23:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/21626\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T23:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T23:08:09","slug":"is-one-month-enough-for-trop-site-proposals-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/21626\/","title":{"rendered":"Is one month enough for Trop site proposals?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A prominent development firm has asked\u00a0St. Petersburg\u00a0to\u00a0extend its window for submitting\u00a0Historic Gas Plant District\u00a0redevelopment proposals.\u00a0Some people are tired of waiting.<\/p>\n

Mayor Ken Welch announced Tuesday that, starting in mid-November, he would officially welcome proposals to reimagine the area around Tropicana Field for 30 days. Troy Simpson, president of Delray Beach-based Kolter\u2019s mixed-use division, emailed Council members and the city\u2019s procurement department on Wednesday to request 90 days.<\/p>\n

The receipt of two recent unsolicited proposals did not\u00a0trigger the process<\/a>, despite conflicting reports. State law requires local governments to provide at least 30 days\u2019 notice before entering into \u201cany contract to sell, lease, or otherwise transfer real property\u201d within a Community Redevelopment Area.<\/p>\n

Providing a much shorter window than the previous two Trop site requests for proposals (RFPs) sparked online discourse. Simpson echoed some of those sentiments in his brief email.<\/p>\n

\u201cA proposal for a project of this significance warrants more than 30 days to evaluate and prepare,\u201d Simpson wrote. \u201cAs a consideration for St. Pete to attract a development team prepared to deliver a world-class project, we ask that (the) invitation window be extended.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kolter has built three luxury condo towers downtown: ONE St. Petersburg, Saltaire and Art House. City Council members unanimously approved a land use change Oct. 16 that allows the firm to build up to\u00a0776 housing units<\/a>\u00a0at St. Petersburg College\u2019s Allstate campus.<\/p>\n

\u2018Let\u2019s move the needle\u2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former Mayor Rick Kriseman opened a six-month RFP process in July 2020, eventually selecting Midtown Development. Welch provided a 90-day window when starting anew in September 2022.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Rays and global development firm Hines\u00a0walked away<\/a>\u00a0from that $6.5 billion redevelopment deal in March after over two years of negotiations. ARK Investment Management, Ellison Development and Horus Construction submitted a $6.8 billion vision for a new, similarly-termed \u201cworld-class\u201d\u00a0project Oct. 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my standpoint, this land has been sitting and continues to sit,\u201d Council Chair Copley Gerdes told the\u00a0Catalyst. \u201cEvery day counts for the people who are counting on us to fulfill the promises on that piece of land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s announcement stated that the city is acting pursuant to\u00a0Florida Statute 163.380<\/a>, which regulates the disposal of property in a community redevelopment area acquired through eminent domain. An unsolicited proposal\u00a0received in March<\/a>\u00a0did not trigger the same \u2013 or any \u2013 response.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic notice allowing an opportunity for competing or alternative proposals from private developers or other interested parties for the lease, purchase or development of all or a portion of the Historic Gas Plant District property\u201d is not an RFP or a solicitation. It is a state requirement before selling the land.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that\u2019s a hard timeline \u2013 thirty days is a short period of time in the development world,\u201d Gerdes said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve got a responsibility to move both intentionally and quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welch has repeatedly pledged to do just that since the Rays walked away from the previous agreement. The self-described \u201cchild of the Gas Plant\u201d witnessed the displacement of his and thousands of other\u00a0Black families<\/a>\u00a0in the name of economic progress over 40 years ago.<\/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 he said in the announcement.<\/p>\n

The public notice period should \u2014 and seemingly has \u2014 put pressure on developers who have sat on the sidelines since the first RFP in July 2020, or since the previous deal died seven months ago.<\/p>\n

They also have over 30 days to prepare a proposal. The mayoral administration provided a nearly month-long heads-up that it planned to issue the 30-day notice.<\/p>\n

Gerdes reiterated his belief that the administration wants to ensure \u201cthere\u2019s movement for some of the things that, I think, the community expects and has been promised.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if we can deliver on some of those sooner rather than later, let\u2019s move the needle,\u201d Gerdes added. \u201cBecause the needle hasn\u2019t\u00a0been moved\u00a0in 40 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Negotiations with a selected developer should move expeditiously, as there are no stadium agreements or associated funding sources to consider. Pinellas County and Major League Baseball are no longer involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy expectation is\u00a0that the city\u00a0is able to\u00a0move through negotiations faster, and the development\u00a0is able to\u00a0start sooner,\u201d Gerdes said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Mark Parker<\/a> reports via St. Pete Catalyst<\/a>; republished with permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A prominent development firm has asked\u00a0St. Petersburg\u00a0to\u00a0extend its window for submitting\u00a0Historic Gas Plant District\u00a0redevelopment proposals.\u00a0Some people are tired…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[16941,16942,7354,16943,13644,2346,16944,16945,16946,202,204,203,199,201,200,3815,8125],"class_list":["post-21626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-art-house","tag-community-redevelopment-area","tag-copley-gerdes","tag-hines","tag-historic-gas-plant-district","tag-ken-welch","tag-midtown-development","tag-one-st-petersburg","tag-saltaire","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tropicana-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21626","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=21626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}