{"id":293225,"date":"2026-06-02T16:21:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T16:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/293225\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T16:21:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T16:21:46","slug":"why-st-petersburg-city-staff-will-manage-the-mahaffey-theater-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/293225\/","title":{"rendered":"Why St. Petersburg city staff will manage the Mahaffey Theater for now"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Petersburg\u2019s list of unresolved city matters is growing: Add to it uncertainty over who will run the Mahaffey Theater<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After 15 years, businessman Bill Edwards and his company, Big 3 Entertainment, are no longer managing the city-owned waterfront performing arts venue. Edwards and the city couldn\u2019t agree on extension terms. So the city in December set out to find the next operator.<\/p>\n

But only one offer came, and a city review panel rejected it. Meanwhile, Edwards, who poured millions of his own money into the 61-year-old theater, decided to end his contract months early, leaving the city to take over operations. <\/p>\n

The city must now determine the theater\u2019s future while juggling the reopening of the historic Manhattan Casino<\/a> and the redevelopment of its downtown marina<\/a>. It\u2019s taking place while the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a> negotiate with Hillsborough County officials for a replacement to Tropicana Field after announced plans in St. Petersburg fell apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kind of got this track record … that things don\u2019t really move quickly,\u201d council member Brandi Gabbard, who is running for mayor, said during a May 7 discussion of the Mahaffey situation, which she described as \u201cmessy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city plans to put out another call for theater operators, although that process is expected to take about four months. In a city known for the arts, the uncertainty has posed a major challenge for the Mahaffey\u2019s main tenant, The Florida Orchestra. <\/p>\n

St. Petersburg Arts Alliance Executive Director Helen French, a supporter of the sole proposal rejected by the city, said a new bidding process offers a fresh start and renewed focus for the theater. It could also solidify the Mahaffey as the permanent home of the orchestra.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe this is a good opportunity to find just the right fit,\u201d French said.<\/p>\n

Florida Orchestra in the balance<\/p>\n

The City Council recently approved spending $460,000 through September to manage the Mahaffey and assume Big 3\u2019s contracts. City officials went on a hiring spree to retain theater employees and book shows through 2027.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also under orders from the council to accommodate The Florida Orchestra, whose leadership expressed in emails and letters that it has been neglected during Big 3\u2019s tenure and the city\u2019s search process.<\/p>\n

In negotiations, Edwards wanted the city to more than double its management fee to $750,000 annually and assume insurance costs while Big 3 kept all naming rights revenue. Beth Herendeen, the city\u2019s point person on event facilities, thought she could strike a deal with her former boss. She worked for the Edwards Group from 2013 to 2018. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really thought we would get to an agreement, and I probably let that go on a little too long and didn\u2019t start the RFP (request for proposals) process sooner,\u201d said Herendeen, who also led the charge to fix the hurricane-damaged Trop for the Tampa Bay Rays\u2019 return in April.<\/p>\n

Edwards said he poured over $12 million into the Mahaffey. He went before the council three years ago to compel the city to invest in the theater\u2019s deferred maintenance<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big old building and we need a lot of repairs,\u201d Edwards said in a recent interview with the Tampa Bay Times. \u201cWe did it as much as we could. I\u2019ve subsidized it for close to all that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that contract expiring, The Florida Orchestra appealed directly to Mayor Ken Welch in October. The orchestra\u2019s president and CEO, Ignacio Barr\u00f3n Viela, said that, under Edwards, the orchestra hasn\u2019t been able to secure rehearsal and performance dates.<\/p>\n

Viela wrote that city negotiations went on \u201cwithout any effort to address our concerns.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe orchestra is a big part of it, but it\u2019s a part of it,\u201d Herendeen said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t intentional leaving them out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lori Osborne, The Florida Orchestra\u2019s vice president of strategic partnerships, wrote in an April 8 email to Herendeen that it is the only orchestra in the country that has not released its upcoming season. She said Big 3 missed a Dec. 31 deadline to confirm dates despite its service agreement with the orchestra.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been empathetic, flexible, and have operated in good faith throughout \u2014 but feel like we have given more grace than we have gotten in return, and we are out of time,\u201d Osborne wrote in bold italics. \u201cEvery additional week of delay has real financial consequences for our organization and, frankly, for the Mahaffey\u2019s programming as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the council approved funding to run the Mahaffey in the interim, it supported council member Gina Driscoll\u2019s resolution to have city officials contract directly with the orchestra.<\/p>\n

\u201cOtherwise, it\u2019s not an exaggeration to say that we could lose The Florida Orchestra over this,\u201d Driscoll said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have any guarantees that they have a home here at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Science Center to Mahaffey<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s lone proposal to run the Mahaffey came from a group called St. Petersburg Arts Partners. Led by businessman Joe Hamilton, it listed Vinik Sports Group, an entertainment management company established by former Tampa Bay Lightning majority owner Jeff Vinik, as a partner.<\/p>\n

Hamilton runs the St. Pete Catalyst, a local news site that has a content-sharing agreement with the Times. His bid came with 19 letters of support, including from Pinellas County Administrator Barry Burton, County Commissioner Kathleen Peters and the Mahaffey\u2019s neighbors, The Dal\u00ed Museum and the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Hamilton is already working with the city on reviving the Science Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But a panel of city employees didn\u2019t like that they only had one bid to consider. They also weren\u2019t clear on what the working relationship was between the group and its listed partners.<\/p>\n

It likely didn\u2019t help that Herendeen told her fellow review panel members that she had heard that Hamilton was bragging that his proposal was \u201con lock\u201d and that he had been wandering around the Mahaffey looking at what he\u2019d change. <\/p>\n

Hamilton told the Times that Edwards is a friend with whom he regularly visits at the Mahaffey. He said that between the team he put together and having no competition, it was practical and logical to think the deal was his. He said Herendeen\u2019s comments \u201cclearly influenced the process\u201d that ultimately resulted in him missing out on the contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly set the tone for subsequent meetings,\u201d Hamilton said.<\/p>\n

The St. Petersburg Arts Partners offered 54 pages of clarifications to try to address the city\u2019s questions and concerns. But the review panel voted April 27 to reject the proposal and start over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really proud of the team and the proposal we put together because it would\u2019ve done an incredible amount of good for the theater and for the city,\u201d Hamilton said.<\/p>\n

Parallels to the Manhattan Casino<\/p>\n

Kyandra Darling, a candidate for state House District 62, said she saw parallels between the ordeal at the Mahaffey and what happened to the historic Manhattan Casino<\/a>. Darling\u2019s mother was among a group of investors who said they didn\u2019t get a fair shake running a historic building the city let fall into disrepair.<\/p>\n

The Manhattan Casino, once the cultural hub of St. Petersburg\u2019s Black community, closed in 2022. The city began work on a $4.8 million renovation last summer.<\/a> It is expected to reopen as a city-run event rental space this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you talk with Bill Edwards and people who supported the operations, they did a lot for the community but still felt like they didn\u2019t have enough to be able to operate at a higher capacity,\u201d Darling said. \u201cI think the city is going to have to be very intentional in leaning in and making sure they are working with the people who they do pass it off to ultimately, if they don\u2019t stay managing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Refining the process to find the Mahaffey\u2019s next operator may give the city a second shot at doing just that.<\/p>\n

Herendeen said a new request for proposals will go live in June. She said it will include more operating details and specific requirements, including input from Vinik Sports Group and The Florida Orchestra.<\/p>\n

\u201dI think we\u2019ll be better for it,\u201c Herendeen recently told City Council members.<\/p>\n

Hamilton said he won\u2019t apply again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to be part of making the Mahaffey as good as it can be, but I put my best foot forward and they said, \u2018No thanks,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg\u2019s list of unresolved city matters is growing: Add to it uncertainty over who will run the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-293225","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\/293225","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=293225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}