{"id":328245,"date":"2026-07-03T10:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T10:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/328245\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T10:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T10:32:22","slug":"st-pete-mayor-names-developer-for-gas-plant-district-the-site-of-tropicana-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/328245\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete mayor names developer for Gas Plant District, the site of Tropicana Field"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch announced the developer selected for the redesign of the Gas Plant District on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Councilman Corey Givens says the city is moving forward with \u2018The Burg Bid LLC, submitted by Blake Investment Partners. The $8.1 billion development includes the creation of the Woodson African American Museum of Florida, more than 3,600 affordable housing units, an event center and a trail honoring the history of the 86-acre site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a class=\"link  yahoo-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/politics\/articles\/florida-law-changing-p-e-191111557.html\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:New Florida law changing P.E. requirements for high school diploma goes into effect;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;New Florida law changing P.E. requirements for high school diploma goes into effect&quot;}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> New Florida law changing P.E. requirements for high school diploma goes into effect <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Families who frequent the area have a clear idea about what should be included in the development where a historically African American neighborhood was demolished for the construction of Tropicana Field. Tim Scheu says, \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of history here, too, that kind of was erased when the Rays came to town. So, it\u2019d be great to, you know, revisit some of that history and sort of pay homage to the people who made this home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"899\" height=\"516\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f9c9ceb91b6c88265900172255203180.jpeg\"\/><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"899\" height=\"547\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4567bb1889b5b0eb062457c03b43776e.jpeg\"\/><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"543\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/58fd1a2c1c41384626572224bdb91f4b.jpeg\"\/><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"821\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3cbab10c7be2bb9143d1a39776f117c5.jpeg\"\/><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"899\" height=\"544\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fe8e012afc2dc68b32b3206eff138866.jpeg\"\/><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"899\" height=\"473\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/48f1d5b7407c4d4333fee739c00c2c77.jpeg\"\/><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"818\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a4fcb5d722ab36c7fa49ae814c597510.jpeg\"\/><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"592\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/283cdf8f1380f5820df8c1f441cb1ae1.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Plans appear to include tearing down Tropicana Field. The proposal submitted to the city says: Early development outside the Tropicana Stadium footprint, allowing progress prior to stadium demolition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Earlier in the year crews completed millions of dollars in repairs to the stadium which was damaged during Hurricane Milton. The Rays are contractually obligated to play in the stadium through the 2028 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mayor Welch has been repeatedly criticized and blamed for the demise of a deal to keep the team in St. Petersburg. He\u2019s up for reelection, which has some community members skeptical about the timing of the announcement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Kari Mueller with the group Home Runs Matter says, \u201cIt does feel that it\u2019s very rushed, that this is done purposefully because of an upcoming election, and it\u2019s not being thoughtfully considered and fully vetted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wfla.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.&quot;}\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch announced the developer selected for the redesign of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[67351,80980,31740,2346,202,204,203,199,201,200,69043,8125,2381],"class_list":["post-328245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-blake-investment-partners","tag-corey-givens","tag-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-the-burg-bid-llc","tag-tropicana-field","tag-woodson-african-american-museum-of-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328245","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=328245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}