{"id":390545,"date":"2026-09-04T18:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390545\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T18:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:12:08","slug":"as-downtown-grows-st-pete-adds-a-new-tool-to-help-artists-keep-their-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390545\/","title":{"rendered":"As downtown grows, St. Pete adds a new tool to help artists keep their space"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">As St. Petersburg adds apartments, condos, and offices, the City is trying a new approach to help ensure the artists and galleries that helped shape downtown are not priced out of it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">City Council unanimously approved an arts funding development bonus on August 27th, creating a new way for developers to support local artists and arts organizations while pursuing additional building space for their projects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">For local arts advocates, the vote brought the City one step closer to creating a dependable source of funding for artists and arts organizations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cThe holy grail for the arts community in St. Pete has been to find a sustainable funding source to support the arts,\u201d said Paul Carter, a downtown resident and member of the City\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stpete.org\/government\/boards___committees\/arts_advisory_committee.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Arts Advisory Committee<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The policy is not a change that will allow developers to build more densely than they could before. Instead, it adds another option to the City\u2019s existing selection of floor area ratio, or FAR, bonuses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">FAR is a zoning measurement that determines how much total building space can be constructed on a site relative to its land area. In certain zoning districts, such as downtown, the City already allows developers to earn FAR bonuses by providing public benefits that support community priorities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Existing FAR bonus options include: building workforce housing, preserving historic buildings, adding affordable commercial space, funding streetscape improvements, providing public art, creating ground-level open space, and screening parking garages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Now, developers can also contribute to the City\u2019s arts funding development bonus fund in exchange for bonus floor area. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The City intends to use the money to help artists and arts organizations acquire or maintain studios, galleries, and other physical spaces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cThis is something that was brought to me originally as an idea from the Warehouse Arts District,\u201d Councilmember Gina Driscoll said before the vote. \u201cI do hope that today is not the end, but just simply the first big step toward creating a new opportunity for our local artists.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As St. Petersburg adds apartments, condos, and offices, the City is trying a new approach to help ensure&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-390545","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\/390545","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=390545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}