{"id":416157,"date":"2026-10-01T22:54:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T22:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/416157\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T22:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T22:54:21","slug":"5-things-the-harborage-marina-referendum-would-deliver-for-st-pete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/416157\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things the Harborage Marina referendum would deliver for St. Pete"},"content":{"rendered":"

Voters in the city of St. Petersburg are facing five ballot questions<\/a> this election, including Referendum No. 2, which would authorize a 30-year lease on the city-owned Harborage Marina while requiring a series of needed improvements.<\/p>\n

Harborage Marina, the current tenant, is seeking a longer-term lease in order to conduct meaningful improvements, such as new and updated docks. Voter approval is required because the marina sits on publicly owned submerged lands.<\/p>\n

Harborage Marina has operated the city\u2019s marina since 1999<\/a>. Last fiscal year, its annual lease contribution to the city was $671,000.<\/p>\n

As voters make their decisions ahead of the Nov. 3 election, here are five things to consider.<\/p>\n

New docks and related amenities<\/p>\n

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

If approved, the new 30-year lease with Harborage Marina would pave the way for 200 linear feet of new docks<\/a> and boat lifts, and would add new restrooms to the marina.<\/p>\n

The official ballot language would require Harborage Marina \u201cto construct new improvements at no cost to the city.\u201d What\u2019s more, the city retains ownership of all improvements once the lease expires.<\/p>\n

While the marina is in current working order, no major renovations have been made since at least 2016, when the marina invested $3 million<\/a> into new docks that could accommodate mega-yachts up to 250-300 feet long.<\/p>\n

$2.15M in planned improvements<\/p>\n

While the official ballot language does not specify a monetary amount for required improvements, Harborage Marina\u2019s plan is to invest $2.15 million into new features and improvements.<\/p>\n

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

Included in that sum is approximately $1 million for 200 linear feet of new dock space, complete with fire suppression, water and electrical service. Another $650,000 is planned for boat lifts to accommodate more boats and larger vessels.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, $500,000 is planned for expanded restroom facilities.<\/p>\n

While the $2.15 million price tag is an estimate, the features it would pay for are included in ballot language and would be required if the referendum is approved, even if the exact price tag ends up being different.<\/p>\n

They pay, we keep<\/p>\n

The city of St. Petersburg owns the Harborage Marina, and leases the submerged lands to the Marina to operate. Under the agreement, and under the 2026 referendum terms, any improvements made to the marina are owned by the city at the conclusion of the lease.<\/p>\n

That means any funds invested into marina features and amenities belong to taxpayers, not the marina operator.<\/p>\n

More lease revenue<\/p>\n

The city of St. Petersburg anticipates that the referendum, if approved, would generate $4.5 million in additional lease revenue over the course of the 30-year lease.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the lease with Harborage Marina includes both base rent and percentage rent. Under percentage rent, the amount Harborage pays to the city on its lease depends on how much revenue the marina generated in a particular year.<\/p>\n

Put simply, the more revenue the marina generates, the more money the city collects on the lease.<\/p>\n

With more than $2 million in planned improvements to the marina, it\u2019s likely revenue would increase.<\/p>\n

The referendum does not expand the marina\u2019s footprint<\/p>\n

Unlike a referendum in 2018, this year\u2019s ballot initiative would not expand the total acreage the Marina operates.<\/p>\n

In 2018, voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum establishing a new 30-year lease term and expanding the marina by about 2 acres. Under that agreement, Harborage Marina was required to construct a new 200-foot dock and upgrade electrical.<\/p>\n

The current referendum requires marina improvements, but does not extend the marina boundaries.<\/p>\n

The referendum will appear on the Nov. 3 General Election ballot alongside state and federal elections, as well as races for St. Pete City Council and Mayor.<\/p>\n

Mail ballots began going out to voters who had requested them on Wednesday, meaning voters in St. Pete will soon begin casting ballots.<\/p>\n

Early voting for the General Election runs from Oct. 19 through Nov. 1, with all early voting locations open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. There are seven early voting locations throughout Pinellas County, including two in the city of St. Petersburg, at the J.W. Cate Recreation Center on 22nd Ave. North and the Supervisor of Elections office at the County Building, in downtown.<\/p>\n

More information is on the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Voters in the city of St. Petersburg are facing five ballot questions this election, including Referendum No. 2,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[11591,138190,164813,202,164814,204,203,199,201,200,164815],"class_list":["post-416157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-2026-election","tag-harborage-marina","tag-referendum-no-2","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-downtown-waterfront","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-submerged-lands-lease"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416157","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=416157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}