{"id":46930,"date":"2025-11-14T21:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T21:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/46930\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T21:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T21:09:08","slug":"mayor-welch-extends-proposal-deadline-for-86-acre-historic-gas-plant-redevelopment-in-downtown-st-pete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/46930\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Welch extends proposal deadline for 86-acre Historic Gas Plant redevelopment in downtown St. Pete"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Councilmember Brandi Gabbard said the city, not private developers, should lead the process. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cI\u2019d rather have the city steer this than the private sector. That seems like good government, good business,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is the city\u2019s land. It is the people\u2019s land.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Some councilmembers suggested <a href=\"https:\/\/floridapolitics.com\/archives\/761033-brandi-gabbard-takes-step-to-study-historic-gas-plant-site-for-best-uses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">bringing in the Urban Land Institute to study the best path forward<\/a>, though Gabbard said a new master plan may not be necessary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Additionally, Councilmember Lisset Hanewicz added that without an imminent stadium deadline, the city has time to do things right. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cWe were rushed because it had to be done by a certain timeframe [due to the Rays\u2019 lease],\u201d she said. \u201cWell, the Rays don\u2019t have a new stadium. The world has not ended.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Councilmembers ultimately agreed that a new property appraisal should be completed before negotiations begin with any development team. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Staff also reiterated that once a preferred development team is chosen and a term sheet is reached, the city will require a Community Benefits Agreement, ensuring commitments to affordable housing, workforce programs, and infrastructure investments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">As the city prepares to reopen the process for a third time, both the administration and City Council say the goal is unchanged: to find the right long-term partner to transform the acres of asphalt around Tropicana Field into a thriving, community-focused neighborhood. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Councilmember Brandi Gabbard said the city, not private developers, should lead the process. \u201cI\u2019d rather have the city&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-46930","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\/46930","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=46930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}