{"id":81120,"date":"2025-12-12T17:12:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/81120\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T17:12:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:12:07","slug":"st-pete-gives-tangerine-plaza-developers-another-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/81120\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete gives Tangerine Plaza developers another year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Developers selected in 2022 to redevelop Tangerine Plaza, a city-owned strip mall in South St. Petersburg that once housed the area\u2019s only grocery store, now have another year<\/a> to secure funding and meet other requirements.
\u200b
City council members approved Sugar Hill Group\u2019s second request for an extension in a 6-2 vote Thursday after nearly two hours of ardent debate. The development team, which plans to build 186 affordable housing units and offer fresh food at the site for the first time since 2017, began submitting proposals in 2020<\/a>.
\u200b
Sugar Hill received an 18-month extension<\/a> in June 2024, and now has until January 2027 to fulfill long-stipulated<\/a> obligations. Council members who voted in favor preferred additional delays \u2013 with no guarantee that the project will come to fruition \u2013 over restarting the proposal process.
\u200b
\u201cProgress takes patience and persistence in the city,\u201d said Chair Copley Gerdes. \u201cIt\u2019s like driving the Titanic \u2013 you\u2019ve got to do it one degree at a time. It doesn\u2019t turn on a dime, and to turn that ship around is way more than to keep it going forward.\u201d
\u200b
Sen. Darryl Rouson, Pinellas County Commissioner Renee Flowers and NAACP president Esther Sanni advocated for the extension alongside other public speakers. Mayor Ken Welch urged the council to support another extension in a memo sent Wednesday.
\u200b
Welch restarted a redevelopment process in July 2022 that began under former Mayor Rick Kriseman. The city selected Sugar Hill\u2019s previously estimated $37 million proposal for the site at 1794 22nd St. S., colloquially known as The Deuces.
\u200b
Sugar Hill includes Oliver Gross, president of Miami-based New Urban Development; Rev. Louis Murphy, senior pastor at Mt. Zion Progressive Ministry; and Roy Binger, CEO of Binger Financial Services. Gross was the first person to speak on behalf of the group.
\u200b
\u201cThis project remains a critical opportunity to advance inclusive progress on the Deuces by empowering a community-rooted development team and ensuring that revitalization includes \u2013 rather than displaces \u2013 long-standing members of the Deuces community,\u201d Welch wrote.
\u200b
\u201cThe issues of gentrification have been stated often as a concern in the Deuces community, and this is our best opportunity to ensure a substantial economic development opportunity for a group rooted in the Deuces and surrounding neighborhoods.\u201d
\u200b
Welch also listed multiple \u201ccomplex\u201d projects that required additional time and financial or financing support. Councilmember Brandi Gabbard and multiple colleagues echoed that sentiment.
\u200b
\u201cWhen it comes right down to it, I see no reason why we should not move forward,\u201d Gabbard said. \u201cEquity should be applied across the board to all developments, and consideration should be given in that equitable manner.\u201d
\u200b
Gabbard noted that the council was \u201cnot here to talk about funding today,\u201d despite that being the primary reason for an extension. Sugar Hill has requested $22.3 million from the city and county, and the topic was broached early and often.
\u200b
Welch and Sugar Hill\u2019s community advocates said the group has secured most of its financing. Administrators admitted that they have received letters of intent, a \u201cstarting point\u201d that is \u201csubject to many things being completed\u201d before final commitments.
\u200b
\u201cThe bottom line is, the money is not there,\u201d said Councilmember Lisset Hanewicz. \u201cContractual language, and commitments and having funding actually coming \u2013 it\u2019s not just based on hopes and dreams. We are talking about things in the future that we don\u2019t know are going to happen.\u201d
\u200b
Hanewicz voted against the initial 18-month extension. She said, \u201cNothing has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A previous rendering of Sugar Hill Group\u2019s proposed development. Image provided.<\/p>\n

The administration received a letter of intent Wednesday from Taste of the Islands, which plans to operate a neighborhood market at the site. Aaron Fisch, director of real estate and property management, said he had yet to review the document Thursday afternoon.
\u200b
Councilmember Gina Driscoll, who also voted against the first extension, asked if anyone could share the letter\u2019s contents. She received the grocer\u2019s name and no other details.
\u200b
\u201cIt\u2019s really not fair that you\u2019re even asking the city council to take this up right now,\u201d Driscoll added. \u201cIt looks like everything has been thrown together by all sides to get this in front of us because this is the last meeting before the agreement expires.\u201d
\u200b
Hanewicz and Driscoll voted against the latest extension. Councilmember Corey Givens Jr., who represents the area and expressed opposition<\/a> last week, joined the majority Thursday.
\u200b
\u201cThe last thing I want to do is see this train get derailed,\u201d Givens said. I want to see it through to fruition. But at the same time, I have expectations and I have concerns.\u201d
\u200b
Councilmember Mike Harting proposed a 90-day extension. He also noted that the discussion should focus on \u201chow quickly do we get to the point where someone who lives in that community can walk to a grocery store.\u201d
\u200b
Givens asked Harting, who acquiesced, to amend his motion to six months. Sugar Hill, which hopes to break ground in September 2026, needed an additional year to meet city requirements.
\u200b
The motion failed without a second. Councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders said that if the project fails, \u201cit won\u2019t be for us not allowing equitable opportunity like we did with these other projects.\u201d
\u200b
\u201cTo me, removing blight is removing hurdles.\u201d
\u200b
Figgs-Sanders, Gerdes, Gabbard, Givens, Harting and Councilmember Richie Floyd approved the extension. Driscoll and Hanewicz dissented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Developers selected in 2022 to redevelop Tangerine Plaza, a city-owned strip mall in South St. Petersburg that once…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-81120","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\/81120","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=81120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}