Mayor Ken Welch\u2019s administration selected Green Mills<\/a> over proposals from South St. Pete resident Elihu Brayboy, who led the Tall Cotton Initiative, and Fort Lauderdale-based Alexander Goshen\/Goode Van Slyk Architecture. Brayboy sold the property<\/a> \u2013 once home to several African-American-owned businesses during the city\u2019s Jim Crow era \u2013 for $100 in 2023 to settle a city lien.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will decline the commercial development of the 22nd Street area because the incomes of the new residents will not support the businesses that are there now,\u201d Brayboy said. \u201cThe historic Black community was a mixed-income group. If you just use it as a dumping ground for low-income projects \u2026 you\u2019re killing the aspects of retail development in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n The property at 951 22nd St. S. once featured the Royal Hotel, which served Black professional baseball players and entertainers who headlined the nearby Manhattan Casino during segregation. Hurricane Irma destroyed what was subsequently known as the Merriwether Building in September 2017, eight years shy of its centennial anniversary.<\/p>\n An overhead map of the area. The Catalyst on the Deuces, at the intersection of 9th Avenue South, uses the subject property (red) for parking.<\/p>\n Brayboy, who has long fostered entrepreneurial opportunities<\/a> along the Deuces, said the land is \u201ccritical\u201d to the corridor\u2019s ongoing revitalization. His group offered to purchase the property for $885,000, its appraised value, and provide 18 homeownership opportunities rather than rentals.<\/p>\n Tall Cotton proposed 3,000 square feet of retail space that would have featured a laundromat and neighborhood market, operated by the St. Pete Free Clinic. \u201cI was never told that the property could be leased at $100 a year,\u201d Brayboy said.<\/p>\n Administrators disagreed with his assertions. Aaron Fisch, real estate director, said offering Green Mills a forgivable 99-year lease allows the city to retain ownership and ensure long-term affordability.<\/p>\n City Development Administrator James Corbett explained that Tall Cotton lacked experience with new construction. Green Mills has completed several projects statewide, including Burlington Post<\/a> and Burlington Place in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n Tall Cotton proposed offering nine condominiums at 80% of the AMI and nine at 120%. Corbett also noted that under-construction projects to the north and south of the site would offer homeownership opportunities.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we felt like this would be a good mix to include some rental property with those other two developments already in the works that are for sale,\u201d he continued. \u201cNo one was provided any information or direction different than the other. It was all spelled out and advertised.\u201d<\/p>\n Brayboy still owns a site to the north that once housed Chief\u2019s Creole Cafe. The Catalyst on the Deuces, a popular lounge<\/a>, now leases the building and uses the Merriwether property for parking.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screenshot-1243-e1760724097328.png\")
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