June 2025 Work Plan Update

Thanks to support from our members and board, we made progress on many of the priorities we identified in our 2025 Work Plan and kept momentum in our mission to champion community prosperity through purposeful, transformative projects.

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Clean and Safe

Williams Park - We have submitted an appropriation at the legislature for Williams Park infrastructure improvements and hosted meetings with stakeholders, property owners and potential funders surrounding Williams Park. We have created a draft pilot management plan and budget for park improvements and programming as a part of a comprehensive clean and safe program in downtown.

Central Avenue - We have worked with the City and local business owners to design street improvements to the First Block of Central Avenue to improve safety ADA compliance and pedestrian access.

Service District - We have created a pilot management plan and budget for stakeholders to review and identified potential funding sources. We have met with the St. Pete Police Department to coordinate safety efforts and met with downtown property and business owners through the Downtown Neighborhood Association, Downtown Business Association, and the Beach Drive Condo Presidents. We are working on an education plan for downtown stakeholders and will be briefing The City Council Public Safety and Infrastructure Committee on June 12.

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Walkability

Expanded Looper - We have met with the City's transportation department to define scope and goals, and are in very early discussions about a larger route, timeline, budget and funding sources.

Digital Wayfinding - We have facilitated a site visit in Tampa with City Council and the IKE team to demonstrate how the digital wayfinding functions. IKE and City administration met last month to discuss next steps, including mapping out locations and timeline as well as negotiating a contract.

Car-Free St. Pete - We have had discussions with stakeholders to prioritize the elements for a new management entity and are currently working on establishing the new independent nonprofit that will continue the efforts started through our initative, Car-Free St. Pete.

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Livability

Workforce Housing - We recently hosted a discussion with the City's Planning Department and low-income housing developers about upzoning in Methodist Town as well as along the Pinellas Trail and SunRunner routes to encourage more workforce housing development. We have also met with stakeholders in the Warehouse Arts District Association and along the Pinellas Trail to develop a proposal for upzoning the Pinellas Trail. We support the City's prioritization of SunRunner density changes.

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Resiliency

Center for Coastal Resiliency - Kimley-Horn is creating architectural drawings for the facility through their work on the Innovation District Master Plan that we helped initiate and fund. We are currently working on funding from the Florida Ports Council, the Federal Economic Development Administration, and the Pinellas County's Employment sites program. We are also working on creating educational materials to inform stakeholders of the importance of the facility, and drafting referendum language for the 2026 ballot. Special thanks to our friend and partner Alison Barlow, with the St. Pete Innovation District, for her herculean efforts to advance this project.

USF College of Marine Science Facility - Sponsor and Supporter level members received a presentation from President Law about the facility. We are currently strategizing how we can support USF's funding request for this facility at legislature and how we can continue to support Marine Science.

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Programming

Senior Vice President of Echelon and Downtown Partnership Board Member, Cody LeClair, hosted our members at the Echelon City Center to tour their most recent development, Park And Main, a multifamily residential building with ground floor retail. Our members were able to learn about the developments there and how they complement Downtown St. Petersburg.

Thank you to all who attended our first annual City Builders Award to honor Darryl LeClair, CEO, President & Chairman of Echelon, for decades of work laying the foundation for St. Pete’s renaissance as well as the 2025 Downtown Development Summit to release the latest Downtown Development Guide. Both events were very successful and played a role in honoring smart development choices of our past to encourage intentional decision making for smart growth for our future.

We would also like to thank everyone who joined us for the screening of Razed for St. Pete's business community that we hosted in partnership with the St. Pete Chamber and St. Pete EDC. It was followed by a panel discussion with the film makers, historians, a previous Gas Plant resident, and community leaders. A very special thanks to our event sponsor, LMCU, for making it possible.

We were pleased to hold Leadership Circle events for our Sponsor and Supporter level members with Rep. Berny Jacques as well as a recent legislative update with our friends at Corcoran Partners.

As a continuation of our Urban Exploration series, many of our Supporter & Sponsor level members joined us in New York City in April to learn more about projects including the High Line, Stone Street, and Bryant Park.

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Moving Forward

We look forward to all the progress we will make over the next 6 months towards our 2025 Work Plan. This includes hosting a membership event with the new CEO of Raymond James, Paul Shoukry, to discuss the global financial future as well as St. Pete's role as a center for financial services. We look forward to telling you more about these initiatives and others in our next Work Plan update in September.