Partnership Recommendations for Historic Gas Plant District Redevelopment

The St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership appreciates this opportunity to offer formal input into your decision about the future development of the Historic Gas Plant District. We recognize the remarkable and distinctive characteristic of the site to transform our urban center and expand prosperity to the entire community through an emphasis on equitable development.

As an urban development organization, deeply committed to our City’s long-term success, we offer these recommendations as you decide on a development partner. And we are committed to working with your team and the selected developer to support smart growth, transit strategies, urban management efforts, and community outreach as the project moves forward.

The unique history of a thriving African American neighborhood – demolished to make way for an industrial park that never materialized – has been well documented. While it will be impossible to completely restore the social and economic fabric that tied this close-knit community together, every effort should be made to support St. Petersburg’s Black community through consequential and long-term strategies from funds and momentum generated by redevelopment efforts.

The City should prioritize a development partner who has a clear understanding of this unique history and who is committed to working with the City and the Black community in a long-term partnership to honor the history of the site and create generational wealth for marginalized communities.

We also applaud your decision to prioritize baseball in the City’s most recent request for proposals and we underscore our long commitment to keeping the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg. The Rays are an integral part of our community fabric and one of the few regional anchor institutions on this side of the Bay. Your requirement to make a major league ballpark an essential feature of the future development was the right call, and we believe that retaining the team is not only critical to Downtown’s continued economic success, but also to shaping the identity of our city and to our regional economy. Thank you for making retaining the Rays a top priority in your RFP and decision-making process.

We also recognize the importance of the project to offer additional workforce and affordable housing options. We support a balanced, mixed-income approach to the development of housing, recognizing that the strongest, most resilient communities offer housing options for people across the economic spectrum. The proposals you received were all ambitious. In discussions with audience members following the community presentation at the Coliseum, there were vocal supporters of different aspects of all the presentations. Ultimately, we think the most critical decision point must be the likelihood that the team can deliver on the commitments that have been made. This will require financial acumen, a proven history of executing a multibillion-dollar development and a sophisticated approach to housing that maximizes the potential for success.

Our position has always been that the most important aspect of choosing a development partner has less to do with bold promises. It is more about the potential partner’s experience that is relevant to this specific project at this time in our history. Much like a marriage, the City will enter a long-term legal relationship with a partner that will involve navigating unforeseen obstacles, a changing economic climate and evolving needs. It is important to select a partner who has the capacity to bring the project to fruition and who will reinforce the City’s core principles and values.

Because of this site’s size, history, special characteristics and prominence, there is a temptation from some members of our community to assume the 86 acres can be used to address every challenge our city currently faces. No development can solve every societal problem. Managing expectations about what can realistically be delivered is one of the most challenging and important aspects of this project. The proposal must be achievable. The team must be experienced, adaptable and astute. And the process must be respectful of the history of the site and its former residents.

One of your great leadership strengths is your commitment to making data-driven decisions. As you undertake a thorough review of the four proposals, we urge you to select the team who will have the greatest likelihood of success. It will be especially important for the City to undertake a rigorous financial analysis of the developer’s capacity to execute their proposal, ensuring that the plans can be delivered. Indeed, the worst possible outcome would be selecting a team who lacks the capacity to deliver on commitments they make and seeing a painful history repeated through unfulfilled promises.

As you work through the development agreement with a selected development partner, we urge the City to retain an owner’s representative and other highly skilled technical development consultants who can help ensure the City’s interests are advanced and that the project moves forward with achievable goals and in a reasonable time frame.

Mayor, we are grateful for your efforts to find a development partner who has the capacity to deliver on their commitments, who understands the significant history of the site, who has the most achievable expectations about the site’s ability to address critical needs and who will ensure that baseball remains a part of our community. Thank you for your leadership and willingness to be intentionally inclusive as you take this critical next step in the redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District. We look forward to supporting your administration, City staff and the development team in this important project.

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