Thrive
Catalyze 2026: Mayor Ken Welch
We’re asking thought leaders, business people and creatives to talk about the upcoming new year and give us catalyzing ideas for making St. Pete a better place to live. What should our city look like? What are their hopes, their plans, their problem-solving ideas? This is Catalyze 2026.
The former Coquina Key Plaza became a debris management site following Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Less than a year later, it housed Christmas floats.
Mayor Ken Welch said the staging area for a recent holiday parade showcased St. Petersburg’s resiliency and progress following a devastating 2024 storm season. He believes 2025 showed how “we’ve faced some tough challenges, but we’ve come through, and we’re getting better every day.”
A local development firm will soon transform the beleaguered plaza into a “beautiful” mixed-use development with affordable housing, and Welch eagerly anticipates several other long-awaited projects coming to fruition in 2026. Perhaps none are more monumental than the Historic Gas Plant District’s redevelopment.
“I’m excited, quite frankly, about our position today – where we own the land, where we are in a stronger position,” Welch said of the area surrounding Tropicana Field. “The one proposal that we have so far actually increases the amount of affordable housing, increases the minority participation.
“So, it’s actually stronger than what we had with Hines and the (Tampa Bay) Rays.”
ARK Investment Management, Ellison Development and Horus Construction submitted a $6.8 billion redevelopment proposal in October. Welch’s administration is currently considering the bid and will formally open a 30-day window for additional offers Jan. 4.
He has made it his mission to help fulfill 40-year-old promises of economic revitalization to the Black community that once called the Gas Plant home. Welch remains undeterred by the Rays exiting an arduously negotiated deal in March – and undaunted by the magnitude of a decision he will make in early 2026.
“It’s a privilege to do that,” Welch said. “The focus hasn’t changed from those principles that we laid out … the jobs, the housing, the opportunities, the shared progress and honoring those promises. So, that is a promise we will fulfill.”
He pledged that residents will also see movement on several other important initiatives in the new year. Those include Pelican Place, which will provide 40 new affordable homeownership opportunities in an underserved area of South St. Petersburg.
Habitat for Humanity Tampa Bay Gulfside recently broke ground on the townhome community. Welch noted that the former city-owned site has “long been just an open parcel.”
The historic Manhattan Casino is receiving $4.8 million in upgrades and will soon reopen as an event space on the 22nd Street South (Deuces) corridor. Welch said residents on the city’s west side can also look forward to construction commencing on the Science Center, another facility with a rich history, in January.
“Those are areas of focus for us that we’re going to see significant progress on,” he added. “Certainly on resiliency.”
Welch noted the city is investing $33 million into the Shore Acres Flood Mitigation Project. That is one of many planned throughout St. Petersburg that will address increasing and evolving environmental threats.
Storm victims should also begin receiving checks from the $160 million Sunrise St. Pete program in the new year. Officials continue waiting for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to offer its final approval, and Welch said they are “very optimistic that’s going to happen.”
“And later in the year, we’re going to ask voters to invest in SPAR (St. Pete Agile Resiliency) funding,” he said. “To fund $600 million in stormwater and water projects to make us the resilient city that we need to be.”
Voters will decide in November whether the city issues general obligation bonds to support those initiatives. Many council members prefer that financing mechanism over continuously increasing utility rates.
“So, I’m excited on all those fronts,” Welch said. “There are many more that would take too long to name, but in each of our Pillars for Progress, we’ve got significant projects going forward.”
Behind-the-scenes work on tap for 2026 includes updating technological systems that affect “everything from billing to permitting.” Welch said a city task force will also explore how to best utilize artificial intelligence (AI) in local government.
He believes AI “can be a game-changer for us, in terms of how efficient we are and how we interact.” However, Welch also stressed the importance of first understanding the rapidly advancing technology.
The mayor wants constituents to know that fostering inclusive progress remains a priority. Welch understands that housing affordability, “a pillar for us since day one,” is a top concern for many residents.
He also realizes that many people focus on the luxury condominiums rising downtown and the increasingly expensive apartments popping up throughout the city. However, Welch noted that hundreds of subsidized units are on the way or have recently opened.
“It’s not a zero-sum game,” he said. “We do need that market-rate development, but that doesn’t mean that we’ve forgotten about the affordable side of the house. We need both.”
S. Rose Smith-Hayes
January 3, 2026at11:32 am
WOW, citizens in St Pete are WOKE and involved. I appreciate some of the above comments. I wanted Mayor Welch to succeed, but I am not sure that he will have reelection support. My concern is that we are building out and destroying trees. We are looking like New York and Chicago with all the high rises and apartments. Who will live in them with rents so high and wages so low? Can our sewer system support All those ‘toilets’? Traffic is a beast and walking or biking is dangerous.I knew that we would Not remain a sleepy town but the direction we are headed is not that good.
Darren Winslow
January 1, 2026at5:58 pm
I can’t disagree with the previous 4 comments! Definitely on point!!
Lauren Lopez
January 1, 2026at4:25 pm
Coquina Key Plaza is a wasteland and has been for close to THREE YEARS NOW. What happened to that promised “transformation” ? Code Enforcement is pretty much a joke….junk cars are in at least one driveway on almost every block in this city…except the beloved NE. There is ZERO traffic enforcement. Excessive speed through neighborhoods is a constant. As a Native Floridian I have never been prouder than seeing an “under Contract” sign in front of my house. I am ‘out of here”. I voted for the Mayor but would never make that mistake again. I agree with all three of the previous posters.
Jeff Barnes
December 31, 2025at10:28 am
I am literally surrounded by trash, crime and zero law enforcement and code enforcement. I spoke at a 9 person round table with the mayor Ken Welch and his police chief. They literally brushed off everyone’s concerns with crime and lack of code enforcement. They care more about photo ops and ribbon cuttings than doing what our city needs. Go ride an ebike downtown and he has cops pulling you over, go drive to work and cops in hidden cars will pull you over. But operate a drug house, never comply with municipal codes and literally nothing happens. Call law enforcement on the violations, nothing happens. The fact he thinks he even had a shot at a second term is laughable.
Alan DeLisle
December 31, 2025at8:53 am
Mayor Welch did three things well in his first term: 1. He canceled excellent projects like Moffitt. 2. He botched the handling of transformational projects like the Trop. 3. And he delayed important projects with incompetence like Tangerine Plaza and the St Pete marina. Instead of knowing how to implement public-private partnerships to maximize quality and reduce costs, he is now spending a fortune on the same projects fully funded by you, the taxpayer.
I know St Pete is too smart to go down this path again for another four years, especially when real leadership is emerging.
Steven Sullivan
January 2, 2026at1:10 pm
Alan a full disclosure from you would be appreciated. As a former high ranking official in the prior Kriseman administration you should know better. I believe you and the Kriseman administration touched or handled more than a few b of the b projects you are blaming Mayor Qelch for. Did you get those projects completed? NO! Especially the Gas Plant (Tropicana Field. Because the counterparts had no interest in developing the site as we all have seen. Your former boss even warned Mayor Welch about their dishonesty. And you never talk about the slow developing progress on the Southside which you had 6yrs to do something about
Mike Kosempa
December 31, 2025at8:17 am
Dear Ken,
Please resign.
You have done significant damage to our town. Your vision has zero overlap with a successful st Pete.
This job isn’t for you.
Thanks,
Steven Sullivan
January 2, 2026at12:55 pm
Nah, that’s not going to happen nor should it.