Mayor will extend Trop site proposal timeline

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch will, somewhat reluctantly, provide developers with additional time to submit their vision for a reimagined Historic Gas Plant District, currently home to Tropicana Field.

Welch confirmed Tuesday morning that he will now open a 30-day window in January rather than in the coming days. Two high-profile development firms have requested additional time since the city announced Oct. 21 that it would formally welcome proposals in mid-November.

The Tampa Bay Rays, now under new ownership, exited an arduously negotiated redevelopment deal in March. However, public interest in the roughly 86-acre site increased exponentially once the city began advancing long-awaited plans to transform the Trop and its sea of surface parking lots into a vibrant, mixed-use and mixed-income community.

“The development community has known about this for eight months,” Welch told the Catalyst. “But given some of the council member comments, and given some of the development community’s comments … I’m going to extend our period.”

The submittal period’s length will not change. Officials noted in a prepared statement Monday that, per Florida Statute 163.80, which governs the sale of Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) property, proposals “must be made within 30 days after the date of publication of the notice.”

Welch will instead wait until January to publish the notice, “because I don’t want to get into the December holidays.” Developers will then have over 90 days from the Oct. 21 announcement to create proposals, which he believes “should address any concerns that folks have.”

Councilmember Richie Floyd recently added a resolution to Thursday’s city council agenda that, if approved, would express opposition to the 30-day public notice process. He wants the administration to formally issue a request for proposals (RFP) and allow at least 90 days for submissions.

The resolution’s first aspect will likely garner near-unanimous support, as many council members have expressed a desire for more time. However, Chair Copley Gerdes has previously noted that the land “has been sitting and continues to sit.”

Welch similarly said Tuesday that “the development community, those who are interested, have had months to prepare, not just 90 days.”

“I’m not going to go the RFP route, though, because the 23 principles we laid out in 2022 are established,” Welch continued. “They’re confirmed by the community. It’s jobs, housing, economic opportunity – that hasn’t changed.”

The mayor will outline his evolving plan to the city council in an upcoming memo. Councilmember Gina Driscoll agreed with both decisions Tuesday.

She noted that “anyone could look at” the previous RFP and discern the city’s priorities. “It really hasn’t changed, so I don’t think we need to start from scratch,” Driscoll said.

“It makes sense to extend this because that gives us more of an opportunity to get the very best teams proposing and, hopefully, working on this,” she added. “What we need is a team that is aligned with the values that were expressed through that RFP, and then let’s build something from there.”

Welch’s reticence to delay the process should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with his time in office. He campaigned on helping fulfill long-deferred promises of economic revitalization to members of the Black community that once called the Gas Plant home.

During an interview in May, Welch expressed his excitement to regain the site’s development rights and begin advancing previously established plans. “That process would be near-term,” he said at the time.

“Staff understands the priority there – how we want to move forward.”

The city received an unsolicited proposal from Blake Investment Partners in March, days after former Rays owner Stuart Sternberg walked away from a new stadium deal. However, the redevelopment saga entered a new phase following an Oct. 3 submission from ARK Investment Management, Ellison Development and Horus Construction Services.

Welch’s administration referenced that $6.8 billion plan when announcing its intention to welcome “alternative or competing proposals.” Gerdes previously said the proposal “checked a lot of boxes.’

Development firm Kolter requested a 90-day submission window Oct. 22, a day after the city’s announcement. The mayoral administration did not budge.

John Catsimatidis Sr., founder of the Red Apple Group, the New York-based development firm behind St. Petersburg’s tallest tower, asked officials Nov. 7 to extend the submission period. While he said the city’s “sense of urgency is understandable and commendable,” he believes 30 days is “simply not enough time for most serious master planners or developers to make a competitive pitch.”

Welch said he and Catsimatidis discussed the process Monday.