St. Petersburg officials have outlined a detailed, monthslong roadmap for selecting a developer for the Historic Gas Plant District, and Mayor Ken Welch expects a final choice by June.
City reviewers have already scored the projects and made their short-list recommendations, coalescing around three primary contenders: ARK-Ellison-Horus, The Burg Bid led by Blake Investment Partners, and Foundation Vision Partners.
In an email, city officials said those evaluations will be forwarded to Welch for consideration. They laid out a step-by-step timeline that will guide the project through public input, advisory review and negotiations over the coming months.
The timeline announcement comes as the city works through multiple redevelopment proposals for the 86-acre Gas Plant District site surrounding Tropicana Field, with competing visions ranging from large-scale mixed-use districts to housing-focused concepts. Officials emphasized that the current evaluations represent an initial review and not a finalized short list, with the next several months designed to gather public input before a final selection is made.
City staff will launch the first phase of an Urban Land Institute study in April, an effort aimed at synthesizing prior research, community feedback and technical analysis. Officials will also host a public meeting with short-listed developers at the Coliseum, where residents can meet with developers and ask questions about their projects. The city will then initiate a 30-day input session to gather feedback from residents.
City administrators and department directors will complete a formal “strengths and weaknesses” analysis of the proposals in May. At the same time, the city will create a project committee under the Community Benefits Advisory Council, which advises the Mayor and City Council on how redevelopment plans align with community benefit goals. Committee members are expected to be selected at a May City Council Committee of the Whole meeting.
Welch aims to select a final proposal in June following comprehensive review and multiple public input sessions. Following selection of a project, the proposal will be vetted by the advisory council and the City Council. Welch would then negotiate terms in July before presenting a contract to the City Council for approval.
City officials said additional steps beyond July will be announced later this year. If the timeline comes to fruition, selection of a developer for the Gas Plant District could be a major political boon for Welch.
Inking the project’s destiny into place in July would come just ahead of the August mayoral election, where Welch’s seat is threatened by a competitive field of candidates that have heavily criticized his handling of the Gas Plant District’s redevelopment project.
