After a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays unraveled last year, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch is taking another swing at redeveloping the city’s Historic Gas Plant District, restarting the process in 2026 with a narrow window for competing proposals.
The city will formally open a 30-day period Sunday for private developers to submit proposals to redevelop all or part of the 86-acre Gas Plant District site. The submission window closes Feb. 3.
Welch delayed publication of the notice into January after City Council members and developers raised concerns last fall that an earlier 30-day timeline announced in October did not provide enough time for competitors to assemble bids. While the submission period itself remains 30 days, the delay effectively gave developers more than three months’ notice ahead of the deadline.
The current process follows the collapse of a $6.5 billion redevelopment deal with the Rays and development firm Hines, which included plans for a new baseball stadium to anchor the district. That agreement fell apart in early 2025 after storm damage to Tropicana Field and delays in bond approvals, reopening debate over the site’s future and returning development control to the city.
Welch has deep connections to the Gas Plant District, a once-thriving Black neighborhood that was razed decades ago to make way for Tropicana Field. Redevelopment of the site has been a central focus for his administration, and its redevelopment is a key opportunity to deliver housing, economic opportunity and cultural recognition to a community displaced for generations.
With a mayoral election on the horizon, how Welch rebounds from the failed Rays deal will likely shape both the future of the Gas Plant District and the political narrative surrounding his first term. Opponents like St. Pete Council member Brandi Gabbard, perennial candidate Maria Scruggs and potentially former U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist already lining up to challenge him.
The city has already received multiple unsolicited redevelopment concepts, including a $6.8 billion proposal from developer Casey Ellison, investor Cathie Wood and their partners calling for thousands of housing units, hotel rooms, public parks and cultural space, along with a $120 million city investment in infrastructure. The Pinellas County Housing Authority has also submitted a proposal to redevelop a city-owned parking lot within the district into affordable senior housing.
Welch has since said a stadium is no longer part of the city’s redevelopment strategy for the Gas Plant District. Instead, he has emphasized affordable senior housing, expansion of the Woodson African American Museum of Florida and mixed-use development aligned with the city’s guiding principles, while new Tampa Bay Rays ownership decides whether to stay in St. Pete or move on to new pastures in Tampa.
