Four developers apply by deadline to redevelop St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field

ST. PETERSBURG — The city’s second request for proposals to redevelop Tropicana Field, a billion-dollar project that is considered to be the city’s most significant redevelopment effort in a generation, has netted four applicants.

Two are familiar to the city.

One is Sugar Hill Community Partners, a finalist under the first request for proposals issued under former Mayor Rick Kriseman, which has submitted a proposal it says will show a commitment to including affordable housing. The second is the Tampa Bay Rays in partnership with Hines, a global real estate investor and developer firm.

The city announced Friday that 50 Plus 1 Sports and Restoration Associates also submitted proposals, but provided no background information about either.

The city also announced Friday that a community presentation is scheduled for Jan. 4 at the Coliseum, where the public is invited to hear each proposer provide an overview of their respective plans. Welch is slated to choose a developer by the end of January.

The teams submitted proposals by Friday’s 10 a.m. deadline, but the city only released their names. A city spokesperson said officials needed time to review the proposals for potential exemptions from public disclosure under state law, such as confidential financial information. The proposals are expected to be released to the public next week.

“We will review the proposers’ plans with a keen eye on their interpretation of affordable and workforce housing; office and meeting space; arts and culture; research, innovation, and education; recreation; open space, healthy and sustainable development; and intentional equity,” Mayor Ken Welch said in a statement.”

The project seeks to breathe new life into the 86 acres of prime downtown real estate. It is considered to be a sweeping opportunity to further transform downtown St. Petersburg, which has been blossomed over the last decade. The Rays’ current lease on the property expires in 2027.

Sugar Hill, a team led by JMA Ventures from San Francisco, announced this week that their project will designate 50% of all residential units to affordable housing. They also announced that their team is joined by Blue Sky Communities, an affordable housing developer led by Scott Macdonald, who chairs the city’s affordable housing advisory committee, and the St. Petersburg Housing Authority.

According to its website, Hines, a privately-owned global real estate firm, developed and sold Azure, a luxury multifamily residential complex in St. Petersburg’s Carillon Park, a mixed-use master-planned community. The firm is currently developing a mixed-use, master-planned community called Asturia off State Road 54 in Pasco County.

In August, Welch canceled the original request for proposals issued by Kriseman in the summer of 2020. He said the new request for proposals should factor in current costs due to the economic fallout of the pandemic and the city’s affordable housing crisis. His new request for proposals rebranded the project as the Historic Gas Plant District, a homage to the Black community that was paved over to build Tropicana Field. Welch’s family is from that neighborhood.

Kriseman had narrowed down the developers to two finalists, Sugar Hill and Miami’s Midtown Development. Kriseman chose Midtown as a developer days before he left office. When Welch canceled that bid, Midtown thanked the city and wished Welch the best of luck.

St. Petersburg investment firm Third Lake Partners, which teamed up to a submit a proposal under Kriseman’s request for proposals, was among the top four finalists before the field was shrunk to two finalists. They did not apply for the new request for proposals.

“We’re excited about the prospects for development on Tropicana Field. We think it represents one of the best redevelopment opportunities in a major city on the East Coast of ths U.S.,” said founder and managing partner, Ken Jones. “And to the extent that there’s a role for us to play at some point in the future, we would be happy to explore those possibilities but for now we’ve chosen not to resubmit a response to the RFP process.”

The new request for proposals was issued in September. It called for a 17.3-acre carve out for a new baseball stadium and lots of affordable and workforce housing, plus an emphasis on opportunities for minority-owned contractors. It also asked proposers to include plans for a hotel with conference space, incorporating Booker Creek and the Pinellas Trail and connections to surrounding neighborhoods.

The city held a meeting in September for interested proposers to learn more about the request for proposals. Sign in sheets show about 65 developers, engineers and architects signed up in person and online. Many of the city’s responses to developers were open-ended, leaving them to come up with the proposals that best follow 23 guidelines shaped by community feedback and set forth by Welch.

The deadline to submit redevelopment proposals was moved back two weeks, from Nov. 18 to Dec. 2. The city quietly moved back the deadline in October at the request of the Rays, who asked for more time following Hurricane Ian. Sugar Hill said they were “disappointed” by the delay.

That shifted the timeline for the redevelopment. According to the city’s website, Welch will select a recommended developer in January. A term sheet will be completed with that developer in May, and the development agreement would be presented to the City Council for approval in September or October 2023.

Unlike typical requests for proposals, there is no explicit selection criteria, nor are there any weighted criteria. Instead of a selection committee making a recommendation, Welch will select the developer.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.