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Tropicana Field site developer named
Briona Arradondo reports
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - On Wednesday, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman announced that Midtown Development out of Miami will redevelop Tropicana Field’s 86-acre property into a massive space for retail, offices, housing, and green space that may or may not contain a stadium.
"I think there’s a real opportunity here in that we now have a developer selected for us to be able to bring the Rays in and really talk some serious numbers with the team," said Kriseman.
A Rays baseball team spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The project includes plans for housing, and Kriseman said he expects to see mixed levels of affordability.
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"You’re talking about a variety of different levels from those who are low, low income to low income to workforce to family housing. I think you’re going to see all of that on this site," said Kriseman.
The city is working with the Pinellas County Urban League to make sure the project reconnects South St. Pete with the Trop. The original site pushed out communities of color decades ago, including locals like the Urban League president Reverend Watson Haynes.
"What we’re doing is making an effort to assure the community that some things they had no hand in doing that now they will have a hand in doing," said Haynes. "We want this thing to happen, we want it to happen here and we don’t want it to be some blind promise."
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Mayor-elect Ken Welch will take over in about a month. As for his thoughts on the announcement, he said in a statement to FOX13: "Mayor Kriseman has worked hard to develop thoughtful and promising plans for the future of the Tropicana Field site. As mayor, I plan to put the same amount of effort in evaluating those plans as well as new ideas and moving forward with a version that capitalizes on St. Petersburg's incredible momentum and reconnects our community.''
"He has said to me ‘You are the mayor. I’m not the mayor yet. And as the mayor, it is within your authority and per view to make a selection, and I will honor that,’" said Kriseman about his decision to select a developer for a long-term project despite having a month left in office. "We cannot delay this project from moving forward any longer. This community has been asked to wait for a long time for those promises that were made and not kept, and I’m not about to make them wait any longer."
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The mayor said Welch will vet everything himself, and then work on a multi-phase plan that will span several years. Midtown developers said they are ready to work with St. Pete’s new leader.
"I think that the ultimate success of this project will be defined when you don’t know when this project starts or when it stops. It will be a neighborhood. So you’ll be in the Edge district or in South St. Pete. You don’t know where it starts or where it ends," said Alex Vadia, a principal with Midtown Development.
As for the next steps, the incoming mayor will discuss and come up with a development agreement and terms then bring the plan to the council for approval. Once approved by the city council, construction work can start on building the area, and community leaders said it’s a long-term financial investment that will span several years before it's finished.
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