A collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center is now part of a proposal to reimagine the area around Tropicana Field. However, the renowned medical institution already has a home in St. Petersburg.
Scientific experts from Moffitt are moving into spARK Labs, despite uncertainty over who Mayor Ken Welch will select to oversee the Historic Gas Plant District’s rebirth. The ARK Ellison Horus development team announced the partnership, formed to advance artificial intelligence-powered solutions in oncology and life sciences, following Tuesday’s deadline to submit proposals.
Welch has received ongoing criticism for nixing a deal that would have brought a Moffitt campus to St. Petersburg, and subsequently said that conversations with the institution’s leadership “have never stopped.” Paul Wilson, chief financial officer for ARK Invest, said Wednesday that spARK Labs will house Speros by Moffitt at St. Pete in “30 to 45 days.”
“The validation that you get from a name like this and the type of talent that will be in this facility is incredible,” Wilson told the Catalyst. “This could have been in Pasco County, but they want it here.”
ARK Invest operates spARK Labs in St. Petersburg’s Innovation District. Moving into the facility will foster cross-collaboration between Moffitt Innovation & Entrepreneurship’s leadership, program affiliates and local digital health and oncology innovators.
Wilson expects Welch to select a redevelopment proposal by the time Speros by Moffitt is ready to open in St. Petersburg. He said the group is “moving in anticipation that the Gas Plant is being developed.”
“So, they will come in conjunction with that decision-making process, and they will move into the Gas Plant District upon the first phase being built,” Wilson elaborated.
ARK plans to host Speros by Moffitt at the current facility for 18 months, Wilson said. He is also unsure whether the group will remain in St. Petersburg if Welch selects another development team. “We certainly want them to stay, and we are going to make our best effort to ensure that occurs.”
Josh Carpenter, chief integration officer for Moffitt, said in a prepared statement that the collaboration will provide access to state-of-the-art space and resources at spARK Labs. Partnering with ARK Ellison Horus “extends the vision for Speros to Pinellas (County) in a district primed for innovation.”
“Colocation of this type allows ideas to move quickly from research to real-world applications, accelerates the development of AI-driven solutions in oncology and elevates the role of the multi-county Tampa Bay region as a global leader in breakthrough AI technologies,” Carpenter said.
“This will help accelerate the translation of Moffitt’s clinical and scientific expertise to more quickly bring new therapies to cancer patients around the world.”
While there are no plans for a treatment center, at least not yet, the announcement could also provide some validation for Welch. He campaigned on fulfilling long-deferred promises at the Gas Plant site, is now running for reelection and critics have persistently pointed to him scrapping a decidedly different deal that included Moffitt.
In 2022, Atlanta-based developer TPA Group offered $5 million to redevelop a 4.56-acre city-owned property in downtown St. Petersburg. The project included a 30-story residential tower, a 14-story hotel and a three-story, 75,000-square-foot cancer center.
TPA offered to build 35 affordable and 35 workforce housing units in exchange for a $19 million discount on the land, a nonstarter for Welch. The city has since sold smaller parcels and dedicated at least $14.2 million in proceeds to affordable housing.
In May 2025, Welch told the Catalyst that he and Moffitt’s leadership had discussed “other places that make sense in the city, including the Gas Plant.”
“I believe Moffitt will be here,” Welch said at the time. “They know the city, when they are ready, is ready to move forward.”
ARK Ellison Horus submitted its $6.8 billion vision for the Gas Plant District in October. The unsolicited proposal, which triggered a formal land disposition process, encompasses 95.5 acres and would create a “world-class epicenter of innovation, culture and community.”
In a letter sent Tuesday to Welch, ARK Ellison Horus stated that the agreement with Moffitt also “establishes a framework for formal discussions to explore an expansion of the relationship to additional facilities within the Gas Plant District.”
Wilson said Wednesday that including Speros by Moffitt in the project’s first phase would immediately help foster innovative ideas and jobs, and cement the district’s status as a hub for advanced AI applications: “This is going to become a reality.”
ARK will soon announce a similar, AI-focused initiative, Wilson said. He also believes that an ecosystem anchored by high-skilled technology employees will attract research funding and institutional investment.
“Speros by Moffitt represents the kind of applied innovation the Gas Plant was designed to support,” said Cathie Wood, founder and CEO of ARK. “This partnership brings artificial intelligence out of the abstract and into real-world deployment.”
