Administrators have selected a developer to create affordable homeownership opportunities at a city-owned site in west St. Petersburg. However, the much-anticipated project lacks the funding needed to break ground.
Mayor Ken Welch’s administration recently proposed increasing the Economic Stability Fund’s cap from $5 million to $10 million to finance the SPC Wellness Site Townhomes by Ramos Development. The additional money would subsidize the unique project, which sparked ardent debate among a city council committee.
Officials will use sales proceeds from the controversial Deuces Rising Townhomes development to replenish the emergency fund. The full city council will now vote on the proposal after Budget, Finance and Taxation Committee members, despite several concerns, unanimously approved advancing it at their Jan. 29 meeting.
“This one is shovel-ready, and we don’t have a way of doing it,” said Councilmember Copley Gerdes. “I don’t understand why we’re not sprinting to get this done.”
St. Petersburg College formerly owned the 5.23-acre property at 7045 Burlington Ave. N., which once housed the Gibbs Wellness Center. The city council purchased the site for $4.2 million in November 2023.
Three joint ventures submitted redevelopment proposals in June 2024. However, administrators restarted the process in April 2025 and received four bids.
Ramos Development, a subsidiary of Tampa-based Ramos Companies, will build 101 three- and four-bedroom for-sale townhomes. The project includes 15 six, seven and eight-story buildings in what Gerdes noted is the least-dense area of St. Petersburg.
Ramos will dedicate 33 townhomes to buyers earning up to 80% of the area median income. The developer will allocate the remaining 68 for households earning up 120%.
Assistant City Administrator Tom Greene believes the project is the first of its kind due to the size of its units, the affordability levels and the number of homeownership opportunities. “This isn’t individuals – these are families we’re putting into homes on the number one wealth-building tool there is,” Gerdes said.
“It’s frustrating to me, very candidly, that we aren’t running towards the finish line with zest.”
The city’s total subsidy is $9.98 million, including $4.8 million for the land and $5.18 million in cash. Ramos, which hopes to break ground in June and welcome residents in February 2028, needs city funding to secure other project financing.
Housing officials have exhausted most available funding, and the unique development does not qualify for other local, state and federal resources. The city can borrow up to $5 million from the Economic Stability Fund, which has approximately $1 million remaining in its coffers.
In January 2024, the city council approved borrowing $6 million from the fund to help offset the embattled Deuces Rising project’s $19.1 million price tag. At the time, Councilmember Lisset Hanewicz noted that the combined public subsidy for each of the development’s 24 affordable, for-sale townhomes was over $800,000.
The city council has pushed for a $5 million cap on stability fund loans since 2021. That was never codified, and administrators have advocated for a $10 million threshold, Green noted at the Jan. 29 meeting.
The city expects sales at Deuces Rising to generate at least $4 million in the spring, according to Amy Foster, Housing and Neighborhood Services Administrator. “It’s very possible that we wouldn’t even touch these (stability) funds, but we can’t bring you an agreement without having that,” she told the committee.
“Our last resort would ever be coming to you to make this ask.”
Greene said the city typically replenishes, and rarely depletes, the funding reserved for emergencies. Administrators instead borrowed money following an unprecedented 2024 hurricane season.
“If it truly is a fund of last resort, then don’t touch it all. Period,” said Councilmember Mike Harting. “And if it’s not, let’s put it to work today and do some good stuff.”
Councilmember Gina Driscoll expressed concern about doubling the allowable financing amount. She said continuously transferring money from the emergency fund means that “we don’t have it in hand for those extreme situations.”
Driscoll agreed that the SPC Wellness Site Townhomes could “be a game changer for a lot of families,” and would “love to find a way for this project to move forward.” She also believes one development will not solve the affordable housing crisis.
Councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders believes new and ongoing housing issues constitute an economic crisis. She noted that many families, which the project would serve, spent recent historically-cold nights in their cars.
“I don’t think anyone here, even with the concerns, has said that affordable housing is not important,” said Council Chair Lisset Hanewicz. “But I think it’s the framework issues that people are having a hard time with because it’s coming from the Economic Stability Fund.”
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