Historic Gas Plant District

Two potential redevelopment teams have expanded their rosters. An idea also includes affordable housing within the reimagined Gas Plant District.

While a new redevelopment proposal for St. Petersburg's Historic Gas Plant District also includes the museum, its current home is in desperate need of upgrades.

They have until Feb. 3 to pitch their plans to redevelop the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District.

“We will build thousands more units than any other bidder.”

Mayor Ken Welch said any agreement must “make sense for the city” and cannot impede long-awaited plans to redevelop roughly 60 acres of prime real estate surrounding the stadium.

Anyone who's interested in redeveloping the Tropicana Field site now has a couple of extra months to get a plan together. That's because the deadline has been moved back to February.

“Anybody who was interested in it will have that 60-day time period to do something, and this has been talked about for a long time.”

Said St. Petersburg City Council chair Copley Gerdes: “We’ve got a responsibility to move both intentionally and quickly.”

Council member Brandi Gabbard believes the Urban Land Institute (ULI) can provide that “guiding document” for city officials.

"The Rays and St. Pete can negotiate that land, and they’ll stay out of it."

The Rays’ new ownership group, if it chooses to stay in St. Petersburg beyond 2028, will have significant space to build a new stadium.

The city and county will conduct a feasibility study that will help determine if there's a market demand for convention space, as well as the impact it would have on the economy and tourism.