In response to an unsolicited offer made earlier this month by a group headed by Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood, the City of St. Petersburg is set to open a 30-day solicitation period for proposals to redevelop the Historic Gas Plant District, including Tropicana Field.
Five members of the St. Petersburg City Council have told Poliverse that they fear the process is moving too fast. These five constitute a majority of the City Council with ultimate power to approve any sale or development rights.
Poliverse reached out to St. Petersburg leaders in response to a letter sent by a major developer to Mayor Ken Welch and Council and subsequent reporting on the topic. “A proposal for a project of this significance warrants more than 30 days to evaluate and prepare,” Troy Simpson of the Kolter Group wrote. “As a consideration for St. Pete to attract a development team prepared to deliver a world-class project, we ask that (the) invitation window be extended.”
“I don’t want to get it wrong by rushing the process,” agreed Councilmember Corey Givens Jr. “We risk putting ourselves back where we were before – getting something the community does not want.
“You dilute the pool of high quality responses when you’re so quick to get responses.”
Givens expressed hope the City would opt for a longer solicitation period of at least 60 days.
Councilmember Gina Driscoll proposed 90 days “to attract the best proposals from the best people.”
According to state statute, once formal notice is given of an unsolicited proposal to purchase land covered by a Community Redevelopment Area, or CRA, the City must provide exactly 30 days for competing bids. However, the law does not specify when that notice is given and the City did not specify a formal notice date, merely that it would be “mid-November.” There is no legal obstacle to the City making formal notice following the holiday period rather than during it.
Councilmember Brandi Gabbard, who is challenging Welch for re-election, is seeking to commission the non-profit Urban Land Institute for a study on the best uses of the downtown space. That study would give the city a separate perspective on the Gas Plant District not driven by a predetermined use. “I’m committed to us doing this study, doing it independently, and not allowing a developer to guide it,” she explained.
Gabbard added that she was not certain “whether a master planned development is the right way to go. We’ve tried that route, and it didn’t really work out.”
While emphasizing that he did not intend to judge proposals by the process in which they were solicited, Councilmember Richie Floyd noted, “I’m very much concerned that it’s an unsolicited bid process. It doesn’t give the same weight of importance that it requires.”
Floyd noted that he shared his concerns about the brevity of the process with Welch and City leadership prior to the announcement of the 30-day window.
“I just don’t know that the best job has been done to create an environment where people feel comfortable doing business” with the City, said Floyd.
Councilmember Mike Harting had a meeting Monday with City staff to get more clarity on the notice period and the City’s intentions. “I appreciate the leadership and creativity from Administration and Ark Investment who want to move forward, but we need to be a bit more deliberate about this.
“[The 30 day notice period] would be fine if this were a statue or a small building, but this is 86 acres,” he added. “This is over a holiday, to add insult to injury.”
All of the Councilmembers interviewed spoke highly of the proposal by Ark, Ellison, and Horus. Gabbard highlighted that they had taken feedback and made amendments to address some of her concerns after an initial meeting. However, none of the Councilmembers expressed a firm position on the proposal.
Said Driscoll: “The ARK proposal is compelling but we are at the first step of a long process.”
Leaders’ hesitation may be due in part to the silence from a key stakeholder on the issue: The Tampa Bay Rays, now owned by a group headed by Jacksonville real estate mogul Patrick Zalupski. Upon the release of their proposal, Ark indicated that they left room for Rays baseball should the team come to a renewed agreement with St. Petersburg, but would not depend on it.
Welch has indicated that he would be open to the new group renewing the previous deal negotiated with former Rays owner Stu Sternberg. “Unlike developments that rely on a single anchor tenant, this plan builds an economy of many anchors,” Wood said at the time. However, both supporters and opponents of that deal have not reacted favorably to the prospect of re-opening it.
Neither the Rays nor the City replied to a request for comment.
For the time being, developers can expect the City to publish notice of the request for bids sometime in mid-November. At least two of the five Councilmembers interviewed for this story would need to support any proposal advanced by Welch’s administration.
“I fundamentally believe the City is in the position not to be desperate,” said Gabbard. “We need to be very deliberate. The community is asking us to take a bit of a breath.”