Affordable Housing Activists Wary Of Historic Gas Plant Redevelopment

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A week after Mayor Ken Welch tapped the Tampa Bay Rays and their partner, Houston-based developer Hines, to redevelop the Historic Gas Plant District, activists wary of the project have started rallying the community to share their thoughts about what they’d like to see in the area.

Local organizations are concerned there isn’t enough affordable and workforce housing proposed as part of the plan.

“It’s incredibly important that it's put forward in a way that benefits the people of St. Petersburg rather than giant corporations like the Rays baseball team,” Jack Wallace with the St. Pete Tenants Union told Patch.

He said that at a time when rents are rising in St. Petersburg and throughout the region, public housing, owned by the city, would be a better use for the land.

Related Stories:

• Tampa Bay Rays, Hines Chosen To Redevelop Tropicana Field: Mayor Welch
• Rays Could Still Move To Tampa After St. Pete Redevelopment Bid
• Developers Vying For Historic Gas Plant District Project Share Plans

“There’s a thousand different things that you could do with this public land,” Wallace said. “What we think is one of the best uses is it being public housing.”

The Rays and Hines development team was one of four vying for the job of reimagining 86 acres in the historic downtown district, which includes Tropicana Field. Others being considered were 50 Plus 1 Sports, Restoration Associates and Sugar Hill Community Partners.

Read the full proposal from Hines & Tampa Bay Rays here.

The Rays and Hines redevelopment plan centers around a proposed ballpark, which the team said would be completed by 2028, have a fixed-roof and be available for entertainment and community events.

The redevelopment plan also calls for the development of the 16th Street corridor with a grocery store, business incubators, and nonprofit spaces all connecting to South St. Petersburg and the Pinellas Trail; space for the Woodson African American Museum; and the Booker Creek Greenway, a north-south connector. Developers will also spend $500 million to target minority-, small- and women-owned businesses.

Under this plan, 5,728 residential units will be built in the area. Of these, 1,459, including 600 off-site units, will be affordable and workforce. That represents about 23 percent of the total housing units included in this plan.

During his request for proposals for the district, which he issued over the summer, Welch called for developers to focus on affordable and workforce housing.

Even before the mayor announced at the Jan. 30 State of the City address that Hines and the Rays were his selection to redevelop the property, the St. Petersburg Tenants Union was critical of their plan — and all plans proposed for the land.

But the plan put forward by the Hines and Rays “appears to be the biggest ripoff for the public, relying on a measly $97 million land valuation for the entire 86-acre site — a rate of $1.1 million per acre,” the organization wrote in a blog. “By comparison, the property directly across the street from Lot 6 of the Trop, which was home to the now-closed Dr. BBQ, was sold for $4.5 million back in August — a rate of over $15 million per acre.”

Not only that, but the team’s plan offered the least amount of on-site affordable housing — “a measly 731 units,” the union said.

Rays’ President Brian Auld acknowledged the need for affordable housing in the city.

“St. Pete continues to grow and with that, there’s been a real elevation in rents and the costs of homes, because wages are not rising at the same rate,” he told Patch. “It’s a citywide issue, a statewide issue and a nationwide issue. We think cities are at their best when living among all income levels, all races and all different people.”

The Gas Plant District property is “a drop in the bucket” for solving this issue locally, Auld added.

And with families likely wanting to live closer to schools, the Tropicana Field site “would not be ideal,” Auld said, adding, “That doesn’t mean that we can’t spread some of the economics.”

When putting together their plan, the Rays and Hines focused on “restorative housing,” the MLB team’s president said. “We want people to have equity in their homes and to be able to use their affordable housing to generate longtime wealth, which is difficult to do if all you’re doing is a subsidized rent payment.”

That’s why it made sense to focus some of the affordable and workforce housing offsite in neighborhoods outside downtown St. Pete, he added.

Patch reached out to Mayor Welch for comments on this issue. This story will be updated when he responds.

He told 10 Tampa Bay that as negotiations with the Rays and Hines move forward, their proposal serves as a starting point.

The mayor said that their proposal “can’t answer all the priorities and needs of the entire city but it can make a substantial impact. 1,459 units of affordable housing is substantial. That is what’s on the table now and for me that is the starting point.”

Welch told Bay News 9 that this is “not enough” affordable housing for the land, “but you have to be realistic.”

He said, “Affordable housing requires a subsidy. So, you can have a huge number – 4,000 units – but do you have the dollars to afford that subsidy … So, we have to look at what’s realistic and practical.

Calling the proposal from Rays and Hines “practical,” the mayor supported moving some of the affordable offsite.

“We get more bang for our buck in terms of land the further we move away from downtown, because land is cheap. So, we’ll be flexible and innovative about how we fund that affordable and workforce housing onsite and throughout the city,” Welch said. “1,459 units is a starting point. It’s a good starting point. That’s a good base of affordable housing and there are more dollars in the community benefits package (from Rays and Hines) that could also bolster affordable housing.”

The developers promised $50 million to support minority-owned businesses, the relocation of the Woodson Museum and other community projects.

Nick Carey, the Pinellas organizer with Faith in Florida, told Patch that rents have skyrocketed in St. Petersburg since the eviction moratorium put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was lifted in October 2020. He said that he’s even heard of some people, in certain cases, seeing an increase of $1,000 monthly in rent.

As the Gas Plant District redevelopment negotiations move forward, “the most important thing is making sure that the community’s needs are met, not that the Rays’ needs are met,” he said.

Anyone who takes over that land from the city will likely have a “sunset clause” in place, meaning after a certain amount of time affordable and workforce housing will switch back to market rate, Carey added.

While he and Wallace hope the mayor will be a strong negotiator on behalf of the city, their organizations and others are starting to meet with St. Pete residents.

The St. Petersburg Tenants Union will host regular community meetings. The next one takes place Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 100 Mirror Lake Drive.

Meanwhile, Faith in Florida is knocking on doors of southside residents to talk with them about the development and also reaching out to local faith-based leaders.

“We’re using this as an opportunity to put the community at the center of this and not the developer,” Carey said.