ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The City of St. Petersburg hosted an open house featuring the developers competing to redevelop the Historic Gas Plant District in downtown St. Petersburg.
The open house was hosted at The Coliseum.
City leaders are back at the beginning after the Tampa Bay Rays stadium deal with Hines did not work out.
"Unfortunately, the previous Rays ownership backed out of that agreement, but our future is bright coming out of that process. We now have the development rights back in the hands of the city. We haven’t had that since 1995 and we have four very strong proposals," said Mayor Ken Welch.
WATCH: City of St. Pete hosts open house featuring proposals to redevelop the Historic Gas Plant District
The developers include Foundation Vision Partners, Pinellas County Housing Authority, The Burg Bid, LLC (Blake Investment Partners) and ARK Ellison Horus, LLC.
"This project will allow us to bring the world in to see it and I think it's been shown over and over again when get people to St. Petersburg, they don't want to leave and so we feel strongly that we'll have major corporate relocations. We'll have a technology hub like nobody's seen in the southeastern United States, all right here in downtown St. Petersburg," said Casey Ellison, CEO of Ellison Development.
Karen Martin said she would like to see plans include affordable housing and efforts to preserve history. She also suggested the idea of a professional basketball team.
"I remember it well when I was a kid. I myself didn’t live in the Gas Plant, but I have friends and relatives that I grew up around and grew up with that did so I would love to see something to honor that because I mean no matter what they put you could never undo the damage that was done so making the most of what they do with that space is a concern to me," said Karen Martin, a St. Petersburg resident.
"I'm just anxious to see what they’re going to do. This looks like a real opportunity to grow and maybe do some better things for the city," said Paula Zitzelberger, a St. Petersburg resident.
The city is requesting feedback from residents for the next 30 days.
Mayor Welch plans to pick a final proposal by June.
For more information, click here.
TPD chief's memo: Assistant police chief fired over missed meetings, resistance to new firearms
Ruth Cate's claims of discrimination and retribution were determined to be "unfounded" in the city's month-long HR investigation.
