St. Petersburg Gas Plant RFP draws nine proposals

The city of St. Petersburg has received nine proposals after calling for plans for the redevelopment of the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District.

The city opened up its 30-day RFP process for the project in January after a local group late last year submitted an unsolicited $6.8 billion proposal to remake the historic neighborhood that now houses Tropicana Field.

The group is led by Casey Ellison, founder and CEO of Ellison Cos., Cathie Wood CEO and chief investment officer of ARK Invest and Jonathan Graham, president of Horus Construction. It remains in contention.

The Gas Plant District is a historically Black neighborhood leveled to make way for the construction of Tropicana Field and the construction of Interstate 175.

At the time, residents of the district were promised economic opportunities would come from the projects, but locals agree those opportunities never fully materialized.

The city has no solid timeline for when it will make and announce a decision, a city spokesperson said Tuesday.

Speaking at his reelection announcement Monday, St. Petersburg Mayor Kenneth Welch said, “The team will evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the proposals. We’ll have a public forum where the developers will present to our community. We’ll have the community benefits process as well, and then I will select one of those developers.”

When asked if the process could take a few months, he said, "Oh definitely.”

This isn’t the first time the city has found a developer to redevelop the district, though it has higher hopes this go around. In September 2023, the Tampa Bay Rays and a development partner were picked — promising to build a $6 billion multiuse project that included a new stadium.

But the team’s previous owners backed out of the agreement last year and the new owners plan to build a stadium in Tampa on the site of Hillsborough College. Its lease on Tropicana Field expires at the end of the 2028 season.