Billionaire St. Pete developer explains why he balked at Gas Plant bid

St. Petersburg has an opportunity that many U.S. cities can only dream of — the chance to fully redevelop a huge area downtown into a wholly new community. What will become of the Tropicana Field site, and how will it be created? The City is presently entertaining a tall stack of proposals from developers of all kinds. 

So far, our company, Red Apple Group, has not yet submitted a bid. Simply put, we did not like the idea of a potential partnership with the other groups involved, with whom we have limited familiarity and who have different objectives. A project of this magnitude demands quality partnerships that are built to last and not forged out of expediency for the moment. 

The Red Apple Group has always stood for honesty and integrity, and we feel a partnership where we had only limited control would interfere with our ability to honor the history of the site while creating an iconic mixed-use neighborhood. We will, however, continue to follow the process closely as you never know what can happen.

Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

As I've always said, we built the Residences at 400 Central, designed by world-class architect, Arquitectonica, to be a “Wow” building that people all over the west coast of Florida and even the world would immediately recognize. That building is now the tallest residential building on the west coast of Florida, and we are welcoming the first residents to their new homes.

Red Apple always wants to build something that we can all be proud of even if achieving that goal costs a few million dollars more.

At this time, we are moving forward developing something special nearby at Mirror Lake, and we'll be proceeding ASAP on that project. We will also continue to look at additional opportunities throughout St. Petersburg and Florida.

It's an absolute must that the future of the Tropicana Field site is iconic and dynamic — a destination where visitors from around the country will come just to see what has been created. To complement other attractions in St. Pete, it should feature a great landmark, akin to the arch in St. Louis.

We need to continue to put St. Pete on the map! We remain committed to doing that while making my family and my wife's family — who have called St. Pete home for decades — proud of our work. 

And we want the forefathers of St. Petersburg, looking down from above, to also be proud of what we are creating. We love the Sunshine City and we'll always do our part.

(John Catsimatidis’s Red Apple Group developed the Residences at 400 Central — the tallest tower in downtown St. Petersburg. Based in New York and Florida,  Catsimatidis owns the supermarket chain Gristedes in New York and is worth $4.8 billion, according to Forbes. This letter is in response to the City of St. Petersburg’s Request for Proposals process to redevelop the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District that now houses Tropicana Field. The deadline for proposals was Feb. 3.)