- July 2, 2026
-
-
Loading
Loading
Its nearly $60 million renovation is finally complete, but Tropicana Field’s days may be numbered now that St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch has officially selected a development plan for the 86-acre site that surrounds and includes it.
Welch held a press conference Thursday in Campbell Park, blocks away from the stadium, to announce he has selected a redevelopment plan called The Burg Bid, submitted by St. Petersburg native Thompson Whitney Blake and his firm Blake Investment Partners.
Blake’s proposal was one of 9 submitted to the city during a 30-day call that began late last year for alternative proposals after billionaire investor and St. Petersburg resident Cathie Wood, through an entity called Ark Ellison Horus, submitted an unsolicited plan to redevelop the area, known as the Historic Gas Plant District. Blake's plan offered the most money for the land — $275 million — and pledged more income-restricted housing units than others, Welch said.
“The quality of the competition made this a better process and will make the outcome even more impactful to our outstanding city,” Welch said. “Our community has waited for decades for promises to become plans, for plans to become progress and today the progress begins.”
The site, which has quickly become one of the most coveted public development opportunities in the Southeast, was once a thriving, predominantly Black neighborhood until residents were displaced in the 1980s to build Tropicana Field. For nearly 40 years, city officials have promised equitable economic development for the area that’s failed to materialize, Welch said Thursday.
Welch's decision comes after something of a tortured history for the site.
In 2020, then-St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman announced the Tropicana Field site would be redeveloped by Midtown Development. But Welch threw out that plan when he took office in 2022. Then, in 2023, Welch announced a new development plan with real estate investment company Hines and the Tampa Bay Rays that would keep the team in St. Petersburg. But in March 2025, the team's then-owner, Stu Sternberg, announced the cost of building a new stadium in Tropicana Field's footprint was too high for the team to meet its share. Now, the Rays' ownership group has committed to building a new ballpark for the team to open in time for the 2029 season in Tampa, leaving the Historic Gas Plant District once again open for new development.
In addition to adopting Blake’s The Burg Bid, the city has also accepted a plan from the Pinellas County Housing Authority to dedicate a half-acre parcel to affordable housing. Plans for that project include 94 affordable housing units for seniors living at 80% of the average median income. Those who were initially displaced from their homes in the Historic Gas Plant District will be given priority for housing, said PCHA Director Neil Brickfield.
“We’re not building apartments, we’re building 94 homes and we’re not doing it on an empty lot, we’re doing it on neighborhood land,” Brickfield said. “We’re restarting a neighborhood.”
Blake’s team includes some big names in development, planning and construction. The list includes:
The team has also established a panel with 25 civic organizations that will work alongside the developers over the next 20 or more years, Blake said during Thursday’s announcement.
“We share in the weight of this decision because we’re from here and we’re 100% dialed in on its future,” Blake said. “The historic gas plant was a real place with real people, real churches, real businesses. Our project begins with honoring those people.”
The Burg Bid projects a total of $8.1 billion in development investments for the Historic Gas Plant District, and limits public investment to $75 million from the community redevelopment area. It includes more than 3,600 affordable and workforce housing units on and off the property, Blake said.
Development plans center on a 13-acre park and a “museum row” that would include a public art museum and a permanent home for the Woodson African American Museum, which Blake said will be the first building constructed during the project. Plans also include a workforce training center, multimodal transportation hub, small business success center, indoor/outdoor event venue and even an outdoor water facility for sports like surfing.
And to make way for the new developments, Tropicana Field would be demolished, Welch said. The city expects to be reimbursed for most of the cost to rebuild the stadium, which had its roof ripped off during Hurricane Milton in 2024, from insurance and FEMA payouts, he said.
“The old model of a new stadium further to the east is gone,” Welch said. “We have to start thinking about the city of St. Pete.”
Welch confirmed that the Rays will continue to play at Tropicana Field until their lease is up at the end of the 2028 season.
“I’ve also said that if things don’t work out in Tampa and Hillsborough and they need a one or two year extension, we’re open to talking about that if it makes sense for the city,” Welch said. “But the city of St. Petersburg is moving forward.”
Now, city officials will begin negotiations, develop term sheets and bring agreements to City Council for approval, with a vote likely to come sometime next summer. A final agreement must be approved by City Council before developers can break ground on the site. Previously, council members voted 6-2 to slow down Welch’s bid selection process, saying a site study should be conducted first. Welch ignored that resolution, though, and took six months to select The Burg Bid from submitted proposals — delivering a plan for redevelopment just before he faces voters for re-election in August.
The Burg Bid proposal will also be reviewed by the City’s Community Benefits Agreement Program, which is expected to meet this month.
“I’m simply honoring the promise that I made when I ran that I would bring forward a plan to finally move this forward,” Welch said. “I was in high school at Lakewood when this started. There’s no way you can call this rushed. It’s been four decades. We have to move forward, and I am very excited about how we are going to take this opportunity to reconnect our neighborhoods with that district.”
