Catalyze 2020: Mack Feldman

This holiday season, we asked some of St. Pete’s best and brightest citizens to share one catalyzing idea for making St. Pete a better place to live. We asked not for lists of problems, but for meaty, actionable and impactful solutions, no matter how big or how small. 

Mack Feldman, previously the V.P. of Feldman Equities, now a M.S. Real Estate Candidate

Companies and new residents are flocking to St. Petersburg. Walkability, affordability and the arts have made the city uniquely desirable for a diverse generation of young talent and empty nesters seeking an active retirement.

As you might have heard, our success has started to threaten our affordability. Yet Pinellas is the most densely populated county in the state, more than twice as dense as Miami-Dade. This means that there is little undeveloped land ripe for new housing that would alleviate rising rents and prices.

The only way to go is up. The Kriseman administration, City Council, and the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce have recognized this reality and are working on plans to add infill multi-family in appropriate neighborhoods and along key corridors. The Mayor has admirably made the case for taller buildings. These are steps in the right direction, but there is more to affordability than density.  

Former Councilmember Karl Nurse likes to remind us that one of the densest neighborhoods outside downtown is Old Northeast. It has the highest concentration of garage units and boasts scattered small businesses and triplex apartments throughout. The confluence of residential density and walkable streets results in thriving neighborhood shops. Critically, living in the Old Northeast liberates many of its residents from the costly burden of car ownership.

Walkable density need not come at the cost of the city’s character, as Old Northeast demonstrates. And adaptive reuse can marry the interests of developers and preservationists to create new supply that renews the city’s historical structures.

Councilmember Darden Rice put forward a plan over the summer that seeks to address both sides of the affordability coin, housing and transportation. It includes recommendations for closing mixed-use loopholes, encouraging neighborhood-scale mixed-use development, and allowing for smaller homes. It should be paired with a robust implementation of Complete Streets and new intracity transit initiatives, including bus rapid transit.

Another idea to explore is incentive-based inclusionary zoning. Studies indicate that voluntary density bonuses, tax abatements, fee waivers, and other incentives result in affordable housing that would not otherwise be built. The same studies suggest that mandatory inclusionary zoning can have a chilling effect on overall development, worsening affordability.

No single policy will create the thousands of new homes the City estimates are needed over the coming years. A holistic approach will be key. More important than any policy will be the attitude that developers, residents, and city officials can find a solution that benefits all.