City Council approves LaSister, Amoroso for Housing Authority board

Last month, the St. Petersburg City Council approved the City of St. Petersburg’s appointment of former assistant Pinellas County administrator James Dates to the embattled St. Petersburg Housing Authority Board of Directors. Thursday, the City brought forward two more appointees for Council to consider: C. Knox LaSister III and Roxanne Amoroso.

Council approved the two appointees unanimously at Thursday afternoon’s full City Council meeting.

City Council voted to uphold the removal of three board members by St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman during quasi-judicial proceedings on May 16. LaSister and Amoroso will fill the remaining vacancies left on the Housing Authority Board. Both appointees have extensive expertise in housing-related development.

C. Knox LaSister III (right)

LaSister, an 18-year resident of St. Petersburg, is a business and real estate attorney and community planner. Much of his professional career was spent in New York State, where he founded his the law practice LaSister, Evans and Galloway. LaSister also developed, rehabilitated and managed residential and commercial properties, including affordable housing projects in New York, served as an advisor for the Urban Land Institute, chaired the American Bar Association Standing Committee on HUD Programs and Procedures, and was a member of the National Association for Housing and Redevelopment Officials.

Roxanne Amoroso

Amoroso is founder and lead Principal at Mosaic Development, a St. Petersburg-based commercial and residential development company. Amoroso has nearly 30 years of experience in complex real estate development, and has overseen projects like the Encore in downtown Tampa and Creative Village in downtown Orlando. Prior to the formation of Mosaic, Amoroso was Senior Vice President at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Community Development. Amoroso is highly experienced in leveraging private and public funds and grants for development projects. She is an expert speaker on economic development financing and multi-family/mixed-use development. Amoroso currently serves as chair of Bright Community Trust, and as faculty of the University of South Florida’s Community Real Estate Development Program.

The full resumes of both new St. Petersburg Housing Authority Board member can be found here.