Group intends to ‘bridge the gap’ on 49th Street

Spanning 49th Street between 2nd Avenue N. and 24th Avenue S., the Fusion 49th District is a partnership between the cities of St. Petersburg and Gulfport. The team behind the project intends to redevelop the area into a community-focused business district, to provide economic re-investment and beautification in the neighborhoods that border the corridor.

The properties in the area are zoned for mixed use, allowing retail, commercial and industrial businesses to operate with limited restrictions. 

According to Sierra Clark, Vice President of the Fusion 49th District, “Our first meeting was in 2023 at Teaki Tavern for those who were interested in this idea, or this concept, of coming together. I’m not even sure if we had a name then, but what we’re calling it now is Fusion 49th – which is intentional, because in order to fuse something, you need one element and another element, and you bring it together, right? 

“And you make something different. And so that’s really what we’re looking to do.”  

While 49th Street is typically viewed as the dividing line between the two cities, the organizers of the Fusion 49th District are looking to blur that designation and “fuse” the identities of St. Pete and Gulfport. One of their goals for the intercity partnership is to invest their shared resources into the corridor, “bridge the gap,” and reinvest the economic benefits into the adjacent communities. 

Former St. Pete City Council member John Muhammad and former Gulfport City Council member Ian O’Hara were champions of the project in its early days, and instrumental in securing a cross-municipality partnership, but the day-to-day operations are now managed by community members who have formed the Fusion 49th District as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. 

Community investment and leadership are foundational to the success of the organization, said Clark, so monthly meetings are open to the public to give the neighborhood a space to weigh in on the issues that will impact them. 

The redevelopment is drawing the attention of new businesses that share in the community-focused, community-led vision of the district. One such business is One Community Grocery Co-op. Founder Erica Hardinson explained, “Our mission and purpose for starting the co-op was to provide a resource and institution for that area – and specifically to address the food insecurity and health challenges of people in [South St. Pete].”

The co-op currently operates as a series of pop-ups across the city, but when they reach their membership goal of 250 member-owners, they will be able to vote on a brick-and-mortar location for the grocery. 

Hardison said that the co-op’s member owners are considering the 49th Street corridor as a potential future location of the grocery. She acknowledged that “Historically those residents have been without a grocery store and just ignored by mainstream grocery industry,” so the co-op would fill a significant need in the area. 

“We’re more than a grocery store. It’s about providing healthy, nutritionally dense food so that we can prevent lifestyle diseases that our communities normally suffer from, but it’s also about creating an institution.”

In addition to economic redevelopment plans, the Fusion 49th District is working to beautify the area by adding more tree coverage and improving sidewalks. They also host neighborhood cleanup events along the corridor  to bring the community together and to facilitate a communal investment in the neighborhood. 

Fusion 49th District holds meetings that are open to the public on the first Monday of the month at the Gulfport Resource Center. You can learn more about the project and how to get involved here.

For information on One Community Co-Op, including how to become a member-owner, visit https://ocgc.coop/.