‘Razed’ documentary chronicles St. Pete’s Gas Plant
A new documentary film illustrates just how badly residents of St. Petersburg’s downtown African American neighborhoods were swindled by the city, and business interests, in the 1980s.
Razed tells the story of the Gas Plant district, 85 acres of homes, businesses, schools and churches, demolished – under the law of eminent domain – with promises of “urban renewal,” affordable housing and jobs. None of which materialized.
The downtown business district, in those days, was a ghost town. In an attempt to lure visitors to the area, local government approved the construction of a covered stadium, with promises that a major league baseball team was coming.
Named for the two cylindrical natural gas storage towers that dominated the landscape, the Gas Plant (repeatedly described by the St. Petersburg Times as a “slum” and a “blighted area”) simply had to go.
Almost gone. Photo: St. Petersburg Museum of History
The stadium was eventually built, although 13 years passed before the Tampa Bay Devil Rays arrived.
More than a dozen former Gas Plant residents, most of whom lived there as children or young adults, are interviewed in Razed (produced by St. Petersburg’s Roundhouse Creative). Sure, they admit, there were certain run-down areas, but the neighborhoods were on the whole clean, bright and friendly. Even though the smell of gas was pervasive.
One after another, the interviewees describe it as a close-knit community, with years of happy memories attached.
“They poured their hearts out to us,” said producer and co-director Tara Segall. “They told us the good, the bad, the challenging of the Gas Plant story. And we (the filmmakers) consider ourselves very involved in the St. Pete community. We live here, we work here and … we didn’t know all the things that we were hearing.”
Added director Andrew Lee: “We felt that deep sense of obligation to do right by them, to allow this story to be told in their words. And for many of them, I think, for the first time.”
Segall: “More than one person said, ‘Nobody’s ever asked me what happened.’”
Razed will premiere Feb. 22 at the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg’s Center for Health Equity. All 400 free tickets have been spoken for. Additional screenings are being arranged (“As long as the demand is there, we will meet it,” Segall said). Watch the Catalyst for information.
The seeds for the documentary were planted in December, 2021, when the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, along with other organizations, produced a reunion event for former Gas Plant residents. The reunion took place in the stadium (now, of course, known as Tropicana Field) parking lot. Roundhouse was hired to set up a “video booth” to record people’s memories.
“The direction we got,” said Lee, “was ‘Keep the memories happy; let’s hear about the people, places and things they remember, and let’s celebrate that.’ But as they were sharing this stuff, we could tell that there was much more under the surface.
“That’s when it became clear that there was a lot of emotion tied to this history.”
Gwendolyn Reese, president of the African American Heritage Association of St. Petersburg, was brought in to co-produce the proposed feature-length documentary, which was self-funded by Roundhouse Creative.
“They called me a producer,” Reese recalled, “and I said, ‘OK, what does a producer do?’ I made the contacts with most of the people and set up the interviews. And I actually interviewed most of them.”
Reese helped the filmmakers collect family photographs and other mementos from their lives in the Gas Plant district.
1955: Gwendolyn Reese, age 6, and her brother Joseph Reese Jr. in front of their home at 1305 5th Avenue S. Today, Ms. Reese is president of the African American Heritage Association of St. Petersburg. Photo: Roundhouse Creative.
No one declined to appear on camera, she said. “People were excited to talk. And to know that someone wanted to listen. That someone wanted to hear their stories – and my story’s one of them, because I grew up there too.”
Neither the City of St. Petersburg nor the Tampa Bay Rays organization were involved in the making of Razed. They have, thus far, not asked to view the finished film. (The Rays, however, are co-sponsoring the Feb. 22 screening event.)
The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg came into the picture to help fund the project near the end of production when the crew’s money was getting tight. No one from the Foundation was involved in any editorial decisions.
According to Segall, the three years she and Lee spent working on Razed “shifted our perspective. And we felt, well, everyone – like us – who doesn’t know this, should know it.
“And the story is still being told. It’s not over yet.”
Photo: St. Petersburg Museum of History
While the future of the former Gas Plant site, and Tropicana Field, is not certain, there’s one thing Gwendolyn Reese can say without hesitation about Razed:
“It’s important because it’s a part of our history, and I don’t mean African-American. It’s a part of St. Petersburg’s history. So how can you have a complete story – which is a problem in this country – because so much is omitted?
“We don’t have a complete history of St. Petersburg, because this critical story has not been told. It has not been heard.”
The Razed official website is at this link.
Hugh Hazeltine
February 9, 2025at12:56 am
There was a gentleman born in St. Pete who graduated from Gibbs High School and served in the Army during the Korean war. At Florida A&M he earned Bachelors and Masters degrees. He had his his own accounting firm an later earned a PHD from Nova University. He was elected to three four year terms to serve on the St. Petersburg City Council. While serving on council he voted in favor of redevelopment of the Gas Plant district to build a domed stadium in the hopes a MLB team would locate there. His name is Davit T Welch and he passed away in 2013 and he is the father of our Mayor Kenneth T. Welch.
Darren E Ginn
February 8, 2025at11:53 am
Underserved communities are most often exploited for the gains of those wielding the $$$.
Mike
February 8, 2025at7:42 am
Rose youre right. I dont understand. There are jobs there NOW. The area is not destroyed NOW. The land two block south is STILL a blighted slum. That area was a blighted slum just 10 years ago and NO ONE was talking about a lamd grab then. Its only AFTER the area was worth something that we start to hear about ‘broken promises’.
No one paid me to leave the blighted slum i grew up in. Its still there. Theres no shortage of blighted slums in this world. Stop rewriting history. Stop rewrting the present. Its a land grab using race. Its a story as old as time.
The current grab is no different than the last grab that everyone seems so sad about. It is ok now but not then? Because of race? Ok. Im just going to not go along with this.
Upset over broken promises? Why continue to buy snakeoil from snakeoil salesmen like Welch? Why continue putting ourselves in a position of an irresponsible incompetent dishonest nanny state? No one is going to protect you from people like this. You have to take personal responsibility.
S. Rose Smith-Hayes
February 7, 2025at11:07 pm
Many do Not understand the story, it is about promises made and promises broken. It is about lives completely destroyed or broken by promises made and broken. The area could use a clean up, but instead it was cleaned out, destroyed and lives were broken and some destroyed. It is believed that Mrs Bill Grayson died from a broken heart because she was promised the opportunity to come back and restore her business. Others were made similar promises and the promises never came to fruition. The land had been leveled several years before the stadium idea was presented. Then there were promised of jobs and potentially restored businesses once the stadium was built. If you did Not live this, it might be difficult to understand.
Donna Kostreva
February 7, 2025at9:21 pm
Many who live here have limited knowledge of historical racism in the Deep South. Our public schools only became integrated in 1962 through scurrilous efforts of those in charge. Read the paper on the link. Though segregated, the southside residents had a thriving community. They had to! Ladies were not even permitted to try on dresses in downtown shops. Every drive on the 175 Spur reminds me of a student whose family’s legacy home was torn down for the “Dome.” https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1166&context=tampabayhistory
JAMES R. GILLESPIE
February 6, 2025at8:55 pm
MOVED WITH MY FAMILY TO ST PETE IN 1977. READ BOOK ST PETERSBURG AND THE FLORIDA DREAM,1888-1950. IT MAKES TWO REFERENCES TO THE GAS PLANT AREA. BOOK’S TEXT SAYS ALOT ABOUT SEGRGATION AND RACISM.
Hal Freedman
February 6, 2025at6:32 pm
Mike, what vibrant area? A 45,000 seat stadium that usually has 10,000 attendees and 65 acres of parking lot? Ferg’s, with its tunnel thrived. The rest of the Edge grew up after, and in spite of, the Trop. And the displaced community is about to be screwed again, if a new stadium is built.
Ryan Todd
February 6, 2025at6:07 pm
The Gas Plant was blighted. Good riddance. Move on. Turn the page. The remnants of the Trop are today’s 80-acres of blight thanks to Ken Welch.
Laura
February 6, 2025at4:49 pm
Nothing more than a money grab! Do you honestly believe your area is this only place this happened!
Christopher Nash
February 6, 2025at8:09 am
How do I know if I was accepted to attend.I was on the jury for the Domes trail for the injured workers.
Mike
February 5, 2025at9:08 am
So let me understand this.
A “blighted slum” that “smelled of gas” was converted into the vibrant area that it is today…
And that is somehow an injustice? How? Where and how are these hallucinations created?