Thrive
St. Petersburg terminates municipal marina redevelopment deal
The mayoral administration has ended negotiations with the company selected to reimagine, repair and operate the St. Petersburg Municipal Marina.
Long-awaited plans to breathe new life into the downtown waterfront facility hit a snag in April after Blackstone, a trillion-dollar investment firm, acquired the selected developer, Safe Harbor Marinas. Administrators hoped to salvage a previously proposed $48 million project.
City Development Administrator James Corbett said those plans are now dead in the water in a memo sent to city council members Thursday afternoon. “We no longer believe that a lease agreement is the best option for the redevelopment and operation of the marina,” he wrote.
“Instead, the city will self-perform the redevelopment of the marina,” Corbett said. “This path provides the greatest assurance of long-term financial and operational success.”
The 640-slip marina has needed repairs since at least 2017. Recent storms exacerbated issues. Photo by Mark Parker.
A city spokesperson said Friday that the proposal’s termination would not impact current operations at the facility. The city will continue to own and maintain the marina, often referred to as St. Petersburg’s front porch.
Corbett wrote that administrators “worked diligently” with Safe Harbor Marinas to create a mutually beneficial lease agreement since Mayor Ken Welch selected the company in late December 2023. They planned to present a contract to the council for approval in March.
The City sent Safe Harbor Marinas a draft agreement on Valentine’s Day. However, publicly-traded Blackstone announced Feb. 24 that it acquired the company for $5.65 billion.
Corbett noted that “several changes have occurred since the initial solicitation and selection” of Safe Harbor Marinas. He sent a letter to the company stating that the city would terminate negotiations and the current proposal process before alerting council members at 1:47 p.m. Thursday.
“City staff have started working on a more detailed timeline and budget for the redevelopment, as well as various funding scenarios,” Corbett wrote. “We anticipate presenting items to the council later this year to select a design-build firm and initiate preliminary work on the studies and permits required for work to commence in 2026.”
The deal sinking was not unexpected. Welch told the Catalyst in May that “the marina is very likely something we bring internally because of what’s happened with Blackstone acquiring Safe Harbor (Marinas).”
Welch said his cabinet has simultaneously moved forward on that and other delayed projects, including reimagining the Main Library and discerning the Municipal Services Center’s future, while focusing on the Historic Gas Plant District’s redevelopment. “There will be progress on those, but if you look at each case, you’ll see exactly why those projects took the path they took,” he added.
“It certainly wasn’t because of a lack of focus from our team.”
The recommended 2026 capital improvement projects budget includes $26 million for marina repairs. Brian Caper, economic and workforce development director, told council members April 24 that “this does allow us to take the next step, in terms of actually self-performing the marina redevelopment.”
Caper expressed confidence in Safe Harbor Marinas and said administrators were “hopeful it does not come to that.” He also noted that they had not received a response from the company in months.
The announcement itself came as a surprise. “At what point do we say, ‘Ok, we’re going to pull up our anchor and sail away on our own,” Councilmember Gina Driscoll said at the meeting.
Tony Ashley, a St. Petersburg Municipal Marina resident, shows how high the water rose over electric equipment during Hurricane Helene. Photos by Mark Parker.
Councilmember Brandi Gabbard called budgeting $26 million for the project irresponsible. Officials had spent nearly three hours discussing citywide needs and a lack of available funding at that point, and she had “no intention” of approving the allocation.
“So, I’m going to hope and pray that we can come up with some sort of agreement,” Gabbard added. “Otherwise, we’re going to have to go back to the drawing board again, as far I’m concerned.”
That drawing board began in 2017 when a master plan called for modernization efforts and improvements to docks that have reached “the end of their service lives.” The antiquated 640-slip marina is home to roughly 100 residents and several businesses.
Former Mayor Rick Kriseman, to the bewilderment of many stakeholders, subsequently selected the similarly named Safe Harbor Development (SHD) to redevelop and operate the marina. The company wanted a 25-year lease, a nonstarter for the city council. Welch reissued a request for proposals in April 2023.
Safe Harbor Marinas would have invested $48 million into new docks, a welcome center and a two-story amenity facility with a lounge. Developers had the option to include Fresco’s Waterfront Bistro in their plans; the restaurant has remained in limbo since December 2023.
The 2024 hurricane season exacerbated issues at the marina. While most city council members opposed working with Blackstone, self-funding the project presents a significant hurdle.
“I think we all know this is not a $26 million project,” said Council Chair Copley Gerdes. “This is an $85 million, $100 million or $110 million project.”
Mona Hawkins
June 15, 2025at7:54 am
I’m in the same camp with Matthew. This is the decision they should have made the first time. I’ll never understand the concept that hiring a for-profit middleman will save you money.
Kris Johnson
June 14, 2025at4:13 pm
We get it already. Kriseman was the greatest person to ever walk the earth. I don’t recall many projects moving forward under your tenure – Commerce Park, Tangerine Plaza, Science Center, MSC, Old PD, T2theS, Manhattan Casino X 3, Sankofa, Albert Whitted Water Treatment, etc. – not to mention the $3M you personally cost taxpayers in your loss to TLM Investment.
This is a sound path forward and I appreciate Welch and City Council’s fortitude to reject bad P3 deals if they won’t benefit the city. Blackstone would have cut corners in the interest of higher profits and downtown would have suffered as a result.
S. Rose Smith-Hayes
June 14, 2025at4:08 pm
There are not enough business owners nor business ‘savvy ‘ folk on City Council. These projects are huge and get more expensive as time goes by. Make a list of projects, what needs to be done and hire contractors to do the work. Assign a competent City employee or council member to track the project and closely communicate with the vendor. We pay money to companies to hire companies to do work for our city. There has to be a better way.
Alan DeLisle
June 14, 2025at10:37 am
Can it get much worse. Incompetence all the way around.
No private entity will spend $50 to $100 million without a long term lease. But the city would still own the Marina and, under the Kriseman deal, the private operator could be bought out for poor performance. The city had oversight and approval of all capital investments. This is still the only rational way to do it. We had the right operator but politics, not sound projects, won again, hurting the city.
So let me see: the City will now develop the Trop site and the Marina along with all the other climate change investment it needs to make. Ladies and gentlemen, this is no longer funny. This is sad.
St Pete, you need new leadership fast. You need a Council and a mayor that understand how to negotiate and execute complex public-private economic development partnerships from a non-political lense; Gabbard, Driscoll, Gerdes, and Welch don’t have a clue. They are lost.
Matthew Gowdy
June 14, 2025at3:42 am
That is EXACTLY what should have been planned from Day 1!
St Petersburg needs to run it’s own business, not SELL OUT to a foreigner, meaning outside interests
Tim Doris
June 13, 2025at10:21 pm
I have a slip in the Marina and I can attest to the condition of the dock deterioration. The concrete docks are literally falling apart. That said, the Marina is a magnificent gem. I’m a former resident of Newport, RI. Newport Harbor brings in tens of millions a year to that town. St. Petersburg can do the same. There no more beautiful sight than to watch the sunset and the lights of the city come up. So please, see the big picture spend 100 Million. It is a great investment for the city.
John Porterfield
June 13, 2025at4:41 pm
Blackstone would have been a very bad partner. As we all know… Wall Street only cares about squeezing every available penny out of their deals… and St Pete would have paid a huge price with their participation.