Place
St. Pete’s Trails Crossing project inches forward
As the saying goes, slow progress is better than no progress, and St. Petersburg’s much-anticipated Trails Crossing project is finally moving forward.
First unveiled in November 2021, Trails Crossing would transform blighted, underutilized areas beneath I-275 into park and event spaces that connect bifurcated neighborhoods. Civil engineering firm LandDesign received city council approval Thursday to begin the master planning process.
John Barkett, co-founder of the nonprofit Friends of Trails Crossing, has spearheaded the public-private initiative that will drastically reimagine four city blocks from 1st Avenue North to 3rd Avenue South. The cultural park will also expand and complement the adjacent EDGE, Grand Central, Deuces Live and Warehouse Arts Districts.
“For too long, our community has been divided physically, socially and economically by infrastructure that was never designed with connectivity in mind,” Barkett said. “The space under I-275 has been an underutilized barrier, but with this plan, we have the power to redefine it as a place of connection.”
The project will connect six disjointed neighborhoods. Screengrab, city documents.
Cheryl Stacks, transportation manager, called Friends of Trails Crossing a key partner founded solely to deliver and maintain a “first-class” cultural park. The organization’s leadership partnered with the city and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to activate a smaller area under I-375.
Orlando-based LandDesign will provide a blueprint for infrastructure needs and recommend specific action items through a phased approach. Stacks said “best practices and lessons learned elsewhere” would inform the master plan.
“Crucially, it also provides us with a maintenance, operations and governance strategy that will guide the roles and responsibilities of each of the project’s stakeholders,” she added.
Those stakeholders include neighboring residents, businesses and the FDOT, which owns and leases some of the land to the city for parking. Vertical Ventures subleases space from the city for its patrons, and some council members expressed concern that the project would negatively affect the business.
“The project has my full support – with the exception of this,” said Councilmember Mike Harting. “I can’t sign off on what would put a business out of business if we just took all that parking away without a plan of support for them.”
Councilmember Richie Floyd said he recently spoke with the owners of Vertical Ventures, a popular indoor climbing facility at 116 18th Street S. “It seemed that they were being reasonable, so I don’t think that should become an impediment at all.”
Floyd questioned how uncertainty surrounding the Historic Gas Plant District’s redevelopment would impact Trails Crossing on its western border. Stacks said it makes sense to start master planning and incorporate the former project’s plans as those conversations “play out.”
Barkett said the Gas Plant’s redevelopment would provide ample public parking, regardless of its final form. He also noted it takes “a long time to make these things happen,” and the planning process will not affect businesses.
A city evaluation committee selected LandDesign in June 2023. After the meeting, Ken Smith, principal landscape architect, called the project transformational for nearby residents.
“I think it has the ability to bring together a group of diverse neighborhoods with a sense of identity, which is very exciting,” Smith told the Catalyst. “We really spent time looking at neighborhoods around the site – the (Pinellas) Trail, the (Booker) Creek and all that – to see how all that stuff can come together.”
Trails Crossing will feature multimodal paths and connect to the Pinellas Trail. There are also plans for a green amphitheater, art walls, a plaza built with repurposed shipping containers, pop-up markets, children’s areas, a beer garden and a dog park.
LandDesign representatives conducted site visits before submitting a proposal.
Improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety and stimulating the surrounding economy are key components. Stakeholders believe the project and adaptive reuse along the Pinellas Trail could replicate the Atlanta BeltLine’s success in St. Petersburg.
Councilmember Gina Driscoll said Thursday that Trails Crossing is “truly the St. Pete way of accomplishing that.” She said it would activate “neglected, forgotten areas.”
“We don’t have a whole lot of land to work with to create new, vibrant and exciting spaces like this that are so open and welcoming to everyone,” Driscoll continued. “The public-private partnership – not just sitting around the table but putting skin in the game – is really critical.”
The city and Friends of Trails Crossing will each contribute $150,000 to the master planning process. The council approved a $254,478 maximum contract with LandDesign in a 7-1 vote.
Councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders, rather than Harting, voted against the contract. She did not want the project to move forward without a plan to provide alternative parking for Vertical Ventures.
“I don’t think anybody’s 100% comfortable with this because there’s a lot of unknowns,” said Even Mory, director of transportation and parking management. “But I think we can get there before it’s too late.”
