Thrive
What will become of the Gas Plant’s funding source?
St. Petersburg officials extended a special district’s lifespan to help fund a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium and a massive redevelopment project. Those plans have since withered.
Councilmember Richie Floyd’s request to discuss “sunsetting” the Intown Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) sparked a premature yet pertinent debate Thursday. The city must soon decide how to redirect resources previously dedicated to reimagining the Historic Gas Plant District – at least the iteration led by the Rays.
In June 2024, city council members voted 5-3 to increase the Intown Community Redevelopment Area’s (CRA) budget from $232.35 million to $574.85 million. They also prolonged its termination date by a decade, until 2042, to ensure future tax gains on property values could help pay for the Historic Gas Plant District’s redevelopment. However, Rays owner Stuart Sternberg recently announced he could no longer keep his end of the bargain.
“We just extended it 10 more years, and I’d love to have a discussion of the pros and cons of what that’s like since we don’t have to use it to pay for developments anymore,” Floyd explained. “I’m looking for us to have a conversation about what possibilities we have moving forward.”
Local governments establish CRAs to revitalize blighted areas by diverting property tax increases within the district to redevelopment projects. The money would otherwise go toward typical municipal expenses like infrastructure and public safety.
The Intown CRA, established in 1982, runs east from Tropicana Field to the St. Pete Pier. Floyd has called it a “large subsidy for downtown” that “locks tons of wealth” into a now-thriving area.
Jason Mathis, CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, agreed that officials should discuss Intown CRA’s future. He also questioned the urgency of eliminating a funding mechanism that has “served us well for many years” when the Gas Plant’s future remains uncertain.
“It doesn’t look like we’ll need to build a ballpark, but we still have 86 acres of blighted area in the Intown CRA that is a parking lot and, currently, a partially open dome,” Mathis said. “I know it’s sometimes tempting to think all of downtown is Beach Drive, but there are other parts of the Intown CRA that could use a little bit of TLC.”
The area’s average annual tax revenue increase is about 8.3%. While Intown CRA tax-increment-financing coffers contained $67 million in June 2024, Pinellas County contributed about 44%.
County commissioners voted to exit the joint initiative and start spending their share elsewhere in 2032. “The only reason for the CRA is to keep the county money,” said Councilmember Lisset Hanewicz.
She said the area would accrue $250 million – “a lot of TLC” – through 2032. “There’s going to be a lot of money there.”
Hanewicz added that officials must find ways to fund increasing needs, like $500 million in infrastructure costs. Administrators recently identified $1.5 billion in stormwater projects to complete through 2030.
Councilmember Gina Driscoll noted that Gas Plant agreements have yet to expire. The Rays have until March 31 to submit a formal termination letter or run out the clock.
Driscoll said the council also has outstanding Intown CRA funding allocations that “went way beyond” the Tropicana Field site. Those include seawall repairs, the municipal marina’s redevelopment and other “very specific, very thoughtfully done” projects she would “hate to disrupt.”
“But most of all, I do not believe this is the right time to have these conversations.”
Councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders wondered how those talks would impact the South St. Petersburg CRA. She was open to having Floyd’s conversation but, like her colleagues, said there was no rush.
While she took exception to the word “sunsetting,” Councilmember Brandi Gabbard agreed that they should consider unraveling the extension “when this redevelopment could look completely different.”
Floyd clarified that he wanted to terminate the Intown CRA before 2042. He was also worried that proposed state legislation could preempt those efforts.
Assistant City Attorney Michael Dema said House Bill 991, if passed, would disallow any new district debt issuances after Oct. 1. He called it “existential” to CRAs but allows for terminations after that date.
Floyd noted the consensus was to postpone any further discussion. He withdrew his motion and believes the council can “come up with something that could be unanimous – or close to it – just in a few weeks.”
Hanewicz said the council could discuss the Intown CRA’s future at a July 31 Public Services and Infrastructure Committee. Previous financial projections conducted during stadium negotiations will aid future debates.
Council Chair Copley Gerdes appreciated Floyd’s flexibility. He said having the discussion now “paints a not very good picture while we’re still in limbo on a few things.”
S. Rose Smith-Hayes
April 1, 2025at6:08 pm
The Rays did Not walk away from the Original deal. Hurricane Milton increased the cost overages and the Rays asked the City and the County to assist with the Costs incurred by Milton. The City and the County said No. The Rays were expected to cover the cost increases caused by Hurricane Milton. I wish the Truth would be told and everyone would stop making the Rays and their owner the bad guys.
This is the same type crap that happened in the 1970’s when promises were made to the residents of the Gas Plant area and years later, it was decided to have a Baseball team instead of keeping the promises. St. Pete , in my opinion have acted as ‘deal breakers’ again. I have no expectations here. The plans for the Gas Plant area were exceptionally beautiful and would have made the area a Tourist Attraction alone. City management screws us over again . I am a Gas Plant area descendant.
VLH
April 1, 2025at3:58 pm
I’d like to acknowledge the voices of Council Members Floyd and Hanewicz (Alphabetical) who are stepping forward now that the din of drama has cleared the sound waves. I have noticed in the past that both people are each their own person. We need more like them in our the St. Pete Council. I also support a Mayor that will have those same qualities.
Ryan Todd
March 31, 2025at4:14 pm
We need to get Welch out of office before we pursue anything at the blighted Trop site.
Alan DeLisle
March 29, 2025at5:38 pm
I’m sure there is a lot of confidence in the sold-out five Council members doing the right thing going forward?? Well at least Montanari is gone and you have two new thinkers.
With the Rays out of the picture, the development should be mainly private sector driven. We had Midtown paying for a good portion of the infrastructure and the community benefits without extending the TIF. They were also paying for environmental clean-up and even the demolition of the Trop.
The city needs to make sure it selects a developer with very patient capital, which was exactly the case with Midtown. Welch made a huge mistake when he cancelled that developer.
You will not need to extend downtown TIF dollars to make it work. It is the best development site in the south. Only the Rays and inept public economic development leadership can mess it up. We, unfortunately, just saw that happen.
The opportunity of finally letting the rest of the city benefit from downtown does not need to be delayed. Let the downtown TIF resources flow to the rest of the city and go about selecting a world class developer that is not controlled by the Rays. Then negotiate from strength and you will see private resources primarily getting the job done.
The city may also want to hire a world class economic developer who is certified and has lots of experience with projects of this scale. St Pete desperately needs to go to another level. The “group think” is dumbing down a great city.
Sean M
March 29, 2025at10:56 am
Why would you walk away from a few hundred million dollars that the county is obligated to contribute?
Money is fungible so if the downtown,which is the economic engine of the city, is funded by the CRA then more money from the city’s budget can be allocated to the non downtown infrastructure projects.