ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Mayor Ken Welch announced Wednesday that he is scrapping the bid process initiated by his predecessor that resulted in two groups competing for the rights to redevelop the 86-acre stadium site. He will seek new bids in the next four to five weeks with the aim of selecting a redevelopment group by the end of the year.
Bidders will be asked to include plans for a new baseball stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays, though the team continues to evaluate it options for where to play home games when it’s lease on Tropicana Field expires in 2027.
“I am impressed with the efforts of the two finalists,” Welch said in a statement. “They have listened to our community and have responded with their vision of the development of these 86 acres in accordance with our community needs in terms of housing, office space, meeting space, green space and impactful economic development, including inclusive opportunities for local and minority businesses.”
However, Welch pointed to unprecedented circumstances that call for reevaluating priorities, including an ongoing pandemic, skyrocketing housing costs and fast-rising inflation on everything that would go into rebuilding the property.
The bidding process, which began under former Mayor Rick Kriseman, had come down to two developers: Miami-based Midtown Development and Sugar Hill, a group led by San Francisco developers JMA Ventures.
With little over a month left in office, Kriseman chose Midtown; Welch made no promises to honor that pick. He asked both developers to answer a list of questions. Since then, Welch and several local pastors have traveled to Sacramento to see Sugar Hill’s work there. They came away impressed, they said, with the pastors aligning themselves with the California group. The mayor also visited one of Midtown’s signature projects earlier this year.
Still, Welch said, the times call for a fresh start on considering the possibilities for the Tropicana Field site.
