Pinellas County leaders discuss next steps to transform old landfill site into premier youth sports complex

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla - Pinellas County could soon be on the way to having one of the best youth sports facilities in the country.

What we know:

First, though, local leaders say they need to find out how much of the 275-acres, the former site of the Toytown landfill, they can actually use by figuring out what's under the land.

"We thought that approximately 95 acres of that would be buildable," Visit St. Pete Clearwater’s President and CEO Brian Lowack told Pinellas County Commissioners on Thursday. "However, what this is going to do is see if there's a potential to build on other areas. We simply don't know what's under there and what materials that consists of and how deep that goes. So, this will answer those questions."

By the numbers:

Local sports facility developer, the Sports Facilities Companies, submitted an initial proposal in February that includes 20 turf baseball and softball diamonds, 17 fields for soccer, lacrosse and football, 24 pickleball courts, festival and fairground space, parking for more than 2,100 vehicles, and more.

The company said then the complex could generate $350 million in direct economic impact in the first five years. It also estimated the complex would cost $150 million to $200 million. The project would be a public private partnership.

"In some of the conceptual proposals that we receive from the respondent, we have an opportunity to have a premier facility that would have the highest number of fields anywhere in the Southeast United States. And given that, with the proximity of the beach, we have the potential to have the best youth sports facility in the country," Lowack said.

Lowack said in order for the Sports Facilities Companies to finalize a proposal, they need to know more about what they could be building on.

"We're kind of at that stage where, over the past however many decades, we've talked about this project, and we've had some proposals, but what we've seen is because we have this data gap and folks don't know what's under there, they haven't been willing to take on that risk. And so, we haven't been able to get the private sector to come in at a reasonable amount, limiting that public side investment. So, we're trying to get to a point that we've never gotten before," Lowack said.

There have been several failed attempts to redevelop the site since the state Department of Environmental Protection closed it in 1990. That included a spring training site for the Atlanta Braves.

"I think that we're all looking at how do we put this back into usable space," County Administrator Barry Burton said. 

Dig deeper:

The county got $15 million in a grant from the state for the environmental remediation of the site, but Lowack said investigating what’s under the land doesn’t qualify as remediation. Instead, they’re proposing using $250,000 from the Tourist Development Council funds to pay for the work.

Commissioners will vote on whether to spend the $250,000 next Tuesday. If approved, that work would start in January.

During Thursday’s discussion, Commissioner Kathleen Peters brought up concerns that the Toytown redevelopment plans could overlap with early plans for a similar project in Clearwater.

"It’s my understanding there's going to be quite a significant amount of fields being brought into Clearwater in a public private partnership that I saw the plans on a couple of weeks ago. That’s incredible," she said. "And a potential minor league soccer stadium. I mean, it could be that, you know, I know we've been planning this, but that that may produce sooner. And then if we look in the inventory, are we going to need all of that again? So, I think whatever you do, it's going to have to be flexible so that it can be multiple things instead of just fields," Peters said.

Lowack says Sports Facilities Companies is also behind that project in Clearwater.

"That plan is quite impressive. It's very, very, very impressive. Then it needs to be something that isn't going to contradict it or it's going to enhance it, and if you're working with the same firm, then I'm not concerned," Peters said.

Fox 13 reached out to Sports Facilities Companies about both projects and hadn’t heard back at the time this article was published. 

What's next:

The commissioners will vote on whether to spend the $250,000 for the subsurface investigation work on Dec. 16. If approved, the work will be done from January first through March 15, 2026. The developer will use that information to prepare and submit the final proposal between March 15-June 30, 2026.

Staff will then accept or reject the proposal and decide if they want to bring it to the commissioners. If they bring it to them and the commissioners approve the proposal, it would initiate the FEDP $15 million grant and they’d start project design and engineering by October 2026.