St. Pete hears proposals from the final four developers for the Historic Gas Plant District

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch wants to move forward with plans to redevelop the Historic Gas Plant District.

What we know:

It is down to the final four proposals, each with its own unique spin on how to develop the 86-acre plot in the middle of town.

Each developer had 20 minutes to make their case to the public about their proposal during Thursday night's meeting.

Timeline:

Welch wants to pick a redevelopment plan by June.

"I still see us moving forward with the June selection," Welch said. "But I do think it's beneficial to have an independent body, you know, kind of verify what we think the priorities are."

Welch's decision to move forward is on the heels of a 6-2 vote from the St. Pete City Council to pause this process.

"I think we've done a great job in accommodating council's wishes," Welch said. "Phase one is approved and moving forward on this is a promise that I made to the community."

There were four plans shared with the public tonight. Two that fully developed 86 acres with housing and other amenities for the community.

The backstory:

Ark Ellison Horus kicked off this wave of development by submitting their proposal unprompted to the city.

Casey Ellison, the CEO of Ellison Development, said the group is passionate about this project, which is why they submitted their proposal.

"We feel strongly that we'll have major corporate relocations," Ellison said. "We'll have a technology hub like nobody's seen in the southeastern United States."

That is the Ark Ellison Horus bid which aims to reconnect this part of the city over I-275.

Jonathan Graham is the owner of Horus Construction, which is part of the Ark Ellison Horus bid.

"You can bring people in, and if the local doesn't benefit from it, then what have you done? You just displaced people," Graham said. "We're thinking about the people who've lived here for years and years and year."

The Burg Bid by Blake Investment Partners and Related Group said it's a plan by St. Pete for St. Pete.

Jason Jensen, the CEO of WJ Architects, said he wants their design to keep locals at home.

"We are giving the largest affordable housing project ever in the history of the city of St. Petersburg, 3,600 units," Jensen said. "That's never been done."

The goal is to lift up St. Pete.

"We lift up our residents," Jensen said. "We don't want to move them out by bringing a bunch of people in from some other city."

Other proposals

Foundation Vision Partners proposed a scaled back project that would sell off parts of the land to multiple developers to break up the project.

Will Conroy is a founder at Backstreets Capital and partner in Foundation Vision Partners.

"We install the horizontal infrastructure on behalf of the city, once the infrastructure is complete, the sidewalks, the roads, the street grid, the parks," Conroy said. "Once that's complete, we turn the parcels over to the city, which they can then sell to the public and private markets."

The Pinellas County Housing Authority is proposing one affordable senior housing development on less than an acre, with the rest still available for development.

Jake Stowers is the director of Real Estate Development for Pinellas County Housing Authority.

"We can activate this site, and we can start building much faster than these can even start getting financed," Stowers said. "We have, as you can see, we have a wonderful design."

The mayor said feedback has been mixed depending on who is asked, but he wants to see this area in use again.

"Descendants who've seen 60 acres of asphalt for 40 years, bringing real no benefit back to the city; they want us to move forward," Welch said. "There are other folks who, you know, want us [to] do everything we can to keep the Rays here. I think we've done that. And so, I think folks want to see progress on that land."

For more information on each proposal, click here.

What we don't know:

We do not know exactly when the Mayor will pick the final proposal.