The railroad segment is visible in a gravel parking lot owned by Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill (background). A parking garage owned by Ellison Development sits to the left. Booker Creek is to the right. Photos by Mark Parker.
Decades-long plans to acquire a decommissioned stretch of railroad tracks and create an urban trail extension connecting South St. Petersburg neighborhoods with the EDGE District are finally full steam ahead.
The Booker Creek Trail extension will snake through the Historic Gas Plant District, currently home to Tropicana Field, and link to the Pinellas Trail before ending at 5th Avenue North. City council members unanimously authorized Mayor Ken Welch’s administration to purchase the .86- mile segment of CSX Transportation rail line on Thursday afternoon.
Administrators negotiated the acquisition cost down from $87.9 million to $7 million. The city will contribute $1.2 million; adjacent stakeholders, Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill owner Mark Ferguson and Ellison Development, will cover the remaining cost.
“This is really going to support businesses,” said Councilmember Corey Givens Jr. “This isn’t just something that we’re going to enjoy. This is something that future generations will get to reap the rewards of.”
Evan Mory, director of transportation and parking management, and his team completed a quest that began over 20 years ago. The rail line was originally part of the Orange Belt Railroad, which led to the city’s establishment in the late 1800s.
Mory noted the land surrounding the tracks is underutilized. The segment begins at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street and 1st Avenue South, runs parallel to Tropicana Field, disappears underneath Ferg’s, and reappears across Central Avenue in a gravel parking lot – also owned by Ferguson – along an idyllic stretch of Booker Creek.
The trail will run along a stretch of Booker Creek that resembles an urban oasis.
Thursday’s vote marks the end of a long, litigious saga that began in 2019 when CSX sought to convert the tracks, which encompass 7.8 acres, into a trail. Ferguson was one of multiple landowners who sued the company over land easements that bisected their properties; he was eventually awarded $12.9 million, the largest private judgment in rails-to-trails history.
The city sued CSX for control of the trail in 2020. A court ordered the two parties to negotiate a sale.
CSX initially valued the land at $87.9 million. While Mory acknowledged the tracks include nearly eight acres of prime downtown real estate, the city could not justify the cost, and the company eventually settled for $7 million.
Administrators enlisted the help of private stakeholders, the Trust for Public Land, and the Rails to Trails Conservancy. Mory said the two organizations provided national expertise to navigate a complex process.
Once the city and CSX agreed upon a price, administrators negotiated 99-year leases with adjacent stakeholders. Ferguson agreed to contribute $4 million.
Before the vote, Ferguson credited Mory and the city for “finally getting this thing done.” He noted that the Booker Creek Trail extension would support bifurcated neighborhoods, small businesses, and jobs.
The trail will connect to an underpass that leads to Tropicana Field.
Ellison Development, which is building The Central, a mixed-use development across Central Avenue from Fergs, will contribute $2 million to the purchase. Jordan Star, chief development officer, said his firm was “extremely enthusiastic” to join the public-private partnership.
Star said Ellison Development wants to help enhance the trail and promote Booker Creek as “the amenity it can be” for the EDGE District. The city will pay for its contribution through parking revenue and the Intown West Community Redevelopment Area’s tax-increment financing (TIF).
“Here we are activating a derelict and dilapidated area,” Givens said. “That’s the purpose – the true intended purpose – of these TIF funds.”
St. Petersburg will seek grant funding to build the trail, which will connect to an existing path and an underpass between Ferg’s and the Trop. Officials also have the right of first refusal to purchase an additional segment of still-active rail line that continues to 38th Avenue North, if CSX ever decommissions the tracks.
A map showing the existing Booker Creek Trail (bottom), the extension (orange), the Pinellas Trail (solid black), and a potential expansion (top). Image: City documents.
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