Newly-elected St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch is viewing the city’s future through an equity lens, and wants to make affordable housing a key priority for the 86-acre redevelopment of Tropicana Field.
“I’ve been engaged in this whole process to the selection of the master developer … I really think the Kriseman administration did a great job in developing the RFP, it focused on those 21 points and equity was quo to that,” Welch said during a virtual discussion on equity Tuesday.
He noted how equity was a vital component in the RFP as it included necessary principles from hiring minorities to work on the development, to how the development will pay tribute to the historical Gas Plant neighborhood that once stood on the site.
Previous mayor Rick Kriseman ultimately narrowed down the list of potential developers to two, Midtown and Sugar Hill. In December, Kriseman announced he had selected the Midtown Development team as the master developer.
“I want to push harder on the master developer that I select to make sure they make a significant investment in the community,” Welch said. “You’re talking about billions of dollars over the decades that will come through there. I’m not looking for a symbolic notion toward checking a box for equity. I want something to be built in, substantial and generational as well.”
