Mayor Welch selects Hines & Rays to redevelop the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District

HINES AND THE RAY’S PROPOSAL FOR THE 86-ACRE HISTORIC GAS PLANT DISTRICT IN DOWNTOWN ST. PETE | GENSLER

Six months after restarting the request for proposal (RFP) process for the redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch has announced the selection of a joint bid from Hines and the Tampa Bay Rays to redevelop the 86-acre site.

In his annual State of the City address, which took place on the steps of City Hall, Mayor Welch announced the selection of Hines’ submission and commended the team for having an intentional focus on equity and the depth and expertise to execute on a multi-billion-dollar generational project of this scale.

“As your mayor I have done my homework, I am fully confident that this decision is the best path forward for our city,” said Mayor Welch. “And I'm excited to announce that the City's partner for progress and the development of the historic gas plant district will be the Hines/Rays development team.”

The selection marks the end of a tumultuous two-and-a-half-year period where the City of St. Petersburg issued back-to-back requests for proposals beginning with the release of the first RFP in July 2020 under former Mayor Rick Kriseman’s administration.

Upon taking office, Mayor Welch restarted the RFP process in July 2022 and received four submissions by the deadline in December 2022.

The submissions included proposals from 50 Plus 1 Sports, Hines & Tampa Bay Rays, Restoration Associates, and Sugar Hill Community Partners.

A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF HINES AND THE RAY’S PROPOSAL FOR THE 86-ACRE HISTORIC GAS PLANT DISTRICT IN DOWNTOWN ST. PETE | GENSLER

Consultants hired by the City of St. Petersburg favored proposals by Hines/Rays and Sugar Hills.

However, in the end, Mayor Welch viewed the Hines/Rays proposal as the best balance between the City’s vision for the site and the community benefits package offered by the team.

“I am confident that they are the best partner for this generational endeavor. And now the next phase of our work, to bring this dream to reality begins,” said Mayor Welch. “We are eager to get to work to make this project work for everyone in our community. Thank you all for your partnership and for being part of our great city.”

Hines is a Houston-based real estate investment firm and developer that has experience developing large-scale, city-defining, multi-phase, mixed-use projects that serve as the centerpiece to their communities.

To date the firm has completed over 485 million square feet of real estate across all asset classes with more than 180 developments currently underway around the world.

Of all the RFP submissions, Hines appeared to have the deepest experience building mixed-use developments at the scale of what the Historic Gas Plant District will be.

A MAP IDENTIFYING THE VARIOUS USES IN THE HINES / RAYS PROPOSAL FOR THE HISTORIC GAS PLANT REDEVELOPMENT | HINES & TAMPA BAY RAYS

The Hines/Rays proposal features an ambitious mixed-use project with over 20 new urban blocks containing over 8.2 million square feet of development over the next 20 years.

The proposal calls for over 5,700 residential units, including 859 affordable units, and 600 units of market rate senior housing. Also included are 700 new hotel rooms, 1.4 million square feet of office space, 320,000 square feet of retail space, 50,000 square feet of entertainment space, 50,000 square feet of civic space, and 14,000 parking spaces.

The vision for the site focuses on several zones of buildings surrounding a 950,000 square foot baseball stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays. The development is also anchored by a reimagined Booker Creek Greenway and 14-acres of community open space.

Mayor Welch’s selection of Hines/Rays to redevelopment the site marks the beginning of negotiations over a term sheet for the project and the formation of guidelines for the disbursement of community benefits.

A development agreement would ultimately need to be approved by City Council.

Depending on the speed of negotiations, the proposal calls for infrastructure improvements to begin in 2024 followed by construction on the first of three phases of the development.

The first phase, which includes building a Rays stadium in time for the 2028 baseball season, would take place between 2024 and 2029. Also included in the initial phase is the construction of 90% of the proposed affordable housing, 600,000 square feet of office space, 150,000 square feet of retail, the 50,000-square-foot Booker Music Hall, and much more.

Phase two would take place between 2030 and 2035 and would add more affordable and market-rate housing, senior living, a 175-key hotel, 600,000 square feet of office space, and 100,000 square feet of retail.

The third and final phase is planned for 2036 through 2043 and will include additional residential, office, and retail.