Massive $6.8 billion redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site proposed by group of local leaders

Massive $6.8 billion redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site proposed by group of local leaders

A trio of well-known business leaders have submitted a proposal to purchase and redevelop 95.5 acres of downtown St. Petersburg, including the Historic Gas Plant District.

Casey Ellison, CEO of Ellison Companies;Cathie Wood, the founder of global investment firm ARK Invest; and Jonathan Graham, President of Horus Construction are behind the effort. Baker Barrios would serve as the master planner architect.

The group submitted a 98-page unsolicited proposal to the City of St. Petersburg this morning outlining a $6.8 billion vision for a new mixed-use district anchored by innovation, housing, cultural institutions, and world-class event venues.

The project would be built in four phases over the next 17 years and will include flexibility to accommodate the Tampa Bay Rays should the team remain beyond 2028.

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A 76 million year old dinosaur will sit atop a parking garage in downtown St. Pete's EDGE District

A 76 million year old dinosaur will sit atop a parking garage in downtown St. Pete's EDGE District

Imagine stepping out of your car and finding yourself face-to-face with a creature that roamed the planet 76 million years ago.

Tampa-based developer Ellison Development has unveiled plans for a high-rise rooftop garden atop a newly opened 540-space parking garage in the EDGE District, where the glass-encased skeleton of a Gorgosaurus will be the centerpiece.

By our account, it will be the first dinosaur ever displayed on top of a parking garage anywhere in the world.

The one-acre rooftop attraction is part of The Central, a $200 million mixed-use project currently in development at 1301 Central Avenue.

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Cathie Wood's ARK Invest to move headquarters to EDGE District in downtown St. Pete

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest to move headquarters to EDGE District in downtown St. Pete

ARK Invest, a leading global investment firm known for its focus on disruptive innovation, will relocate its downtown St. Pete headquarters to the EDGE District.

Tampa-based Ellison Development announced Wednesday that ARK Invest, which is currently headquartered at 200 Central Avenue, will occupy 13,000 square feet on the 11th floor of Halcyon, a new office building expected to break ground later this year at 1301 Central Avenue.

Halcyon represents the first Class A office building constructed in downtown St. Pete since the 1980s.

The 11-story, 130,000-square-foot office building is one of the main components of The Central, a 2.1-acre mixed-use development that will also contain a 168-room Marriott Autograph Collection hotel, 14,000 square feet of retail space, a 42-unit affordable housing community, and a newly opened 540-space parking garage.

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$200 million mixed-use project The Central takes shape on Central Avenue in downtown St. Pete

$200 million mixed-use project The Central takes shape on Central Avenue in downtown St. Pete

The long-awaited mixed-use development in the heart of St. Pete's EDGE District has hit a construction milestone.

Tampa-based Ellison Development is set to cut the ribbon next month, celebrating the completion of a 531-space parking garage at 1301 Central Avenue, a component of The Central development, a 2.1-acre redevelopment of the old St. Pete Police headquarters that will feature a hotel, a trophy office building, retail, workforce housing, and more.  

The project, which broke ground in February 2024, sits directly across the street from Ferg's Sports Bar and Grill and is near The Edge Collective development, a planned live-work-and-play destination anchored by the newly opened Moxy Hotel.

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