St. Pete reaches preliminary deal to buy CSX rail line running through downtown St. Pete

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St. Pete reaches preliminary deal to buy CSX rail line running through downtown St. Pete

A years-long effort to bring a key stretch of the CSX rail corridor in downtown St. Pete into public ownership, including the segment that cuts directly through Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill, is finally moving forward.

According to an October 15th email from St. Pete Transportation and Parking Management Director Evan Mory, CSX Transportation has accepted a conditional offer from the City of St. Petersburg to acquire nearly a mile of rail right-of-way stretching from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street along 1st Avenue South to 5th Avenue North.

The city plans to create a trail linking the Historic Gas Plant District redevelopment and the Pinellas Trail up to 5th Avenue North, with the longer-term goal of extending it to Booker Creek Park in North Kenwood.

The purchase is expected to cost $7 million, with $1 million coming from the City of St. Pete, $4 million from Mark Ferguson of Ferg’s Sports Bar, and $2 million from Ellison Development.

The offer cannot move forward without City Council approval, which is expected within the next 30 days.

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23-story Gallery Haus apartment tower set to break ground near Tropicana Field in downtown St. Pete

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23-story Gallery Haus apartment tower set to break ground near Tropicana Field in downtown St. Pete

A team of Miami-based developers is preparing to bring a new wave of residential living to downtown St. Pete.

LD&D, in partnership with IGEQ and Black Salmon, has finalized plans for Gallery Haus, a 23-story, $115 million apartment tower that will rise at 155 17th Street South, directly across from Tropicana Field and along the Pinellas Trail.

The development will contain 254 apartments, more than 10,000 square feet of amenities, and 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

LD&D purchased the 0.77-acre site from Apogee Real Estate Partners in late 2023 for just over $9 million. Apogee had previously secured site plan approval for a similar tower with 204 units in 2022.

Gallery Haus is an expansion of LD&D’s “Haus” portfolio, which includes Wynwood Haus in Miami’s Wynwood Arts District and Williamsburg Haus in Brooklyn.

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Trails Crossing, a new linear park under I-275 in downtown St. Pete, moves forward after City Council vote

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Trails Crossing, a new linear park under I-275 in downtown St. Pete, moves forward after City Council vote

Four blocks of underutilized space beneath Interstate 275 in downtown St. Pete could be transformed into a new linear park featuring public art and event spaces, creating a destination for pedestrians and cyclists.

In a 7-to-1 vote, City Council approved an agreement on Thursday to contribute $150,000 toward hiring Colorado-based LandDesign, Inc. to kick off the master planning process for Trails Crossing, a walkable, activated park under I-275 that will embrace micro-transit and connect urban neighborhoods—an idea that has been in discussion for years.

“For too long, our community has been physically, socially, and economically divided by infrastructure that was never designed with connectivity in mind,” said John Barkett, a local developer and co-founder of the nonprofit group Friends of Trails Crossing, during Thursday’s meeting.

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