As Trop RFP deadline nears, Sugar Hill unveils its affordable housing plans for bid
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Nov 29, 2022

A developer that wants to redevelop St. Petersburg’s 86-acre Tropicana Field has expanded its development team and announced more details surrounding its proposal.

Sugar Hill Community Partners will submit its response to the city’s request for proposals on Friday — the day they are due — and will be “committing to a residential program where 50% of all units are affordable and workforce housing.”

The developer has added three companies to its development team to oversee its affordable housing initiative: Blue Sky Communities, Property Markets Group Affordable and the St. Petersburg Housing Authority will be the affordable housing development partners for the project.

It is Sugar Hill’s second run at redeveloping the property, which is considered one of the most attractive urban infill sites in the Southeastern U.S. The developer finished second to Miami-based Midtown Development after submitting a proposal under former Mayor Rick Kriseman’s RFP.

Mayor Ken Welch killed that RFP process in June and relaunched the bidding process with a significant emphasis on workforce and affordable housing. The new RFP requires developers to include a Major League Baseball stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays and rebrands the property to the Historic Gas Plant District.

“We recognize that the redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District offers a unique opportunity to meaningfully address the need for more affordable and workforce housing in St. Petersburg,” Todd Chapman, president and CEO of JMA Ventures and master developer for SHCP, said in a release. “Our team has consistently challenged ourselves to aim higher and dig deeper for partners and concepts that will deliver a housing mix, both onsite and offsite, that addresses the increasing scarcity of attainably priced housing in the city.”

Chapman said the diverse expertise of Blue Sky Communities, PMG Affordable and SPHA has “contributed to a development plan that is both transformational in scope and achievable in its execution.”

Welch is expected to pick a developer for the site in 2023.

Blue Sky Communities has developed 2,147 affordable housing units, more than 500 of which were in St. Petersburg. PMG Affordable is a part of PMG, a development firm that has delivered over 10,000 residential units.

The SPHA was once the owner of Laurel Park, an affordable housing complex previously located in the Historic Gas Plant neighborhood. The organization currently provides housing to approximately 4,000 low-income households in St. Pete and the surrounding areas.

The partnership with SPHA allows the development team to “deliver a meaningful portfolio of offsite affordable housing commitments on parcels SPHA owns and controls throughout the city.” It will also allow the team to utilize SPHA’s voucher program that assists with structuring and financing affordable homeownership.

“The St. Petersburg Housing Authority has served our community for 85 years, which gives us a unique understanding of the importance of this generational project,” Michael Lundy, SPHA president and CEO, said in a release. “It’s a transformative time for both our agency and the Historic Gas Plant District.”

Sugar Hill will be “diverting a portion of the project’s profits to perpetually supporting our partners’ efforts to deliver quality affordable homeownership opportunities” for local residents.

Other members of Sugar Hill’s team involved in the workforce and affordable housing program include development partner Roy A. Binger, equity partner Rev. Louis M. Murphy Sr., Habitat for Humanities and West Pasco Counties and Career Management Corp.