Developer plans apartments, workforce housing for former Raytheon site in St. Pete
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 9, 2023

Clearwater-based Porter Development LLC plans to transform the former Raytheon site in west St. Petersburg into an apartment complex, with 30% of the units set aside for workforce housing.

Les Porter, president of Porter Development, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal the 29-acre property will have just over 1,000 units. The plan is to develop the site, located at 1501 72nd St. N, in three phases.

“What I’m most excited about with this project is the ability to bring affordable housing to Pinellas County,” Porter said. “It is a serious problem, and if we’re not creative — and that goes for developers and politicians, everyone needs to really focus and try to help solve this problem. This project, with the amount of units we’ll be able to bring to market, will be able to make a real impact.”

There will be more than 300 workforce housing units, according to Porter. Half of the workforce units will be for those making less than 80% of the area median income, and the other half will be for those making less than 120% of the AMI.

This is the third development plan Porter has created for the site. Initially, he wanted to build a sports center with retail and various other uses. The plan received pushback, and Porter said they ultimately decided to withdraw the plan and “go back to the drawing board.”

With Pinellas County facing unprecedented demand for housing, Porter said his firm decided to focus on apartments. The land is zoned for industrial use, but Porter intends to apply under the new policy St. Pete adopted to take advantage of House Bill 1339, which allows cities to approve affordable housing developments on land zoned for residential, commercial or industrial use.

St. Pete was the first city in Florida to pass an ordinance to build a path for developers to pitch projects under the House bill. In April 2022, the city approved the first development that would take advantage of the policy. Councilmember Copley Gerdes said when the bill was passed, it only required 10% of affordable housing to be included in the project to qualify. When St. Pete approved its ordinance, it expanded that to 30%.

“On this property, we’re talking about 300 units being workforce housing,” Gerdes said. “That moves the needle. I give kudos to last year’s council and the administration for really getting their heads together, getting with developers, understanding what’s best for St. Petersburg and coming up with a number that frankly was stronger than the state required. We know we’ve got something to work on here in St. Pete, so it’s important, and we made it a priority.”

Gerdes said he thinks the city and District 1 — which includes this property — need to “intentionally grow some density.” He said the proposed development is a better fit for the community than industrial. Citing the nearby schools, park, its proximity to both Tyrone Square Mall and several bus stops, he said the neighborhood was designed to be a “densely populated area.”

Porter’s vision addresses the housing crisis St. Pete is facing without “impacting the character of the surrounding neighborhoods,” according to Gerdes.

“I hope this can be really an example of what we can do with larger pieces of property throughout the city when we’re intentional in how we think about them and how they fit,” Gerdes said. “I hope this project really does go a long way to affecting the affordability issues we have in St. Petersburg, and I really think it fits well into what both our council and administration are trying to do going forward when thinking about generational planning for St. Pete.”

Porter intends to submit a site plan to the city within the next week with the hope of going before city council in March. If approved, construction could begin in late summer, and the apartments could start leasing in the third quarter of 2024.

A conceptual site plan obtained through public records shows residences will average 875 square feet. Porter said there will be a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans and some carriage homes with units above garages. They are also planning to build approximately 1,700 parking spaces. The development will include “the traditional amenities for market rate,” according to Porter, including several pools.

Porter said the timing is perfect for the project. As interest rates continue to “slow the for-sale market,” he said there will be increased demand in the rental market. He also predicts construction costs are going to moderate as the overall economy slows.

“I love St. Pete as a market, and I really like west St. Pete in addition to the overall city,” Porter said. “It’s very convenient to downtown; the property itself has a lot of nice characteristics that lend itself to a quality residential development. It abuts the Pinellas Trail, it’s across from Azalea Park, and it’s within walking distance to the Azalea Elementary and Azalea Middle schools. It’s embedded in an existing neighborhood, and it never really made sense to me that it is an industrial property.”