St. Pete church proposes residential development
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 27, 2023

Palm Lake Christian Church has plans to transform the vacant portion of its property on 22nd Avenue N into a residential development.

The church at 5401 22nd Ave. N filed a site plan with the city of St. Petersburg that shows plans for a three-story building on the northeast side of the property designed as housing for those living with disabling conditions. It will have a total of 72 beds.

The church also wants to build 14 one-story casitas — or garden cottages — on the property’s northwest side. The units will feature one or two bedrooms and surround a community garden.

The existing sanctuary, church offices, memorial garden and recreation area will remain. OutsideIn Architecture designed the project.

Andrea Cate, board chair at Palm Lake Christian Church, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal the church has been on the property since the 1950s and has long had a mission of serving the needs of its community.

Her father, Rev. J.W. Cate Jr., served as a city council member for 20 years and was a former chairman of the St. Petersburg Housing Authority. He was the pastor of Palm Lake Christian Church for 33 years. The J.W. Cate Recreation Center was named in his honor following his death in 2004.

Palm Lake Christian Church currently sits on approximately 8.3 acres, the majority of which is undeveloped. Approximately five years ago, a charter school approached the church asking if it could use a portion of the property to build a high school. After much consideration, the church decided that wasn’t their vision for the property but recognized how underutilized the space was.

They began to search for the best use for the site. The ongoing housing crisis quickly became a priority, but they hit roadblocks because of property zoning. During the pandemic, House Bill 1339 was passed, 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 that outlined a path for developers to create projects under the House bill. Several developments have now sprung up using the ordinance, and the church hopes they will soon be the next on the list to add housing to the community.

“We really hope this is trend-setting,” Cate said. “We have a vision of other churches that have property coming to similar designs, and we can help lead them through the process. We wanted to make sure that whatever we did with this site that it met the community’s needs. As we were looking at the housing crisis develop in St. Petersburg, we also learned there was a seven-year waiting list at some of the housing for those with disabling conditions. We knew we could help change that.”

Cate said the church slowly began doing the research to make this vision a reality and met with neighboring communities to get their support for the plan.

While churches occasionally create housing — usually senior housing projects — it rarely occurs on the same property as the church. With so little undeveloped land left in Pinellas, Cate said she hopes churches begin to look at how they can make a difference.

“The church has a moral responsibility for the members of their community and beyond,” Cate said.

Because it is applying under the House bill, the proposal will only need one hearing for approval from the city council, which it will seek in March.