Pinellas Park sells parcel in emerging Creative District to local artist
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Feb 15, 2023

The city of Pinellas Park has taken the next step in making its Creative District a haven for the arts community after city council voted to sell a parcel in the district to a local artist.

Last month, the city, acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, voted to sell its property at 5705 Park Blvd. to Derek Donnelly, a local artist who has been a tenant at the location for six years with Donnelly COVE, a gallery and studio space in a shipping container structure. City Manager Bart Diebold said the 5600 block — aka the Pinellas Park Creative District — has formerly underutilized properties that the city began intentionally utilizing for the arts community.

The emerging district has a growing concentration of artists and creative businesses. It runs from the 5600 block north of Park Boulevard to Park Station at 5851 Park Blvd. Businesses like Donnelly COVE, SwARTz Gallery, Pompei Studio, Bottles Pub and the Pinellas Park Art Society fill the district.

Diebold said cities have to invest if they want to have a thriving art community. He said Pinellas Park is making that investment and more opportunities for ownership within the unofficial district may soon be coming down the pipeline.

Donnelly’s plans for the site were one of four proposals submitted to the city following a notice of intent to dispose of the property. Donnelly is a lifelong resident of Pinellas Park and was one of the first artists to be involved in the Creative District.

“The partnership between the city, the citizens and the creative professionals in the area is something we should all be very proud of,” Donnelly wrote in his proposal. “This partnership has helped change the perception of our area while providing a safe place for artists of all disciplines to culminate, collaborate, create and inspire people of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds.”

He offered the city $170,000 for the property and said he would repair some of the issues at the site, including the roof, air conditioning units and floors. Donnelly said he intends to spend his life “utilizing this property for the continued cultural advancement of Pinellas Park and cross-pollination of art communities across the nation and globe, making this one of the most sought-after culturally enriched areas in the USA.”

Donnelly said Pinellas Park’s decision to allow him to purchase the property solidifies his place in the community — an option he feels is not often offered to artists. He said the area generates a lot of interest in Pinellas Park, and artists are paying attention to how the city is preserving the creative community.

He said there hasn’t been a push from any other municipality in the Tampa Bay area to encourage a kind of permanence for the creative cultures. Donnelly said artists played a key role in shaping St. Petersburg into a standout destination in the county. The arts, he said, is business despite often not being recognized as an economic driver. It benefits the local economy because it can be utilized by every industry.

“Pinellas Park seems to be the first to understand that,” Donnelly said. “We’ve done all kinds of things here to try to cross-pollinate with different creative cultures in the area. I think Pinellas Park will be, in some capacity or another, where artists are headed. We are given ownership opportunities here, and it’s not happening anywhere else.”