Tampa developer wants to buy St. Pete site previously targeted for Moffitt facility
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: May 3, 2023

Tampa-based Third Lake Partners has offered St. Petersburg $6 million for a city-owned parking lot that was once part of a proposal for a Moffitt Cancer Center facility.

The parking lot is at the corner of the 800 block of Second Avenue South and was once targeted for the development of a cancer facility, residential tower and parking garage. Moffitt and its partner, Atlanta-based TPA Group, offered the city $5 million for the property. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch killed Moffitt’s proposal in August 2022, saying it didn't include enough affordable housing.

The bid doesn't specify what Third Lake plans to build on the property, but it agrees to "begin construction of the development on the property within five years," according to the letter of intent.

"We remain very bullish and very excited about the continued prospects for development in downtown St. Petersburg," said Ken Jones, CEO of Third Lake. "We feel as though this property is very strategically located and believe that it will dovetail nicely and be synergistic with whatever happens on the Tropicana Field site whether that’s a year from now or five years from now."

Third Lake Partners is offering the city $6 million for the site “as a starting point for property market value,” according to the non-binding Letter of Intent for the acquisition of the property. In November, the company purchased UPC Insurance’s headquarters at 800 Second Ave. S for $10.5 million, according to a Pinellas County deed. The purchase included the 40,588-square-foot headquarters building and a small surface parking lot.

Third Lake's unsolicited offer has triggered an open bid process. Any developer wishing to submit a proposal for the site must submit a bid by 10 a.m. on May 31.

Jones told the Tampa Bay Business Journal in November that any plans they had for the UPC headquarters site “will dovetail very nicely with any other surrounding development that occurs in the coming year." He said they could have it continue to exist as an office building or may redevelop it into a mixed-use site.

In December, Third Lake Partners purchased four more parcels from UPC Insurance near the former headquarters, including an office building and vacant land used as surface parking, for $6.5 million. The office building is directly across from the headquarters building and the other purchases include a string of properties along Third Avenue S.

The properties are just a few blocks from Tropicana Field, where the city is in negotiations with the Tampa Bay Rays and Hines development team for a major redevelopment effort. The team has pitched a 7 million-square-foot mixed-use community surrounding a new ballpark for the Rays.