Redevelopment of St. Pete's former Raytheon site moves forward
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jun 6, 2023

Plans for the long-awaited redevelopment of the former Raytheon property could be in front of St. Petersburg City Council by the end of July.

Clearwater-based Porter Development LLC has proposed more than 1,000 apartments on the 29-acre site in west St. Petersburg. Les Porter, president of Porter Development, has said he intends to set aside 30% of the units for workforce housing.

If council does not approve the project, Porter told the Tampa Bay Business Journal he will fall back on Florida’s new affordable housing laws, aka the Live Local Act, to get the property developed. However, he believes the current plan will have a “bigger impact on the community.”

“I’m optimistic it will go forward, but obviously we’re at the mercy of the city council,” Porter said. “If they vote no, then obviously we would fall back on the Live Local Act to move forward with our development. We’re going to develop the property either way.”

The apartments will be built in three phases. More than 300 of the units will be workforce housing units. Half of the workforce housing units will be for those making less than 120% of the area median income, and half will be for those making less than 80% AMI.

This will be Porter’s third attempt to develop the property. Originally, he intended to build a sports center with retail and other uses on the property. After receiving pushback, his team changed the plans.

Under the Live Local Act, many local density, zoning and height restrictions are removed, and the time frame to complete the projects could be shortened. The law allows for affordable housing to be built on land zoned for commercial and mixed use. It also provides $711 million in funding to affordable housing initiatives across Florida.

The Live Local Act requires at least 40% of units — 10% more than Porter is currently proposing — to be set aside for affordable housing. However, to qualify under the new law, developers only have to offer at least 120% AMI, which Porter said “makes more economic sense” for most developers. Under the new law, Porter would have to increase the total number of affordable units by 10% and could forgo the 80% AMI units.

Porter said he believes the 80% AMI “may get lost in this new legislation.”

“We want to live up to what we agreed to with the city and not change course just because we can, even though it would have been a lot less hassle to go through the Live Local Act,” Porter said. “A lot of our decisions in putting this plan together really came from discussion with city staff and what they wanted to see in order for us to be able to utilize the affordable housing ordinance. We feel the [80% AMI] are an important part of the project at this juncture.”

The Live Local Act was signed into law in March, and many developers are waiting to see how local governments will respond. If Porter were to resubmit the project through the new law, he would be one of the first to do so in St. Pete.

Porter said the biggest obstacle to developing in the local market is the amount of red tape developers must jump through before they can stick a shovel in the ground. He said the state legislature heard the concerns from the development community — especially as supply chain issues, labor shortages, and rapidly increasing costs add further stress to projects — and offered a solution to take the pressure off the local governments, which often face backlash from anti-development activists.

Porter said he has held extensive community meetings detailing his vision for the site and addressing concerns from neighbors.

“No matter what you do, no matter the quality of the project, you always get caught in this dilemma of the ‘haves and have nots,’” Porter said. “The ‘haves’ already own a house and have housing and don’t want to be inconvenienced by any more development, and the ‘haves nots’ don’t really get a voice, and we’re going to be their voice on this particular project.”