St. Pete to acquire SPC property for affordable housing project
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Nov 8, 2023

St. Petersburg is moving forward with the purchase of a property at St. Petersburg College and will soon be releasing a request for proposals to build affordable townhomes at the site.

City council unanimously approved authorizing Mayor Ken Welch to execute an agreement with the Board of Trustees of SPC to purchase property at 7045 Burlington Ave. N for $4.2 million. The city will also pay for the surveys, inspections and closing-related costs not to exceed $100,000.

The funds will be moved from the Parking Revenue Fund to the Housing Capital Improvement Fund to pay for the acquisition.

In 2022, SPC put the 5.23-acre site, the Gibbs Wellness Center property, up for sale. The city submitted a letter of intent on Dec. 6, 2022, offering $4.2 million for the site with a proposal to build approximately 105 affordable housing units. The site is roughly 750 feet from the SPC Gibbs campus and 1,100 feet from commercial mixed-use. It also lies just east of the Pinellas Trail.

The property will need to be rezoned, and the city agreed up to 30% of the townhomes would be made available to SPC students and staff on a right-of-first-refusal basis. SPC selected the city to acquire the site, and as part of the agreement, the city will notify SPC 90 days prior to the initial advertising of the housing units, and SPC will notify its staff and students.

Once the city purchases the site, the city will issue an RFP asking developers to submit bids to build approximately 105 housing townhomes. The townhomes will be available for purchase rather than rented. During the meeting, council was told the goal would be to make the units available for those earning at or below 120% of the area median income.