Sugar Hill, runner-up Tropicana Field developer, wants another shot
Sugar Hill Community Partners, the two-time runner-up for redeveloping Tropicana Field under two mayors, want a third shot at redeveloping that land.
Retired NBA star and former Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is the public face of JMA Ventures, the development team that put together the Sugar Hill proposal that competed to redevelop that site under former Mayor Rick Kriseman and current Mayor Ken Welch. Both times, Sugar Hill made it to the final round but was passed over for other development teams. Still, Johnson said they'd love to be considered again.
'Sugar Hill and JMA would be very interested in getting the band back together and would be happy to reengage if the mayor and council thought it'd make sense,' Johnson told the Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday.
In the last days of his term, Kriseman went with Midtown Development out of Miami to redevelop the 86-acre Tropicana Field site, with or without a stadium. Welch never committed to that pick and restarted the process six months into City Hall. Sugar Hill competed again for the Historic Gas Plant District project but lost the bid to the Tampa Bay Rays and Hines in January 2023.
The Rays/Hines deal to build a $1.3 billion stadium and surround it with condos, affordable housing, offices and a new home for the Woodson African American Museum of Florida officially expired March 31. The Rays decided not to move forward, citing rising costs such as insurance following two hurricanes last year.
Welch, however, still wants to move forward with redeveloping the Gas Plant without the Rays or a baseball stadium — unless team ownership changes.
It is not clear what the site would look like since the city must provide the Rays with a stadium and parking through the end of its agreement in 2028. But Welch has hinted that development could proceed without completely restarting the process.
The mayor hails from the Gas Plant, the segregated Black community that was promised jobs and better housing but instead was razed to become the future home of the Trop. He has said any development would have to come with affordable housing and job opportunities.
Developers and other interested parties have already reached out to the city about redeveloping the Gas Plant land. Johnson said his team has not contacted St. Petersburg out of respect for the city's process.
'We love the project, we love the people, we love the city of St. Pete,' he said. 'If there was a clear path, promises made where there was a reasonable probability that there could be a good outcome, of course we'd be interested. As long as it's not a waste of time and money. We don't want to do something that people aren't supportive of.'
Johnson said Sugar Hill is ready to dust its prior plans off.
'We were and we will continue to be the team that had the biggest and broadest representation in the community,' he said. 'And we'd be prepared to bring that team back for this project.'
JMA is about to break ground on Westcourt Orlando, a 1-million-square-foot development around the Kia Center, home of the NBA's Orlando Magic. The project in downtown Orlando will have restaurants, entertainment, high-rise condos, office space, a hotel and a live-event venue.
'Since our last presentation, we continue to build on our team in Florida and are even better situated to lead this project,' Johnson said. 'The city could call their counterparts in Orlando and ask how good we've been to work with and how excited they were about the project.'
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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