Trop Redevelopment Will Live Up to Promises to Black Community, City Leaders Say

St. Petersburg officials have undertaken a broad community outreach effort to ensure the wellbeing of the city’s Black community is incorporated into the redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site.

Developers, who are due to submit proposals by Jan. 15, have been told that equitable redevelopment is crucial to the project, Nikki Gaskin-Capehart, director of urban affairs, told the St. Petersburg City Council Thursday.

The 86-acre Trop site is the largest redevelopment opportunity in the city, and has been described by Mayor Rick Kriseman and others as a “generational development.”

The site occupies the former Gas Plant neighborhood, a thriving Black community. To pave the way for Tropicana Field, 285 buildings were bulldozed, more than 500 households and nine churches were relocated, and more than 30 businesses moved or closed. Promises were made to the Black community at that time, for jobs, housing and economic opportunity.

Read more about the City's efforts to ensure the well-being of the city’s Black community is incorporated into the redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site on the St. Pete Catalyst.

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