St. Pete is once again sizing up the future of Commerce Park, the long-stalled, three-acre site in the Deuces that sits directly across 22nd Street South from the historic Manhattan Casino. City officials are preparing to sort through seven competing visions for the city-owned parcel, with ideas ranging from an innovation hub to a boutique hotel after years of plans that never quite got off the ground.
The administration issued a request for proposals on April 6 for the roughly 3.03-acre assemblage and asked teams to include site design, financing and a timeline that would allow construction to begin “immediately upon award.” As reported by St. Pete Rising, proposals were due May 22 and the mayor will make the final selection.
The Tampa Bay Business Journal reported today that city staff will now review seven visions submitted for the site. The submissions, described by the paper as spanning everything from job-focused innovation space to hospitality projects, reflect a deliberate shift away from a single-anchor industrial concept.
The RFP calls for a high-quality, mixed-use project that “activates 22nd Street South” and puts mixed-income housing, ground-floor retail and equitable partnerships with small, minority and women-owned businesses front and center, according to Power Broker. That coverage also notes the city appraised the property at roughly $4.525 million and said it would consider either selling or leasing the land.
Commerce Park has had a long and checkered run. The city began assembling parcels in 2007 with a goal of attracting manufacturing jobs, and later efforts to bring in firms such as EMP Industries and Euro Cycles stalled. Parts of the land have since been repurposed, including for the nearby Deuces Rising townhomes, but the core site has remained largely vacant, St. Pete Rising documents show.
What’s On The Table
The packet of proposals covers a wide spectrum, from job-centered concepts like incubators and innovation space to workforce housing and townhomes, and hospitality ideas that include a boutique hotel, according to reporting in the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Some submissions use an owner-representation model rather than a traditional development structure, echoing earlier unsolicited bids such as the Cap Ex Advisory Group proposal already on file with the city; city records show owner-rep pitches have been part of the Commerce Park conversation for years.
Timeline And Next Steps
City staff will now dig into the submissions and Mayor Ken Welch will make a recommendation, with the City Council required to sign off on any development agreement, Power Broker reported. The RFP urges proposers to be ready to build quickly, signaling that the administration wants a near-term project and not another drawn-out round of talks that ends with an empty lot.
Neighbors and business groups along the Deuces corridor will be watching closely to see how the city balances new investment with preservation of the area’s history and culture. The community organization Deuces Live says the corridor’s revival should pair economic opportunity with respect for local heritage, a theme that runs through both the RFP and the proposals now on the table.
