Several businesses in St. Petersburg, Florida, have joined forces to offer the city a new $6.8 billion plan for the historic Gas Plant District, potentially heralding the end of the aging Tropicana Field stadium should the Tampa Bay Rays refuse to stay past 2028.
Ark Ellison Horus, a joint venture involving investor Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest, Ellison Development and Horus Construction, made a 98-page unsolicited proposal to city officials for a mixed-use neighborhood named after a pair of large natural gas cylinders. The proposal comes after the collapse of a previous plan from Hines and the Major League Baseball team.
“More than a redevelopment project, the Historic Gas Plant District is a transformative, master-planned initiative designed to create a self-sustaining innovation ecosystem,” the Gas Plant District redevelopment plan states.
The master plan, designed by Baker Barrios Architects, calls for 3,701 residential units, 1,543 hotel rooms, 1.15 million square feet of high-end office space, a museum, academic and research facilities, and a 6.7-acre elevated park over Interstate 175 meant to reconnect the neighborhood, which was cut off from the rest of the city by the highway’s construction.
St. Petersburg city officials did not immediately respond to CoStar News’ request for comment about the proposal.
The redevelopment is expected to be completed in four phases — named Woodson, Flagmon, Dunmore and Webb City — across 95.5 acres around Tropicana Field over the next decade, with plans to demolish the aging stadium should the Rays’ new owners relocate the professional baseball team.
“The Gas Plant District can become a magnet for venture capital, entrepreneurs, and research talent, seeding the next wave of world-changing companies right here,” said Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, in a statement from the development team. She added that the plan would combine educational, cultural and business opportunities within a single neighborhood.
If approved, the first phase of the project would begin work next year with a 50,000-square-foot museum, 446 affordable housing units, 15,000 square feet of street-level retail space, an upgraded streetscape along the city’s 16th Street corridor, and 600 parking spaces across a 7.77-acre area.
Expected to cost $343.8 million, the developers expect to finish the first phase in 2028. Phases 2 and 3 would follow over the course of 2027 until 2040, with the potential demolition of Tropicana Field slated during Phase 3. Finally, Phase 4 would include the neighborhood’s new offices.
The proposal arrives after a prior deal between the city of St. Petersburg and a joint venture between the Tampa Bay Rays — at the time led by Stu Steinberg — fell apart in the wake of delayed repairs to the 1990s stadium following Hurricane Milton in 2024.
While St. Petersburg is currently investing over $55 million to repair Tropicana Field, the Rays have since been acquired in a $1.7 billion deal by a group led by Jacksonville-based developer Patrick Zalupski. The baseball team scheduled all of its 2025 season home games at Tampa’s George M. Steinbrenner Field, a minor league facility 17 miles east of St. Petersburg.
Repairs at Tropicana Field are expected to be complete by next year, with the team’s lease at the stadium set to expire in 2028.