Local investors are offering $260 million in cash to the city of St. Petersburg to buy the 86-acre gas factory district after the Tampa Bay Rays announced they were walking away from an agreement to build a new baseball stadium on the property.
In a letter to Mayor Ken Welch and city council members, Thompson Whitney Blake, founder of the private equity firm Blake Investment Partner, outlines plans to “separate real estate from the MLB team.”
“We’ve failed for 20 years,” Blake told the Tampa Bay Times. “It’s time to try something new.”
Blake Investment Partners respects Rays Lease based on the estimate that the team is vacant in 2027.
Blake told the Tampa Bay Times that he would be willing to work with the team if he wanted to build a new stadium on the site, but that development of the remaining facilities should not be conditioned on the ballpark.
The letter did not elaborate on what would be constructed precisely in the gas factory district. But Blake said his vision was to have separate companies develop fragments for each site, rather than having one developer do it all.
“It’s like trying to eat a whale at once,” he said. “Let’s break this and make the most of the best from the private sector and develop this in the block.”
This is not Blake’s first foray into major real estate developments. Founded in 2003, Blake Investment Partners builds properties nationwide, including 20 projects in St. Petersburg. The company oversees the redevelopment of the Jim & Heather Gills YMCA, and has bets at popular local restaurants such as Trophy Fish, Perry’s Pouch and El Cap.
According to the letter, Blake’s investment partners have allowed $500 million in vertical construction and said they are ready to begin on the day Rays’ leases increase.
The city has the opportunity to retain ownership of up to 15 acres for the park and two acres of the Woodson African American Museum. Blake said the city would allow the land to be built with affordable housing, but that was not included in the offer letter.
The letter provides the county with a 99-year lease on 15 acres of the convention center.
Blake said the ownership structure gives the city and county full control of the elements of the project, which are most important to them, rather than leaving it to the mercy of out-of-state developers.
Blake Investment Partners agreed to immediately pay the city the $60 million needed to cover the repair costs of the Tropicana Field. The remaining $200 million will be paid when the Rays Lease expires in two years.
Blake said his company will pay for all the roads, electricity and other infrastructure it needs at the site. His company does not seek tax cuts or other incentives.
Blake Investment Partners already has funding from investment companies in New York, but Blake hasn’t said which.
The offer is well below the $331 million valued land, but Blake said he believes the valuation is overvalued.
In contrast, the rays were set to pay $105 million for the land.
“It means people can step up and put their mouths in their mouths and separate those who will actually help this administration solve this issue,” Bake said.
