ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Petersburg City Council approved additional funding Thursday for affordable and workforce apartments to be built at the site of the former Tibbetts Lumber Company on Fairfield Avenue.

What You Need To Know

  • St. Petersburg City Council approved an additional $7.4 million for an affordable housing project on Fairfield Avenue

  • Members originally approved $2.2 million last year, but a delayed HUD loan combined with rising construction costs and interest rates caused the project's budget to balloon

  • The 264 affordable and workforce apartments will be built at the site of the former Tibbetts Lumber Company

  • Construction could begin as early as January

“I’m just so proud that we’re moving this forward,” said Council Member Brandi Gabbard, who mentioned her work with the State Housing Initiatives Partnership’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, or AHAC, during the meeting. “I brag about this project, because when I talk with other AHAC members across the state and they ask, ‘What projects do you guys have going?’ And it’s like crickets because, like I said, a lot of stuff is stalled.”

Members unanimously voted to provide $7.4 million in additional funding to Fairfield Avenue Apartments, LLC to build 264 units. According to council documents, they originally approved $2.2 million for the project last August. A condition of that funding was that the developer show written evidence it was awarded a $56 million HUD loan. Delays in processing that loan reportedly led to project delays and cost increases. Council was told Thursday the loan was held up partly because of increased interest rates, and rising construction costs also caused the budget to balloon. 

“It’s very frustrating, the environment that we’re in,” Council Member Lisset Hanewicz said. “We all want to get these housing units out there as soon as possible, and to have factors like that cause a 225% increase in funding is a huge change for the CRA budget. It’s not just your project — we’ve dealt with this with many projects.”

Economic Development Officer George Smith told council funding is not an issue. He said the CRA money being used was earmarked for affordable housing and hadn’t been set aside for other projects.

The need for more affordable housing in St. Petersburg is something that’s come up in council chambers again and again in recent years, both by members and the public. Lifelong resident Elisha Adams said she learned firsthand this year how hard it is to find an apartment within her price range.

“I never could imagine being in this situation,” Adams said.

Adams told Spectrum Bay News 9 she fell victim to predatory lending and lost her house to foreclosure in March. Since then, she and her teen daughter have been living with her mother while she tries to find an apartment in a safe neighborhood where she can afford rent and also start saving for a new home.

“Slim-to-none pickings,” Adams said of her search. “If you see something, by the time you’re getting ready to call, it’s unavailable. You’re paying fees just to get an application.”

“There is a housing crisis, and we’ve been fighting against that,” said Robin Lockett, regional director for Florida Rising.

The Fairfield Avenue project will include 53 units for households at 50% or less of the area median income (AMI), which council documents show is $39,150 per year for a family of three. There will also be 67 units for those at 80% of the AMI or below, about $62,550 for a family of three, and 144 units for those at 120% of the AMI or below, which is $93,960 for a family of three. Lockett said she’d like to see more units available for households at 50% of the AMI.

“Fifteen dollars an hour was just approved for people to make in the service industry, just over the country. There was a big campaign around that. Where do those people fit? They can’t afford it,” Lockett said as an example of one group where there’s a high demand for affordable housing.

William Kilgore, an organizer with the St. Petersburg Tenants Union, said there are 14,000 renter households in the city that are considered rent burdened, meaning they spend more than a third of their income on rent. He said those are the people who could benefit from the apartments at the project’s lowest AMI level.

“That’s not even a quarter of the units in this building, and yet, they’re getting $10 million from the city of St. Pete now for these cost overruns. They’re getting $12 million from Pinellas County, and they’re getting a loan from the federal government,” Kilgore said. “The developer is still making a ton of profit, and the public has subsidized the entire thing. We find fault with the entire way this is being done.”

Gabbard said during Thursday’s council meeting that the current economy has changed the game for most developers — especially when it comes to affordable housing. She noted that communities statewide are seeing similar projects come to a halt because of that.

“Yes, it’s a big dollar, but we have the money, and we have the money allocated for this need. No one else has come forward for this money. So, I think it is beholden on us, as stewards of that money, to spend the money where we have allocated to spend it. And this project is ready for us to spend it there,” said Gabbard.

Work could get underway on the Fairfield Avenue apartments as early as January.

“You get super excited,” Adams said when asked her thoughts on the project. “But then you wonder how long is the waiting list going to be, because I’m not the only person.”

Construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2025.