ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For seven years, Tangerine Plaza in South St. Petersburg has sat mostly dormant.
In fact, with the last grocery store gone from the plaza in 2017, the area has been federally declared a “food desert.”
What You Need To Know
- Development deal announced for St. Pete's Tangerine Plaza
- Plaza has sat without a main grocery tenant and most empty since 2017
- Partnership with New Urban Development out of Miami to build 115 affordable housing units and then discuss a grocery store
- MORE COVERAGE: New offers to purchase Tangerine Plaza
But now there are new plans for the plaza, located in the 1700 block of 22nd Street South.
Some of the main concerns for development were creating enough affordable housing and bringing back a grocery store to the area.
The Sugar Hill Group development team announced that it has secured a partnership with New Urban Development out of Miami to build 115 affordable housing units.
Developers also announced they are in discussions with several prospects, but they can’t secure a deal until they have site control, which must be approved by St. Pete’s city council.
As of right now, the former vendor Walmart is still paying rent. Walmart left the plaza in 2017 and previous tenant, Sweetbay, went out of business in 2013.
“It’s hard for you to sell something that’s not yours,” said Rev. Louis Murphy. “You can’t negotiate the sale on your house unless you own your house.
“Until we have sight control and then we can really start serious negotiations with some of the tenants that we have been. But we’re excited for the ones that we’ve spoken with. And they’re going to have to want to come into this community.”
The Sugar Hill Group now plans to present the updated plans to the city of St. Pete for approval.
They hope to sign a new development agreement by this summer.
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