ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The city of St. Pete is honing in on an area south of downtown known as “The Deuces” and wants to hear from businesses and residents as they shape what’s next for the 22nd Street South corridor.

City staff along with the team from the Imagine the Deuces Initiative is holding a workshop Tuesday night called "Voices from the Corridor.” The public meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Center for Health Equity at 2333 34th St. S. in St. Pete. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and those attending are asked to RSVP online ahead of time.

What You Need To Know

  • City staff plans to update residents on major housing projects and ask for feedback about what they want to see in the future  

  • 2018 Action Plan will be re-evaluated during meeting 

  • Tuesday night's community meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Center for Health Equity

  • RSVP: Voices from the Corridor 

The purpose of the workshop is to hear from those who live and work in The Deuces and nearby Warehouse Arts district to see what they want for the future of the area. At the workshop, city staff also plans to update the community about current projects going on in the neighborhood and talk about the 2018 Action Plan to see if those priorities are still relevant today.

“What we encountered after that plan was done was COVID,” explained George Smith, the city’s economic development manager. “So we had to focus more on trying to address that and the administration changed immediately after that. Then all the focus became on Gas Plant, so now we’re coming back to say OK, there were things that were identified back in 2018, but whether they’re relevant or not… we don’t know.”

The city also plans to give updates on a number of affordable and workforce housing projects in the area as well as the Manhattan Casino, which will undergo renovations in the weeks to come. The Manhattan Casino first opened in 1925 and was home to major artists like Louie Armstrong and James Brown. The venue closed in 1968 and was bought by the city in 2002. It reopened in 2011 and businesses have been in and out of the space since.

It was most recently a food hall and event space, a business venture that lasted about a year. The Manhattan Casino has been vacant since November 2022.

“It had a restaurant and a bar and things just didn’t work out in a manner in which we hoped they would have at the time,” Smith said. “So the administration is taking a step back saying OK… what can be the highest and best use of the facility now? To make sure that we include the community in those discussions.”

Tuesday night’s meeting will be followed by two more:

  • Workshop #2: Tuesday, Feb. 18 | St. Petersburg College Midtown Campus, 1300 22nd St. S.
  • Workshop #3: Thursday, Feb. 20 | WADA ArtsXchange Tully Levine Gallery, 515 22nd St. S.