Tradewinds St. Pete Beach Expansion Vote Delayed - Tampa Bay Business Journals

The Sugar Hill Group that wants to redevelop the city-owned Tangerine Plaza shopping center has released their third iteration of plans since they won the bid for the project nearly four and a half years ago. They were first selected by former Mayor Rick Kriseman for the project. Tangerine Plaza was formerly home to a Walmart Neighborhood Market that closed back in 2017. The plaza is on the 1700 block f 22 nd Street S in South St. Petersburg. New plans unveiled on Tuesday include a 10,000+ SF grocery store and 115 units of affordable housing. Roy Binger and Rev. Louis Murphy of Sugar Hill held a press conference on Tuesday to drum up community support prior to their pitch in front of city council which can be expected in the next few weeks. Sugar Hill announced that they have secured a partnership with New Urban Development, the real estate development affiliate of the Urban League of Greater Miami. New Urban Development has delivered over 1,300 affordable housing units through various partnerships and has over 1,500 units in its “current and active pipeline” per the company website. Binger and Murphy, both say it is crucial for the team to receive site control to move forward with securing a grocer for the space. The area was declared a food desert after Walmart closed in 2017. Murphy says they are in negotiations with several grocers for the space, but declined to name them until agreements are finalized. He says the area has many issues, and they want to find a tenant who wants to come to the community. Binger says they are leaning on New Urban Development to finance the affordable housing units, and also mentioned Community Redevelopment Area funds and local and state housing funding could support the project. He mentions site control will be needed before they can assemble a package for the units. Mayor Ken Welch has voiced support for Sugar Hill, but some city Council members have expressed concerns as to how long the project has taken to get started and doubt over whether a 10,000 SF space could secure a long-term grocery tenant. “What we really need you to do is to call city council folk,” Murphy said. “There’s a few on city council that don’t want us to be here, truth be told, but we know we’re going to be here because we believe this is something that is divinely given, and certainly this vision will feature the future of our community.”