November 2026 Work Plan Update

Thanks to support from our members and board, we made progress on many of the priorities we identified in our 2026 Work Plan and kept momentum in our mission to champion community prosperity through purposeful, transformative projects. This Work Plan update will share what progress has been made over the last couple of months.

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‍Downtown Improvement District‍

The agreement with Williams Park Partnership, Inc. to provide Downtown Enhanced Services was approved by City Council on November 5th. Following this approval, final details including office space and the hiring of the District Manager have been secured. The hiring process for ambassadors will begin immediately.

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Williams Park Partnership‍

Winter Wonder will officially begin on Friday, November 20th. On Thursday, December 10th from 6-8pm, the Downtown Partnership will be hosting our members at Winter Wonder so they can experience the new activation - stay tuned for more details shortly. There will be a ribbon cutting on Saturday, December 19th to unviel the improvements done to the historic bandshell. ‍

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Historic Gas Plant‍

The ULI Advisory Services Panel group will be visiting St. Pete in early December to continue their research through tours of the site and face-to-face interviews with local stakeholders. The public is invited to attend the final presentation on Friday, December 4th from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Center for Health Equity, where the Advisory Services Panel will share its initial findings.

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‍Updated Downtown Land Use‍

Thank you to the St. Pete Chamber of Commerce Transportation and Housing & Land Use Development (HLUD) Committees for their input on the Partnership’s Downtown Land Use Zoning change reccomendations. These include creating a developer fund to support local arts, promoting of greater retail activation with B street to A street conversions, and incentivizing for the development of office space and hotels.

The Partnership will be meeting with the City of St. Petersburg to discuss these reccomendations and combine our visions to roll out a plan in the first quarter of 2027.‍

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Central Ave Walkability‍

The City of St. Petersburg is currently evaluating the engineering and final costs of the sidewalk improvements on Central Ave between 2nd and 3rd Streets. The project is anticipated to move forward in 2027.‍

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Center for Coastal Resiliency‍

We received positive feedback on our $20M request to the Economic Development Administration and on our $3M request to the Pinellas County Employment Sites Grant program for the Center for Coastal Resilency. We are working on minor revisions to the applications, which are due by the end of this week.

The referendum asking the public for approval for an expanded lease on the port from 10 years to 25 years was passed. This will allow the Center for Coastal Resiliency to be developed, bringing together some of the top minds in academia, nonprofit, and businesses who are focused on the Blue Economy in a new facility. This project will continue in 2027. ‍

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Digital Wayfinding‍

We are continuing to work with the IKE staff to determine locations for digital way finding signage as well as with City staff to develop a new ordinance allowing the placement of kiosks in St. Petersburg. This project will continue in 2027.