St. Petersburg is gearing up for a high-stakes vote on the future of its working waterfront. On Thursday, a City Council committee took the first formal step toward asking residents to approve a second building for the Maritime and Defense Technology Hub. The proposed Hub 2 is pitched as a roughly 52,000-square-foot, $30 million research and collaboration center that would rise on a surface parking lot next to the existing facility at the Port of St. Petersburg. Supporters say the expansion would boost waterfront testing access and draw more higher-paying marine science and defense jobs into the city.
The city’s Economic and Workforce Development Committee unanimously backed ballot language for a 25-year lease that would allow the Innovation District to develop the…..