Developers of Tangerine Plaza, a city-owned strip mall in southern St. Petersburg where the area’s only grocery store shuttered in 2017, are seeking more time and over $22 million in public money to bring a food market and affordable housing there.
Mayor Ken Welch’s administration is recommending that the City Council approve a one-year extension when it meets Dec. 11 for Sugar Hill Group, which submitted its unsolicited offer for the project in May 2022. It had worked with former Mayor Rick Kriseman’s administration on a similar proposal there.
The council narrowly approved a deal with Sugar Hill Group in June 2024 in a 5-3 vote. It gave the group 18 months to secure funding to build affordable housing and find a grocer. But according to documents in the council’s upcoming agenda, the group hasn’t fulfilled either request…