Mayor Ken Welch’s administration announced Thursday that Tangerine Plaza’s developers secured a commitment from Taste of the Islands to provide the South St. Petersburg neighborhood’s first grocer since 2017.
However, the city council did not receive a copy of the letter or any additional details before approving Sugar Hill Group’s second request for additional time to complete redevelopment requirements. The letter, received Wednesday and subsequently obtained by the Catalyst, states that the developers and Taste of the Islands, Inc., “share a common goal” of revitalizing a site within “a federally designated food desert area.”
Sugar Hill will dedicate approximately 3,000 of the mixed-use development’s 10,000 square feet of commercial space to Taste of the Islands Marketplace, adjacent to but no longer affiliated with Taste of the Islands Restaurant, according to a representative from the latter business. The market’s social media page notes that it offers “hard to find Caribbean and Latin products” at 2219 34th St. S. – about 1.5 miles from Tangerine Plaza…