Twin high-rise apartment buildings will soon rise on land that was once proposed for Moffitt Cancer Center’s expansion into St. Petersburg.
While Mayor Ken Welch passed on Moffitt’s offer for the downtown site in 2022, he says the cancer institute could still find a home in the city.
In a report by the St. Pete Catalyst, Welch says he has remained in contact with Moffitt leadership about building on other locations “that made sense in the city.”
The original $350 million proposal would have paired Moffitt’s three-story, 75,000-square-foot facility with a 30-story residential tower and 14-story hotel developed by Atlanta-based TPA Group.
Moffitt and TPA Group offered the city $5 million for the 3.05-acre site and an abutting parcel in 2022. However, Welch scrapped the plan due to its lack of affordable and workforce housing units and a discounted sales price.
Last week, the city council approved a $225 million development on the property that will include two 31-story apartment towers.
Welch tells the St. Pete Catalyst the other locations under discussion could give Moffitt a larger footprint.
Tampa-based Moffitt has eyed Pasco County and St. Petersburg for expansion, prioritizing the former when the TPA Group proposal was rejected.
Moffitt’s 360,000-square-foot Pasco facility, which will anchor the 775-acre Speros innovation life sciences campus in Land O’ Lakes, is slated to open in January.
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