St. Petersburg Reaches $7M Agreement To Purchase Downtown Rail Corridor for Trail Development

St. Petersburg struck a deal to acquire nearly one mile of CSX Transportation rail line. The price? $7 million. Officials want to transform it into a downtown trail that will link the Historic Gas Plant District with the Pinellas Trail, stretching from 1st Avenue South up to 5th Avenue North.

CSX Transportation said yes to the city's conditional offer on Oct. 15. Transportation and Parking Management Director Evan Mory confirmed this in an email. Here's the twist: CSX had originally pegged the property's worth at $87.9 million through an appraisal. But they dropped the price because of limitations — the land can only be used as a trail, and there's a chance rail service could come back someday.

Where's the money coming from? The city will put up $1 million. Mark Ferguson, who owns Ferg's Sports Bar, will chip in $4 million. Ellison Development adds another $2 million. If City Council gives the green light, those businesses will spend $6 million to construct the trail and then lease sections back from the city for 99 years.

"The City of St. Petersburg and CSX have been duking it out, but they were able to negotiate and come to terms of settlement. And this is a win-win for both the city, CSX and the residents in general," said Councilman Corey Givens, Jr., according to Bay News 9.

This rail line has caused headaches for years. Back in 2019, officials took CSX to court after discovering the company wanted to sell to someone else, even though the city had been maintaining the land and hoped to turn it into a trail.

A judge told both sides to hash out a sale. The corridor cuts straight through parts of Ferg's Sports Bar and slices its parking lot north of Central Avenue in half, which has blocked permanent buildings for decades.

“Just like the Beltline in Atlanta, the more trails you have, the more people will use them. More people will be off the roads and more people into businesses,” Ferguson said.

The agreement gives officials first dibs on buying more CSX-owned sections farther north if they go up for sale. City Council should vote within 30 days.

Money will flow from the Intown West Tax Increment Financing district and the Parking Revenue Fund. Givens says those funds might dry up as soon as 2032.