2023 Downtown Development Summit

The St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership will host the second annual Downtown Development Summit on Tuesday, Feb. 28 from 3pm to 5pm at the Palladium in downtown St. Petersburg. Click here to register.

2023 Downtown Development Summit 

3pm to 5pm, February 28

The Palladium, 235 5th Ave N 

The Summit is a once-a-year opportunity for downtown business leaders, property owners, public official, urban enthusiasts and other city builders to memorialize progress made on downtown projects and chart a course forward for smart development. The Partnership will release the 2023 Development Guide, hear from public sector leaders and discuss plans to preserve the aspects of our community that make St. Pete special in the face of unprecedented market pressure and growth.

“This event is designed for public and private leaders to develop a shared understanding of demographic changes, development trends and growth pressures in our evolving urban center,” said Jason Mathis, CEO of the Downtown Partnership. “We are committed to smart growth and to supporting projects that preserve and enhance the attributes that make St. Pete special.”

Key Note Speaker 

Dan Biederman (of NYC Bryant Park fame) will be the Summit’s keynote speaker. Biederman began his career by turning around dangerous and neglected areas of midtown Manhattan. During the 1980s he created Bryant Park Corporation, 34th Street Partnership, and Grand Central Partnership. He currently serves as the President of the first two of those downtown management organizations. His private consulting firm, BRV Corp., grew out of this work and has since served as a consultant and operator of other downtown redevelopment/management efforts in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Newark, among many other cities.

Other speakers will include:

• Mayor Ken Welch

• Gwendolyn Reese, president of the African American Heritage Association of St. Petersburg

• Manny Leto, executive director of Preserve the Burg

• Dex Fabian, founder of I Love the Burg

• Sarah Lindemuth, 2023 Development Guide author and research director of Meshsem, Inc.

• Monica Kile, local historian

• Paul Wilborn, Executive Director of the Palldium

The Development Summit is sponsored by Bandes Construction, Feldman Equities, George F. Young Company, JP Morgan and Smith & Associates.  Members of the Downtown Partnership, ULI Tampa Bay, and urban enthusiasts are invited to attend at no cost.