Do you live in an older home or neighborhood, or own a building that is more than 50 years old? Interested in learning how to research that historic home or building? Or better yet, how to maximize its financial potential? Perhaps you’re just a history buff that loves the charm and character that St. Petersburg’s historic buildings and neighborhoods offer to our city?

If any of these apply to you, the Preservation Summit and Expo on Friday, May 19th is an event worth attending. Hosted by Preserve the Burg and the Pinellas County Preservation Board, the summit is a hybrid of how-tos and policy discussions for the homeowner and the developer alike. The schedule is chock full of speakers and vendors who can educate you on the ins-and-outs of historic homes and buildings. Best of all, it is totally free to attend! 

The day-long workshop (10 am – 3 pm) takes place at the Museum of History and includes presentations on how to build an accessory dwelling unit, how to use archives and databases to research your historic home, techniques for restoring historic windows, and even how to preserve precious family photos. For the policy minded, there will be a 2023 Florida Legislative Session Recap from Melissa Wyllie, CEO of the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, as well as a session on Affordable Housing from Andrea Galinski of the UF-Shimberg Center for Housing Studies.

Developers can learn more about putting Historic Preservation tax incentives to use from someone who has done it successfully for decades – Bob Mayer of MR Capital Investors, who will be joined by Derek Kilborn from the City of St. Petersburg’s Planning and Preservation department. 

Manny Leto, Executive Director of Preserve the ‘Burg observes, “We recognize that historic preservation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It has a lot to do with the type of city we want to be, and can include things like transit, affordability, and walkability. These things are all related. So the summit is going to be a great mix of policy dialogue on things like affordable housing and walkable communities, but it will also appeal to the  homeowner that wants to learn about restoring or researching their historic home, or even how to navigate the process of building an accessory dwelling unit on their property.”

There really is something for everyone. You can even join in a “behind-the-scenes” tour of the host site, the St. Petersburg Museum of History.

And did I mention it’s free? 

I’ll see you there!

For more information, and to see the full schedule of speakers, visit their website here.