ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A $6 million contribution from Ferg’s Sports Bar owner Mark Ferguson will help fund the city’s $7 million acquisition of a nearly mile-long abandoned rail corridor, after St. Petersburg’s City Council voted unanimously Thursday, July 9, to approve two 99-year ground leases advancing the planned Booker Creek Trail.
The arrangement gives St. Petersburg ownership of the former CSX corridor, with sections leased back to Ferguson, whose sports bar and neighboring property have sat on that ground for more than 30 years. City officials anticipate finalizing the purchase before the end of the month.
Plans call for turning about .86 miles of the dormant rail line into a shared trail for foot traffic, cycling, and scooters, running from downtown’s core through the EDGE District and past the Tropicana Field area. City officials frame the corridor as serving two purposes at once, a public amenity and a driver of economic activity, aimed at building out a pedestrian-friendly route through one of downtown’s fastest-expanding zones.
Design work for the trail is still underway, and construction funding has not yet been fully identified. Once construction begins, city officials estimate the project will take three to five years to complete.
City officials confirmed Ferguson’s lease on the adjacent property stretches back 33 years, and he said the new arrangement lets him keep using the land for his business once the lease-back takes effect. Ferg’s Sports Bar opened in 1992 on the site of a former gas station, predating the city’s Major League Baseball franchise.
The trail investment comes as uncertainty continues to surround the nearby Historic Gas Plant District, an 86-acre site adjacent to Tropicana Field. Blake Investment Partners has emerged as Mayor Ken Welch’s preferred developer for the site, though the deal is not yet settled. Negotiations remain ahead, and council members serving in the future would retain the authority to modify or scrap the arrangement. The future of the Tampa Bay Rays, who have not signed a new stadium agreement, also remains unresolved.
City officials did not provide a specific projected cost for the Booker Creek Trail’s construction phase.