Projects
EDGE District Improvement Projects
Since spearheading the EDGE District Improvement Plan, we have been working on many priority projects to implement that Plan.
EDGE District History Project
In an effort to preserve the history of the EDGE District, since 2015 we have been researching, promoting and advocating to protect that history.
Baum Avenue Beautification
One of our district improvement projects is beautifying our historic Baum Avenue corridor. Currently we are working on an avenue improvement plan.
DISTRICT IMPROVEMENTS
The EDGE District Improvement Plan – a.k.a. EDGE Master Plan – involved two years of development reflecting a successful partnership between the EDGE BDA, the City of St. Petersburg, and the Plan consultants, AECOM.
In 2014, we requested $150,000 funding for the Plan from the Penny for Pinellas fund, and then worked with the City to select the consultant team to create the Plan. We defined five main priorities for the Plan’s scope: (1) improving the aesthetics of the district; (2) enhancing a sense of business district identity; (3) encouraging investment in the EDGE District; (4) increasing opportunities for businesses, property owners, residents, and other stakeholders; and (5) providing an implementation strategy and budget for improvements and programs. After a thorough process of community engagement, the Plan was finished in late 2016. See full plan.
Within days of the Plan’s approval, the EBDA began working with the City to start implementing the Plan with projects. The first six were:
1. EDGE Parking Garage;
2. EDGE District Gateway Markers;
3. Baum Avenue Compactor Stations
4. Landscaping Refresh;
5. Streetscape Improvements;
6. District-wide Banners.
To date, all are completed or currently underway. For details, see below.
DISTRICT HISTORY
The EDGE District History Project began in 2015 with three important goals:
1. Gather EDGE District history;
2. Conduct the first comprehensive Historic Structures Survey of the EDGE District;
3. Promote the EDGE District’s history.
We started by gathering any and all historical information, images, and materials relating to the early decades of the district’s development, including the history of each building still standing. We continue to collect oral histories, photos, postcards, or other materials that further reveal the EDGE District’s past. In 2016, we conducted an official EDGE District comprehensive Historic Structures Survey. That survey identified fifty-five EDGE District buildings 50 years or older, and of them, thirty-five that were “contributing historic resources” eligible for either individual nomination or to support an EDGE Historic District nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. See Survey. To promote highlights of the history we had discovered, we also created an EDGE District brochure with Historical Points of Interest (see below).
Importantly, we have also been working with property owners and developers to preserve and protect buildings in the district of historic significance. We compiled a list of “Existing Structures of Historic Value to Save” and publicize that list on our website (click here). In that effort, in 2020 we were able to successfully advocate for the preservation of our oldest building in the district, 900 Central (formerly the St. Petersburg Hotel). See Newsletter.
Loading…
Reload document 
Open in new tab BAUM BEAUTIFICATION
One of the priority implementation projects from our EDGE District Improvement Plan has been to beautify Baum Avenue, our historic “first” corridor. After City Council adopted our Plan in 2016, we began spearheading incremental changes on Baum Avenue, starting with consolidation and removal of trash dumpsters to make way for community trash compactors, and a visioning process for additional projects. In 2021, we held a community forum to discuss the projects we envisioned, including undergrounding utilities, restoring the brick street surface, enhancing building façades, installing new street lighting, furnishings & landscaping, and providing more pedestrian-friendly, non-vehicular uses of the avenue. For our forum presentation, click here.
We also began spearheading a Baum-specific Improvement Plan, working with the City to hire professional consultants to help us bring our vision together. WSP, a globally recognized firm with successful local partnerships, was hired and is currently with us and the community on the Plan. Expected completion is April 2023. On October 11, 2022, a stakeholder forum was held (see recording here), and a community survey distributed.