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IRG Gets Nod For Toytown Mixed-Use Project

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By CARLOS MONCADA | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 22, 2008

CLEARWATER - CLEARWATER - Pinellas County commissioners Tuesday authorized county negotiations with a California company to build a massive retail and office development on the site of the old Toytown landfill in St. Petersburg.

Industrial Realty Group of Los Angeles, which is partnering with Bear Creek Capital of Cincinnati, was the top choice of a county evaluation committee that reviewed four proposals to redevelop the 240-acre site at Interstate 275 and Roosevelt Boulevard in northeast St. Petersburg's Gateway area.

IRG redevelops corporate properties, closed military bases and large vacant buildings nationwide. Bear Creek, a shopping center developer, floated the idea of redeveloping the landfill site to commissioners a year ago.

Tuesday's commission vote allows the county to negotiate with the IRG-Bear Creek team on the terms and conditions of a contract for the sale or lease of the Toytown site, which could take up to six months. The contract would require final approval by the commission.

The IRG team proposes a mixed-use development called The Parks of Pinellas. It would have 1.5 million square feet of retail stores as well as another 1.5 million square feet of office space. Also included would be apartments or condominiums and recreational land such as ball fields and playgrounds. It offered to take over environmental liability and monitoring from the county.

The two-year project would generate an estimated $25 million annually in revenue for Pinellas, mostly from property and sales taxes, and create an estimated 12,300 retail and office-related jobs after construction, the IRG team said.

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