Bright Community Trust's Affordable Homes Plan for South St. Pete

0:00A nonprofit called Bright Community Trust wants to turn four empty city-owned lots in South St. Pete into five cottage-style affordable homes. Each would have two bedrooms, one bath, and about 900 square feet aimed at folks making up to 80% of the area median income. The city put out a notice last week inviting other groups to pitch competing ideas for the site at 2013-18th Avenue South. You got until Friday, May 22nd, at 12 p.m. to submit, then the mayor picks one to send the city council. This fits Bright's long game with community land trusts, where they own the land forever and lease it cheap are 99-year terms. That keeps prices low now and locks in affordability for resale, like for a two-person household capped at $66,800 a year. They built hundreds of homes this way, including a couple spots in St. Pete set to finish by year's end after the city greenlit their last pitch, and they're cranking them out for around $250,000 each.

1:01All this hits as 18th Avenue South booms with projects like Tangerine Plazas, 186 affordable units, Habitat's new town homes, nearby fresh spots like a coffee shop, and big city plans for a community center revamp, prime time for more stable homes in the mix. Tampa Bay News today, powered by AI bringing you what matters. I'm Corey with The Story.