Image courtesy of Porter Development
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Les Porter’s vision for bringing the booming youth sports tourism industry to the densely-populated Pinellas County is clear; the path to get there, however, is not. Porter, whose family runs the commercial real estate development firm, Porter Development, has been pursuing his vision to bring a $60 million state-of-the-art sports complex to the County for the past five years.
As a developer, Porter knows land availability is quite rare in Pinellas County, Florida’s most densely urbanized county. For any new project, redevelopment is a requirement. He also understands two crucial truths – the need for quality indoor sports facilities in the area and the economic success that youth and amateur sports tourism has brought to markets such as Panama City Beach, Florida and Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
“We have a fantastic market in terms of tourism, obviously. Youth sports tourism would be wildly successful here,” Porter said. “And we have a need for these types of facilities for the local sports community as well.”
Last year, Porter, proposed a solution that would have Porter Development convert underutilized land into a sports haven that would benefit residents and draw more tourists to the St. Petersburg area. Building it would require thinking outside normal city limits and pursuing the powerful potential of a private/public partnership. Would a city in Pinellas County work with a developer to help create a community sports complex?
Porter found the answer after researching the suburban city of Largo. His company proposed building a $60 million, multi-sport recreation complex on 88 acres, revitalizing a former city landfill. Development plans included 40 pickleball courts, 16 volleyball courts, eight basketball courts, a fitness center, sprinting track, meeting spaces, esports area, a climbing course, and even an artificial lagoon for swimming, kayaking, and other water sports.
Image courtesy of Porter Development
Porter envisioned the center filling a big void for active Pinellas residents wanting modern community athletic facilities, while also supercharging the region’s youth and amateur sports tourism opportunities.
When Largo Mayor Woody Brown heard about Porter’s vision, he was excited about the potential of his city’s underutilized site. He also knew a sports complex of this size would not be something his city, or any other in Pinellas County, would be able to create with limited municipal resources of their own.
“Most cities our size can’t develop anything like what Les wanted to develop. We’re not going to build 30 pickleball courts. We’re going to build two in this park and maybe two in another park. And if they are popular, we might build a couple more,” Brown explained. “We don’t have anything in this county that can host large-scale tournaments for indoor athletics such as basketball and volleyball,” Mayor Brown added.
While providing a standout recreational venue for residents was key, the primary goal for Porter was increasing tourism to the St. Petersburg-Clearwater area. In 2021 alone, according to Sports Travel Magazine, the sports tourism sector generated $39.7 billion in direct spending. Porter knew the natural beauty of Pinellas County would draw athletes and their families with fervor to ‘stay and play’ in this vacation hotspot. He envisioned the Pinellas County Tourist Development Council, which manages the county’s hotel tax receipts, joining the partnership as well, to further subsidize operations as needed. Similar CVB involvements have been hugely beneficial to two other cities in Florida – Naples and Panama City Beach. Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, the county’s tourism and convention bureau could market the venue for regional and national sports tournaments, leagues, and other events. “There needs to be a public component to it. Whether that’s a municipality with some underutilized land they want to repurpose for this use, or a tourist development council contributing dollars to make a facility like this successful – or both,” Porter said.
Brown also envisioned tremendous employment growth associated with the complex, especially for young people. When the mayor combined that element with the corresponding increase in nearby restaurant traffic and hotels filling to capacity on tournament weekends, he too became a strong proponent of the facility. The Central Pinellas Chamber of Commerce saw the benefits to nearby businesses and residents and also gave their emphatic endorsement.
Image courtesy of Porter Development
Porter’s vision would certainly have come to fruition if public-private partnerships were the only consideration. Nearby residents began to speak out against the possibility of converting the retired landfill, a quiet, benign neighbor, into a busy, nationally marketed sports venue bringing traffic and, to some naysayers, chaos. The landfill was also close to a popular downtown park, and rumors spread that the park would be converted as part of the proposed regional sports center. When the rumors arose, so did the opposition.
To be able to sell the property and transfer any redevelopment challenges of the landfill to Porter Development, the city of Largo sought voters’ approval in a referendum last fall. The proposal lost by only six percentage points – with a vote of 53 percent no to 47 percent yes.
Porter sees the defeat as a mere setback. He’s been working on his public-private sports complex ideas for more than five years. He remains convinced it’s going to happen somehow, somewhere, in a county that has two dozen cities and towns. As more and more municipalities develop sports tourism by embracing new partnerships, sources of funding, and creative ways to convert underutilized land opportunities, Porter believes those success stories from across the country will convert any negative local perceptions.
“I believe scarcity of land is the main reason why Pinellas County doesn’t have a sports facility yet. You must be creative. We’re looking for opportunities where we can combine several properties and put together enough acreage to build the complex that makes sense,” Porter said. “Or we’re looking for some city-owned property that can be repurposed.”
The five-year investment of time has only strengthened Porter’s desire to bring sports tourism to the place he calls home. A previous effort to convert a former Raytheon site to a sports complex was thwarted when the county chose to have the land remain zoned for industrial use. As he goes back to the drawing board, the third time will hopefully be the charm for Porter. The vision of one man can ultimately have ripple effects that benefit thousands daily. When Porter finally finds a public partner for his project, his tenacity will prove to be a huge win for Pinellas County.
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