The Former Raytheon Site in St. Pete Is About to Become More Than 1,000 Apartments
By Sam Bertini, M.S., B.S. | August 31, 2026
Photo Credit: St. Pete Catalyst
For years, the former Raytheon property in West St. Petersburg has been one of those sites that feels strangely out of place in a city experiencing so much development.
The roughly 29-acre property at 1501 72nd Street North sits near Tyrone Square, Azalea Park and the Pinellas Trail. While development has continued across other parts of St. Pete, this large former industrial property has remained vacant and gone through multiple redevelopment concepts.
That is finally beginning to change.
Porter Development is moving forward with plans to transform the property into Azalea Gateway, a large multifamily community planned for approximately 1,058 apartments across three phases. The developer's current project information says roughly 30% of the units are intended to have a workforce housing component.
The Tampa Bay Business Journal reported in July that a September 2026 groundbreaking is planned for the project. Neighborhood updates also indicate that vertical construction is expected to begin this September, following site activity and municipal approvals earlier this year.
For a property that has spent years waiting for a viable next chapter, that's a substantial shift.
It is also another indication that St. Petersburg's growth story is extending well beyond downtown.
From a Former Industrial Property to a New Residential Community
The history of this particular site makes the redevelopment more complicated than simply clearing an empty parcel and building apartments.
The property was previously used as an office, research and laboratory facility for ECI, a division of defense electronics company E-Systems. Raytheon later acquired E-Systems. Soil and groundwater contamination had been discovered at the property in 1991, and monitoring later showed polluted groundwater migrating beyond the site. A treatment facility was subsequently constructed nearby.
That history has followed the property through years of redevelopment discussions.
Porter Development's plans have also evolved. Earlier concepts included a sports tourism complex before the current multifamily proposal emerged. The developer describes the present residential project as the third direction considered for the property.
Now, the plan centers on housing.
Azalea Gateway is expected to be built in multiple phases rather than appearing all at once. Current developer information puts the eventual buildout at 1,058 units, although public documents from different stages of the approval process contain slightly different unit totals as plans have evolved.
Either way, the scale is significant.
A thousand-plus homes would create an entirely new residential population on land that currently contributes very little activity to the surrounding area.
The Location Makes This Project Particularly Interesting
Much of the attention surrounding St. Petersburg development naturally gravitates toward downtown.
That's understandable.
Downtown St. Pete has undergone a remarkable transformation, and major projects continue to reshape its skyline and surrounding districts.
Azalea Gateway tells a different version of the city's growth story.
The property sits in West St. Petersburg, southeast of the intersection of 22nd Avenue North and 72nd Street North. Tyrone Square and other commercial properties are located to the north, the Pinellas Trail runs along the eastern side of the property, and Azalea Park sits immediately to the west. Existing residential neighborhoods surround other portions of the site.
This isn't a downtown tower squeezed onto an urban parcel.
It is a large-scale redevelopment capable of changing the activity around an established section of the city.
That distinction matters.
St. Petersburg's continued growth increasingly requires the city to think about where new residents can realistically live outside of its most visible downtown development districts. Large parcels capable of accommodating substantial numbers of new housing units aren't appearing out of nowhere.
Redeveloping underused or obsolete properties is therefore becoming an important part of the conversation.
More Than 1,000 Apartments Means More Than 1,000 Front Doors
The immediate story is housing, but a project this large doesn't exist in isolation.
New residents change the economics of the surrounding area.
More people living nearby means additional potential customers for restaurants, retailers, fitness businesses, healthcare providers, professional services, entertainment, home services and countless other local businesses.
That doesn't guarantee every nearby company suddenly experiences a surge in revenue.
It does change the size and composition of the local customer base.
For businesses around the Tyrone and West St. Pete area, that's worth paying attention to.
Population growth can create opportunities for established businesses while making an area more attractive to new competitors. Commercial operators may begin looking differently at nearby locations once hundreds of additional households are moving into the immediate market.
Over time, the economic impact of a residential development can spread much farther than the property line.
The Project Also Comes With Infrastructure Work
Putting more than 1,000 apartments on a former industrial site requires infrastructure capable of supporting them.
Local neighborhood information about the project indicates that work along 72nd Street North is expected to include new roadway infrastructure, including dedicated turning lanes intended to accommodate traffic entering the development.
That is part of what makes major redevelopment projects so consequential.
People see the finished apartments.
Behind them is an enormous amount of work involving civil engineering, site preparation, utilities, drainage, roads, environmental considerations, permitting, construction sequencing and coordination between private development and public infrastructure.
Phase one carries some of that burden for infrastructure that will ultimately serve the larger site. City documents previously described the redevelopment as occurring over approximately six years, underscoring that this is a long-term transformation rather than a single construction season.
For Tampa Bay's construction industry, projects like Azalea Gateway also represent a significant pipeline of work.
A Project This Size Touches a Lot of Tampa Bay Businesses
The developer may be the name attached to the project, but developments of this scale involve a much larger ecosystem.
Architects and engineers are part of that ecosystem. So are general contractors, subcontractors, equipment companies, material suppliers, landscapers and other specialized businesses involved at different stages.
As construction progresses and residents eventually begin moving in, another group of companies becomes relevant.
Property management, maintenance, security, cleaning, telecommunications, signage, technology and other operational services can all become part of the life of a large multifamily community.
This is one reason development news matters beyond real estate.
A $200 million residential project, as the Azalea Neighborhood Association describes the current plan, represents years of economic activity involving businesses that may never have their names on the entrance sign.
The Workforce Housing Component Matters
The sheer number of apartments is likely to get most of the attention, but the planned housing mix deserves attention too.
Porter Development says approximately 30% of the project's units are expected to have a workforce housing component. The developer has specifically connected the project to the region's housing affordability challenges and the need to increase supply.
Public plans for the first phase have included income-restricted units at different Area Median Income levels. City documents have described the broader redevelopment as including hundreds of affordable and workforce units.
That's meaningful in a city where housing costs have become a major part of the growth conversation.
Adding supply alone doesn't resolve every affordability problem, and a project of this size shouldn't be expected to solve St. Petersburg's housing challenges by itself.
It does add a substantial number of homes to the city's inventory while incorporating units intended for households at specified income levels.
The scale makes the project difficult to ignore.
Growth Outside Downtown Changes How We Think About St. Pete
St. Petersburg's identity has become increasingly tied to its downtown renaissance.
Restaurants, residential towers, arts and culture, the waterfront and major redevelopment proposals understandably dominate much of the conversation.
But a city doesn't grow only from its center.
West St. Pete has its own commercial corridors, neighborhoods, parks, schools and established businesses. Adding a residential development of this magnitude introduces another population center into that existing fabric.
That could influence where businesses choose to locate and how surrounding properties are eventually used. Increased residential density may also affect transportation patterns and demand for nearby services.
The interesting part won't simply be watching the apartments rise.
It will be seeing what changes around them afterward.
For Nearby Businesses, New Residents Create Opportunity but Not Automatic Customers
There is an easy assumption that population growth automatically benefits every existing business nearby.
Reality is more competitive.
New residents arriving in an area have to decide where they will eat, shop, exercise, receive healthcare, hire home services and spend their time.
They don't automatically choose the business that happens to have been there longest.
They search.
They look at Google Maps, read reviews, visit websites, ask neighbors, join local groups and discover businesses through social media.
That creates an opportunity for companies already operating around West St. Petersburg, but only if those businesses are easy to find and give new customers a reason to choose them.
For local business owners, major residential development should be viewed as more than construction news.
It can be an early signal that the market around them is changing.
Contractors Should Be Watching Where Tampa Bay Is Building
There is another reason projects like Azalea Gateway deserve attention from Tampa Bay businesses.
Development creates development.
A major residential project can generate demand beyond its own construction contracts. Surrounding commercial properties may change hands or be renovated, new businesses can enter the area, and existing operators may invest in their properties as the local market evolves.
For contractors, engineers, construction companies and other businesses serving the built environment, understanding where population and investment are moving can be useful business intelligence.
You don't need to be working directly on Azalea Gateway for the project to eventually affect opportunities in the surrounding market.
The same principle applies throughout Tampa Bay.
Watching where housing, infrastructure and commercial investment are being built can provide an early look at where future customers may be.
The Former Raytheon Site Has Been Waiting for a New Purpose
Perhaps the most interesting part of this story is simply how dramatically the property is about to change.
A long-vacant former industrial site that has been discussed, reconsidered and reworked for years is moving toward becoming a residential community housing potentially thousands of people.
That transformation won't happen overnight.
The project is planned in phases, and the ultimate completion of later phases remains something to watch as development progresses. Neighborhood reporting has noted differing levels of confidence about whether all planned phases will ultimately move forward.
September's expected groundbreaking is therefore not the end of the story.
It's the beginning of a much longer one.
Another Piece of St. Petersburg Is Changing
St. Petersburg's growth is easy to see when a new tower changes the downtown skyline.
Projects like Azalea Gateway are quieter from a regional perspective, but their impact can be just as interesting.
Turning roughly 29 acres of vacant former industrial land into more than 1,000 apartments changes how that piece of the city functions. It introduces housing where there was none, puts more customers near existing businesses, creates years of construction activity, and adds another significant development to West St. Petersburg.
For residents living nearby, the changes will also come with legitimate questions about construction, traffic, infrastructure and how the finished development fits into the surrounding neighborhoods.
Those conversations will continue as the project moves forward.
For now, September 2026 represents an important milestone.
After years of proposals and planning, the former Raytheon site appears ready to start becoming something completely different.
And for West St. Pete, that's a development worth watching.
Tampa Bay Is Growing, & Local Businesses Should Be Growing With It.
Major developments like Azalea Gateway don't only change the skyline or housing supply. They change where people live, where money is spent, and where new business opportunities begin appearing.
Tampa Branding Studio helps local businesses throughout St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay build the visibility they need as the market around them changes through website design, SEO & AEO, branding, professional photography and video, social media management, and digital marketing.
FAQs
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The former Raytheon property at 1501 72nd Street North is planned to become Azalea Gateway, a large multifamily residential development in West St. Petersburg. Current plans call for approximately 1,058 apartments constructed across multiple phases on the roughly 29-acre site.
The redevelopment is significant because the property has remained vacant for years despite its location near established neighborhoods, Tyrone Square, Azalea Park, and the Pinellas Trail. Turning such a large former industrial property into housing introduces an entirely new residential population to a part of St. Pete that hasn't received the same level of development attention as downtown.
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A September 2026 groundbreaking has been reported for the Azalea Gateway development, with vertical construction expected to begin as the first phase moves forward.
The entire development won't be completed at once. Plans call for a multiphase buildout, meaning construction and development activity could continue for several years. Because large projects can experience changes to schedules, financing, permitting, and later phases, the September milestone is best viewed as the beginning of the property's redevelopment rather than a firm timeline for completion of all 1,000-plus apartments.
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Yes. Porter Development has stated that approximately 30% of the planned units will include a workforce housing component, making affordability an important part of the overall development.
That distinction matters in St. Petersburg, where the cost and availability of housing remain major concerns as the city's population and economy grow. One development cannot solve the region's affordability challenges, but adding hundreds of income-restricted or workforce-oriented units alongside market-rate housing represents a substantial addition to the local housing inventory.
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A development this large could put hundreds of new households within a short distance of existing restaurants, retailers, healthcare providers, fitness businesses, professional services, and other local companies.
The impact could extend beyond consumer spending. A growing residential population can influence commercial investment as businesses and developers reevaluate demand in the surrounding area. Existing properties may be renovated, new businesses may enter the market, and services catering to residents could see additional opportunities.
For established West St. Pete businesses, the advantage is being present before those residents arrive. However, proximity alone won't guarantee their business. New residents will still use Google, reviews, websites, social media, and recommendations to decide where to spend their money.
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Azalea Gateway is noteworthy because it shows how St. Petersburg's growth is expanding beyond the high-profile development happening downtown.
As available land becomes more limited, large underused properties elsewhere in the city become increasingly important to future housing and development. The former Raytheon property offers an example of how an obsolete industrial site can potentially be repurposed to accommodate a significant number of new residents within an already established part of St. Petersburg.
Its impact could eventually reach well beyond housing. Construction activity, infrastructure improvements, additional customers for nearby businesses, and potential investment in surrounding properties could all follow as the site develops. For West St. Pete, the bigger story isn't simply that 1,000-plus apartments are being built. It's what happens to the surrounding area once thousands of people begin calling this part of the city home.
About the Author
Sam Bertini, M.S., B.S.
Sam Bertini is the Founder and Creative Director of Tampa Branding Studio, a Tampa Bay marketing and branding studio specializing in business growth through strategic websites, local search visibility, AI search optimization, and content marketing. She holds a Master of Science in Business Intelligence, and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, bringing together analytical thinking, creative strategy, and a deep understanding of how businesses build authority online.
Sam works with organizations across a wide range of industries, helping them strengthen their digital presence, improve discoverability, and position themselves for long-term success in an increasingly AI-driven search landscape. Beyond client work, she writes extensively about Tampa Bay business news, local economic development, branding, search marketing, entrepreneurship, and the technologies shaping the future of customer discovery.
Areas of Expertise: Business Growth Strategy, Branding, Website Design, Local SEO, AI Search Optimization (AEO/GEO), Business Intelligence
