City of St. Petersburg to Host Groundbreaking Ceremony for New Southwest Water Reclamation Facility

City of St. Petersburg to Host Groundbreaking Ceremony for New Southwest Water Reclamation Facility Operations Building

May 29, 2026 - Members of the media are invited to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for the City of St. Petersburg's new Southwest Water Reclamation Facility Operations Building at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 3, at 3800 54th Ave. S.

The event will feature remarks from Mayor Kenneth T. Welch, City Council Chair Lisset Hanewicz and several project partners.

Due to limited space at the facility, attendees are asked to park at Eckerd College's Continuing Education Center, 4200 54th Ave. S.

The new, approximately 15,000-square-foot, three-story facility is designed to strengthen the city's infrastructure resilience and improve operational efficiency at the Southwest Water Reclamation Facility. Elevated to 22 feet above sea level to better withstand the impacts of climate change and severe weather, the building will consolidate operations and maintenance functions into a single location while also serving as a potential safe shelter for City staff during hurricanes and other emergencies.

The facility will include multi-purpose rooms, offices, a laboratory, work room, operations control room, bunk room, staff lounge, group locker rooms and an enclosed repair and maintenance garage on the ground floor. Occupied spaces will be located on the upper two floors.

The project is partially funded through an $8.9 million grant from the State of Florida's Resilient Florida Program. The total project cost is estimated at $18 million.

The project supports Mayor Welch's Environment, Infrastructure and Resilience Pillar for Progress. It is part of the City's St. Pete Agile Resilience or SPAR program, an accelerated approach to strengthening infrastructure. Project partners include AJAX Building Company and PBK Architects.