St. Petersburg rejects sole Mahaffey Theater management bid, will reopen search
By Emma Behrmann
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Apr 28, 2026

The city of St. Petersburg will take over Mahaffey Theater management in a little over a week as the search for a new management company is back to square one.

A city evaluation committee rejected the sole proposal the city received at a meeting Monday afternoon. The sole respondent was St. Petersburg Arts Partners, which includes managing partner Joe Hamilton, publisher of the St. Pete Catalyst and co-founder of the St. Petersburg Group that’s revamping the city’s science center. The lack of formal agreements with key partners and the potential risks associated with those loose arrangements led the committee to resolicit the project to secure better-established agreements and to address new competitors.

TO READ MORE CLICK HERE TAMPA BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL