Former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker will leave his post as director of the USF Research Foundation and Innovative Partnerships on December 31 to begin working for St. Petersburg multimillionaire real estate mogul Bill Edwards.
Baker will work as the president of The Edwards Group, the company that owns and oversees the soon-to-be-revamped Baywalk complex, Big 3 Entertainment concert promotion company, a number of real estate holdings, hotels, and Downtown St. Pete's Mahaffey Theater.
Bill Edwards targeting Baker to fill this position because he saw and liked the way St. Petersburg grew under his leadership from 2001 to 2010 according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Over the past few months, rumors began to circulate that Baker might run for the St. Petersburg Mayor position again, but those prospects are now squashed as Baker says he has "no plans to run for office at this time".
But, Bakers leadership skills aren't the only reason he's a good candidate for The Edwards Group. His past political connections could easily prove fruitful if he works as somewhat of a lobbyist for Edwards' interests. Even so, he's got the blessing of current St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster who called Baker a "deal maker".
Although Baker did improve many aspects of St. Pete, including the downtrodden area of Midtown, during his run as mayor from 2001 to 2010, the move is ironic due to the fact that the Baywalk complex opened under Baker's rule in 2001 before dwindling into a near-empty retail hub Edwards hopes to revitalize.
