Bill Edwards is an American businessman. He owns numerous properties in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Biography

Edwards grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He served in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, earning a

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

. After the war, he moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

and entered the mortgage business. Born Edward Francis Sylvia III, he changed his name to William Larry Edwards when he moved to Detroit. Edwards served as president of Mortgage Investors Corp., which the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

'' described as the "nation's largest VA mortgage lender" in 2005. In 2013, the Edwards-owned Mortgage Investors was fined $7.5 million for violating the federal do not call list. That same year, Edwards negotiated a sale of Mortgage Investors to HomeBancorp, but the deal was never completed. After the failure of the deal, Mortgage Investors stopped making new home loans and laid off the majority of its staff. In 2015, two mortgage brokers that never did any business with MIC sued Edwards, alleging that Mortgage Investors had defrauded veteran home buyers and the

United States Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers a ...

Property ownership

In 2009, Edwards bought the Treasure Island Tennis & Yacht Club. In 2011, he won the right to manage the Mahaffey Theater. Edwards also owns Big3 Entertainment, which has produced records for artists such as

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The current lineup of the band consists of Zander, Nielsen ...

. In 2011, he bought the BayWalk in downtown

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. In 2014, the BayWalk reopened as Sundial St. Pete. In 2014, Edwards bought a block of

known as the Tropicana Block.

Sports ownership

In 2013, Edwards bought a controlling interest in the second-tier

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

soccer club, then playing in the North American Soccer League. The team has played in the

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

since 2017. Edwards hoped to move the Rowdies up to Major League Soccer, the league above the USL. He operated

Al Lang Stadium Al Lang Stadium is a 7,500-seat sports stadium along the waterfront of downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, United States which was used almost exclusively as a baseball park for over 60 years. Since 2011, it has been the home pitch of the Tampa ...

for the city of St. Petersburg, and owns the nearby McNulty Station parking garage and a Rowdies-themed bar and restaurant. In October 2018, it was announced that Edwards had sold the club to

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

, the area's

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

franchise, who announced plans to purchase the Rowdies and assume control of Al Lang Stadium. In November 2016, Edwards filed a complaint against the Rowdies' arch-rival, Fort Lauderdale Strikers' holding company, Miami FC, LLC, over money loaned to the struggling club. Edwards claimed that the team had failed to pay him back $300,000 in loans. He sought damages and foreclosure on Fort Lauderdale's assets in the lawsuit. A signed promissory note showed that the collateral put up to secure the loans included the team's patents, copyrights, trademarks, rights to use of the name "Fort Lauderdale Strikers" along with other tangible assets. In May 2017 Edwards was awarded a summary judgment in the case, and after a June 2017 public sale, gained control of the copyrights, trademarks and any rights to the use of the name "Fort Lauderdale Strikers" or any variation for $5,100. He has yet to announce what he plans to do with the Strikers brand.

Political activities

Edwards donated $1 million to the campaign of Florida Governor Rick Scott and $4.6 million to the

2012 Republican National Convention The 2012 Republican National Convention was a gathering held by the Republican Party (United States), U.S. Republican Party during which Delegate (American politics), delegates officially nominated former List of governors of Massachusetts, Ma ...

. He donated $350,000 to the presidential candidacy of

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Bill Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from New Bedford, Massachusetts United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War United States Marines American real estate businesspeople North American Soccer League executives Tampa Bay Rowdies Tampa Bay Rowdies executives USL Championship executives