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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 6, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- The Kress Building, opened in 1928 as a five-and-dime at the corner of Central Avenue and Fifth Street N, now is on the National Register of Historic Places.
"The application has been grinding its way through the bureaucracy, but I just got the designation last week," owner George Rahdert said of the official notification Friday. Rahdert, a lawyer, has renovated a number of older buildings downtown, including the Kress. He represents the St. Petersburg Times on First Amendment cases.
The four-floor Kress Building, which also has a basement and partial mezzanine, now houses a variety of businesses, from an art gallery on the street level to an employee leasing company in the basement to high-tech firms on the upper floors. The building now is fully leased, Rahdert said.
Rahdert bought the Kress in 1996 and has renovated the space as tenants moved in, saving as many of the original details as possible.