Development refuses to hit the pause button, as one surprising feat is followed by another.
By SHARON L. BOND
Published November 23, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - Soon after all the shops at University Village are open in mid December, building will begin again.
Two large residential projects near the new shopping center are scheduled to start before the end of the year. Both were announced months ago, but the coincidence of their start time with University Village's completion makes them appear to be the next runners in the downtown construction relay.
Seven years after building began on the Cloisters luxury condominium tower, the first big downtown project, construction hasn't stopped.
"There has been no other time in the history of the city that has been like today," Mayor Rick Baker said recently. He spoke last week before the Real Estate Investment Council, ticking off all that is going on in a downtown that 10 years ago looked deserted.
During the renaissance, four luxury residential towers, a large luxury rental complex, an entertainment/retail center, a hotel and numerous small residential projects have been built. Others are on the planning board.
City officials say more than $1-billion has been invested in the downtown area in the past 10 years.
Still, the perception remains in some places that downtown is just as sleepy as it used to be. Thus Baker, city development officials and several downtown builders laid out the progress in detail last week at the investment council meeting.
The council, whose membership comes from the Tampa Bay area, usually meets in Tampa. The 170 or so who came to the St. Petersburg Hilton were given downtown progress update booklets, PowerPoint presentations and speeches.
"Welcome to St. Petersburg, where you can actually live in downtown," said moderator Craig Sher, president and chief executive officer of the Sembler Co., which has two downtown projects: University Village and BayWalk.
"We are pretty aggressive about getting the word out about St. Petersburg," said Ron Barton, director of Economic Development and Services for the city. His department prepared the booklets, which first were used on a brokers tour in October.
"We have to tell our neighbors across the bay as much as our neighbors in Connecticut," Barton said. "You can't take for granted somebody 30 miles away knows about the changes."
University Village, on the Dew Cadillac site, is the latest, bringing a long-sought chain grocery to downtown. The $8.1-million project is the second new commercial complex to be completed downtown. The first was BayWalk, the $40-million entertainment/retail complex that opened in 2000.
University Village is anchored by Publix and nine other shops, plus an Eckerd drugstore in the next block. Publix opened Nov. 13 with Hollywood Video, one of the nine, and Eckerd following quickly.
The rest of the shops are supposed to be open by mid December, the same time Echelon Real Estate Services LLC plans a ceremony atop its seven-story garage at 101 Second St. S. It won't be a groundbreaking.
"We are probably going to cut a ribbon. It's going to be called a "raise the roof ribbon cutting,' " said Mark Stroud, president of Echelon Real Estate Services, which plans to build five stories of lofts on top of its McNulty garage.
When the 740-car parking structure was built in 1997, its foundation was made strong enough to carry several more floors. Echelon originally thought it would add office space, but demand proved greater for living quarters.
Stroud said the first thing passers-by will see at the beginning of the year is steel that will be hoisted atop the garage with a crane. Then comes precast concrete that will be put in place on the steel trusses. The garage will remain open.
Sales of the lofts have been good, Stroud said, but the 85-unit project is not sold out. In fact, units with views are left.
A few blocks away on Beach Drive NE, construction will begin on Parkshore Plaza, a 29-story condominium tower that will have luxury units but also more moderately priced townhomes. It is a mixed-use project and will feature retail shops along Beach Drive.
Opus South Corp. is the developer of Parkshore Plaza, which will have 118 units. That project is supposed to get started before the end of the year. Standing in its way is the Beach Park Motor Inn, which will be torn down in December.
Opus also has plans for the 400 block of Beach Drive NE, but will not start that one until Parkshore Plaza is finished.
