With credible players and welcoming neighbors, water-view homes and shops are planned near downtown.
By SHARON L. BOND
Published December 24, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - The luxury condominium tower, the big engine propelling downtown's renaissance, is moving south.
A group of investors, represented by a former mayor, announced plans Tuesday to build a mixed-use project at 1100 Third St. S, on both sides of the street. The largest part would contain a 14-story condominium building.
The $40-million project would rival BayWalk in cost and sit on the border of Midtown, a depressed area of town the city is trying to revitalize. Its closest neighbors would be the Salvador Dali Museum, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
Called the Harbourage Marina Village, it would feature 55 condominiums ranging from 2,900 square feet all the way up to a penthouse of 8,300 square feet. The cheapest would be $430,000. The priciest, $1.3-million.
The condos would add another amenity to the standard luxury mix: waterfront access. For another $2,200 per year, buyers could obtain slips at the adjoining marina.
Targeted buyers are "people from other areas of the state who wish to be on the water and have their boats nearby," said John R. "Jack" Ball, who is vice president for acquisition for Harbourage Development Corp., the investment group. Former Mayor Randy Wedding is architect and agent for the group.
Harbourage Marina Village was announced Tuesday in the office of Mayor Rick Baker.
"I hope this will develop as a gateway to the Old Southeast neighborhood and to an extent, the Bartlett Park area," Baker said. "In this part of the city, you've got Publix (at University Village), the Madison (luxury apartments), Carlton (Towers) with its midpriced condominiums (the Beacon on Third Street) and USF's planned expansion. Everything is fitting together as we move redevelopment south."
Baker said the project could help turn Bartlett Park into a hot redevelopment area much as Kenwood has been on the north side of the city.
Harbourage Marina Village will go before the Environmental Development Commission in February. Wedding said it includes setback variances but said those should not prove controversial. If the project passes the EDC and then is approved by the St. Petersburg City Council, construction could begin in June or July, Wedding said. Occupants probably would not move in before September 2005.
Wedding was among the partners who helped start the downtown renaissance with construction of the Cloisters, a 14-story condominium building that was the first of six luxury towers to be built in the past few years. The Cloisters, which has 32 units, is on Beach Drive NE where another condominium tower, the Florencia, sits and where two others are planned. A few blocks away are the Vinoy Place condo towers.
Ball said the development group bought the 3.7 acres for the project from International Marinas for $4-million. The group includes William E. Barber, a hotel developer; Pamela Weisfeld, who has retail experience; Redding Thomas, a management executive from New Orleans; Harvey Jacoby of Orlando from the hospitality industry; Ball, a longtime property manager in St. Petersburg; and Reuben Cansler of Tampa, who has project management experience.
The condo tower, which will include shops on the ground floor and a parking garage behind it, is planned on the former site of Great Explorations children's museum and a parking lot. It would be terraced back from the street and move from seven to 14 stories to the southwest, Wedding said.
The smaller part of the project would be across Third Street and include a four-story building with marine-related retail, parking, offices and a rooftop restaurant. It would sit where the Old Key West Deli and a parking lot are now.
The news struck a positive note with leaders of neighborhoods nearby.
"Things are improving as it is, but every little bit helps," said Charles Payne, former Bartlett Park president and longtime board member of the neighborhood association. "I think it will be a great asset to the whole neighborhood. Structures of that size will mean more (construction) jobs, and that's always a plus."
Former Old Southeast neighborhood president Karl Nurse called the plans "marvelous."
"A city rots from the core and a city rehabilitates from the water," said Nurse, who also is president of the Council of Neighborhood Associations, a former planning commission member and a mayoral candidate in 2001.
"You are seeing the push from the water in all directions. What people are beginning to discover is that the best land for redevelopment in St. Petersburg is just south of Central Avenue."
- Times staff writer Jon Wilson contributed to this report.
