Overlooking Round Lake, the new four-story, four-store building will replace an empty adult living facility.
By SHARON L. BOND
Published January 18, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - A small strip shopping center to be called Round Lake Arcade is planned for a site on Fourth Street N where an empty adult living facility stands.
The 7,600-square-foot arcade will take up the entire block between Seventh and Eighth avenues and face Round Lake. Developer Clark D. East of Central Development Enterprises is teaming with Tony Fernandez to build the four-store center, which already is fully leased.
Tenants include: Moe's Southwest Grill, Super Cuts hair salon, Planet Smoothie and Crispers, a soup and salad restaurant owned by the Publix grocery chain.
"We hope to break ground in 90 to 120 days," East said.
The existing structure will be torn down. Demolition could start within the next 60 days.
This moves the redevelopment of Fourth Street N closer to downtown, where new construction and rebuilding continue. On the stretch of Fourth Street N south of 22nd Avenue, seven new businesses have opened in the past couple of years, existing businesses have moved to the area and buildings already there have remodeled and welcomed new tenants.
East, the developer, was involved in finishing the renovation of the Bradford Coachhouse in the 1900 block of Fourth Street N into Outback Steakhouse, Panera Bread and Practically Pikasso, a pottery studio. Alltel is taking the space between Outback and Panera, he said, and some space for lease remains on the second floor.
Boosting the rejuvenation of that part of Fourth Street N was the resurrection of the Sunken Gardens building that now includes Carrabba's Italian Grill and the Great Explorations museum as well as the entrance to the gardens.
Cornerstone Community Bank has a contract to buy the vacant parcel of land south of Outback, East said. He originally planned a strip center there until the deal with the bank. The parcel is 33,000 square feet in size, he said.
If it goes through, the bank will be a 3,000-square-foot branch that will be its sixth in Pinellas, said Robert L. "Skip" Carr, president and chairman of Cornerstone. Currently under construction is a Cornerstone branch at 38th Avenue N and 58th Street.
Cornerstone just finished its fourth full year of operation with $140-million in assets, he said.
Carr declined to say how much the bank agreed to pay for the property.
It is going through the standard checks on the site to make sure it fits what the branch needs and also considering restrictions Outback has on the use of the property. For example, Carr said, the steakhouse doesn't want any business operating after 6 p.m. on the spot, which for the bank is no problem.
Cornerstone's headquarters is at 6300 Fourth St. N. Carr said putting a branch about three miles away makes sense because the new branch would be in a position to serve the Old Northeast neighborhood and is not that far from downtown.
"Our customer base for this office (headquarters) is primarily north of 38th Avenue. This is an alternative to trying to find something downtown."
Because the bank still is in its due diligence phase, no construction start date has been set, Carr said.
South of the Outback site and closer to where the arcade will be built, new businesses in the past few years include CVS Drugstore and Starbucks coffee shop, each in their own new buildings. In the remodeled Davenport Building next to Starbucks are Tijuana Flats restaurant, the Pine Shop furniture store, Reciprocity, a consignment shop, and offices.
