TAMPA - One of St. Petersburg's most active developers has purchased a marina on Gandy Boulevard in Tampa and plans to build a $350-million residential project with pricy condos overlooking Old Tampa Bay.
Grady Pridgen paid $25-million this week for the Imperial Yacht Basin, where he wants to build 500 homes over the next eight years, a mix of high-rise towers, low-rise buildings and townhomes. The development, not yet named, will also have a neighborhood retail center and 150-slip marina.
The location will appeal to home buyers looking to avoid a long commute. Some 500,000 people work within 15 miles of the site - in such places as the West Shore district, downtown Tampa and the Gateway area north of St. Petersburg.
Tampa has already approved the site for up to 500 homes and structures as tall as 200 feet, or from 10 to 14 stories, Pridgen said. He expects condos in the development to be priced from $300,000 to $600,000.
Pridgen said he intends to submit building plans for the retail center first and begin construction by the end of this year. Wachovia has agreed to finance the entire project, he said.
The development could get opposition from neighbors. Al Steenson, president of the Gandy Civic Association, worries that the area might be too congested to handle more growth. Just to the south on Westshore Boulevard, WCI Communities plans to build a 500-unit development called Westshore Yacht Club on the old Westinghouse Electric site.
"What I'm concerned with is that the city is playing a constant game of catch-up," Steenson said. "They have not kept up with the infrastructure ... transportation, utilities. The water pressure in South Tampa stinks."
Pridgen got his start locally with Barger Builders-Developers, for years the Tampa Bay area's top seller and lessor of warehouse and industrial space.
He started his own company in 1993, developing industrial projects in the Gateway area. They included the 40-acre Gateway Business Park at Gandy Boulevard, home to Jabil Circuit Inc., and Gateway Business Centre, which houses Lockheed Martin, Hunter Douglas Fabrication Co. and Airborne Express.
Pridgen has moved into residential projects with mixed results. Cypress Park, a 70-lot project in Tarpon Springs, and Portofino on Venetian Bay in St. Petersburg, with 48 home lots, are under construction, he said.
In October 2001, he paid St. Petersburg $4.9-million for the 122-acre tract known as the "sod farm" on 28th Street N between 94th and 102nd avenues. Pridgen planned to build manufacturing buildings, offices, parking garages, restaurants, shops, condominiums and apartments on site. But he suffered a setback in March when Pinellas County commissioners passed an ordinance essentially creating a 2,000-foot separation between the county landfill in the Gateway area and any future apartments or homes.
