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St. Petersburg may add to skyline

Another condo tower is planned for St. Petersburg's waterfront. It would be the second tallest building downtown, after Bank of America.

By SHARON L. BOND
Published January 28, 2005

[Courtesy of Opus South Corp.] The 29-story condo, called 400 Beach Drive, would be one of St. Petersburg's tallest buildings. Plans call for 92 condos and a ring of shops at street level -- but no 13th floor.

ST. PETERSBURG - Another luxury condo tower could begin rising as early as June on Beach Drive, the fourth such highrise for the upscale downtown street in recent years.

At 29 stories, the project, called 400 Beach Drive, would be only 25 feet short of the Bank of America tower, the city's tallest building.

The most expensive condo would have 7,000 square feet and would cost $4-million - a half-million more than the penthouse being built in a tower still under construction next door.

The new project would have 92 residential units with a ring of stores at ground level on Beach Drive and Fourth Avenue NE.

The smallest units would be about 2,400 square feet - the size of a typical American home - with prices starting in the $700,000s.

The developer is Opus South Corp., which is building the luxury complex Parkshore Plaza in the adjacent 300 block of Beach Drive NE. The company announced almost two years ago that it had bought the 400 block of Beach from the John M. Hamilton family and intended to put a luxury condo project there.

"It's very similar to Parkshore (in the setup)," Jerry T. Shaw, senior vice president of the Opus operation in Tampa, said Thursday. "The tower sits back. It will have a lot more green space."

For comparison's sake, the recently announced Trump Tower Tampa will include 190 units with sizes slightly smaller than 400 Beach Drive but ranging in price from $700,000 to more than $6-million.

Shaw said the design of 400 Beach Drive will be more contemporary than the Mediterranean look of Parkshore.

Partially surrounding the tower, which will hold 81 condominiums, plans call for a two-story building with stores on the first floor and 11 residential units on the second floor. Prices and details on those 11 units are not yet set.

The tower, which actually numbers 30 stories because the 13th floor will be omitted, will be about 360 feet high, Shaw said. The Bank of America building, the city's tallest, is 386 feet. The Hamiltons at first tried to work with a developer who would lease the land. But the planned luxury complex called the Villas stalled in 2002.

The current plan for the 400 block has fewer units but larger ones than Opus originally proposed. Opus settled on a single tower to fit better with the rest of Beach Drive.

The proposal has initial approval from the city, but still must obtain permits.

When 400 Beach Drive is complete in 2007, Beach Drive will have four condominium towers built in the past decade: the Cloisters, the Florencia, Parkshore Plaza and 400 Beach Drive.

Others new to downtown during the same time include Vinoy Place, four towers built next to the Renaissance Vinoy Resort, and McNulty Lofts on top of a seven-story garage. Still more are in the planning stages.

Numerous small condo projects also have been built and several existing buildings have been converted to condominiums.

Parkshore Plaza, the Opus project in the 300 block of Beach Drive, will have 29 stories and 97 units in the tower surrounded by lower buildings that will have 21 townhomes and flats as well as retail and restaurants. Initial prices at Parkshore ranged from $268,000 for some units in the lower building to as much as $3.5-million for the penthouse .

Shaw said Thursday all but one of the units in the tower were sold while five of the 21 townhomes remain available.

These residential units have been credited with sparking the downtown renaissance. As residents moved in, they required support services, such as BayWalk, a retail/entertainment center that opened in 2000, and University Village, a shopping center with a long-wanted downtown grocery that opened in 2003.

[Last modified January 28, 2005, 05:08:39]