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Developer buys key downtown corner

He has "spectacular" hopes for the block at Fifth Avenue N and Fourth Street.

By SHARON L. BOND
Published October 12, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - The Medical Arts building at Fourth Street N and Fifth Avenue long has had a neglected look, with three soft drink machines in cages on the sidewalk out front. Darkened windows make it hard to tell whether a business is in there.

Now the building is part of a redevelopment package put together by Blake Thompson of Blake Whitney Thompson LLC.

He said Tuesday he has persuaded the owners of the medical building, St. Petersburg Behavioral Health Center next door, the Blocker Villas and another residential structure to sell for $6-million.

"It's an entryway to downtown," Thompson said of the combined parcels that make up about half the block.

Thompson is involved in development along Fifth Avenue N, where he and partners have renovated an office building, built a small building of flats and started another condominium building. Their aim is to restore available sites from Beach Drive up to Fourth Street.

Initially, Thompson planned to redevelop the medical arts site but said he thought it would be redeveloped faster if it was sold.

"It is a high-visibility corner. I can't point to a better corner in St. Petersburg. Whatever goes in there has to be spectacular."

St. Petersburg is undergoing a renaissance downtown, where numerous condominiums have been built, entertainment center BayWalk opened and a shopping center completed. Now redevelopment is moving west along Central Avenue, where several large condo projects are planned.

In the past few years, development on Fourth Street N has moved south toward downtown.

[Last modified October 12, 2005, 00:19:18]