No one gets in for under $1.6M

The starting price at a condo development planned for St. Petersburg puts a new notch in Tampa Bay area prices.

ST. PETERSBURG - A 26-story condominium tower planned for downtown will feature one of the highest starting prices in the Tampa Bay area, $1.6-million, evidence of the rising threshold for high-rise living.

Units in the $80-million Ovation development on Beach Drive will range from 3,600 square feet to 5,200 square feet, large enough to be called estate condos, developers say. All units will have private elevators.

Penthouses will feature 360-degree views that include Tampa Bay. The highest price on the penthouses will be in the upper $4-millions.

"I'm quite sure it will be the highest average price (for condominiums) in St. Petersburg," said J. Michael Cheezem, chief executive officer of JMC Communities of St. Petersburg.

Several other condominium projects in the Tampa Bay area offer starting prices that are close to Ovation. Enchantment on Clearwater Beach has starting prices of $1-million while Sandpearl, also on Clearwater Beach, ranges from $920,000 to $2.7-million. Trump Tower in Tampa has starting prices of $700,000 and ranges up to $6-million.

The Ovation development would be in the 100 block of Beach Drive, the fifth condominium scheduled for development along that street since the late 1990s. Construction is expected to begin in mid 2006.

Cheezem said the name Ovation is intended to celebrate the progress in downtown St. Petersburg.

The city is amid a renaissance that has brought in many condominium towers, plus new shopping and entertainment venues.

When it all started in the late 1990s, condominium units that reached into the millions were a shock for a downtown that had been stalled for many years.

For the Ovation project, JMC partnered with the Sembler Co. and developer Jimmy Aviram, both of St. Petersburg.

"We wanted the best residential developer we could find, and it was Mike," said Craig Sher of Sembler. "We think he is as good at what he is doing in residential as what we think we are in commercial."

The Ovation might be choice enough to attract Sembler Co.'s founder, Mel Sembler, who just completed a tour as United States ambassador to Italy.

"I think there is a high likelihood he will own a unit," Sher said. "It's just really an attractive place to live."

The style of Ovation will be contemporary. It will have 13,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor, along with some parking. The next two floors will be parking.

The fourth floor will feature numerous amenities, including a swimming pool and outdoor area with a fireplace under a covered pavilion.

The next 18 floors will have two units per floor, each of them 3,600 square feet. The top four floors each will have one penthouse that measures 5,200 square feet.

Cheezem said sales efforts will be aimed at individuals who want to live in St. Petersburg year round. That could be people still working or retirees who are very active in the community.

"A very important part of this development is that it creates a very strong retail component along the edge. It will help energize and anchor the Beach Drive shopping experience," Cheezem said.

Sembler Co. will lease and manage the retail space.

The company is a longtime developer of shopping centers and other commercial property such as BayWalk, downtown's entertainment and retail complex. Aviram is involved in a number of downtown construction projects, including the Arts Village.

JMC built one of the first new condominium towers downtown, the Florencia, also on Beach Drive. The two JMC projects join two others by Opus South - Parkshore Plaza and 400 Beach Drive - on the street.

In addition, the first in the new wave of condominiums beginning in the late 1990s, the Cloisters, is on Beach Drive.

On Ovation, JMC will be the general partner of the development and in charge of day-to-day operations, Cheezem said.

--Times staff writers Aaron Sharockman and Ron Matus contributed to this report.

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