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Will build - or sell

Plans for a tower downtown move forward, but the property is also on the market.

By PAUL SWIDER
Published October 1, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Another piece of the city's would-be skyline may not come to pass as a developer puts the property up for sale.

"We are moving forward. We have our plans. But it's on the market," Sheldon Perl, with La Vista Investments, said of the proposed 25-story mixed-use development slated for the corner of Fifth Street and Third Avenue N.

La Vista's site plan was approved by the city's Environmental Development Commission last November, but the city has received no plans since then. The proposal at the time was to raze four 1920s apartment buildings on the site - Parkview Apartments, with 19 units, Baywalk II Apartments, with 31 units, Krane's Landing Apartments, with 16 units, and Devoe Apartments, with 31 units - and replace them with 196 condominiums, 6,000 square feet of office space and 307 garage parking spaces.

Perl said he is still planning to begin construction on the $40-million project early next year and have it completed in 2008. Though the real estate market has slowed in the city and region, Perl said that's not why he's shopping the project.

"I don't gauge the market by what the newspapers say," Perl said. "We're very confident with this market. Basically for fun we put it out there."

Two other major projects stalled in the past several weeks. Windward at the Harborage on Third Street S closed its sales office in August and returned deposits to some of those who planned to buy its 52 condos because it hadn't sold enough units to get construction funding. A 15-story, 108-unit development called Residences at 601 Central announced a delay last month as its financiers also felt the chill of the cooling market.

Perl said his project does not depend on presales for financing, so the market now is of no concern. He also said that any slowdown is on upscale projects, not the 800- to 1,000-square-foot, $350,000 to $450,000 units he's planning for La Vista.

"St. Pete is still hot," Perl said. "For the size we're putting in, they're standing in line. The only ones that have stopped are those in the seven figures."

Perl also said a quiet hurricane season coupled with leveling or dropping interest rates will only push the market forward. While real estate sales are down across the country, they are off less in Florida and especially St. Petersburg.

Perl did not disclose a price for the La Vista project and its land. The developer paid $7.75-million for the 1.28 acres in February.

Paul Swider can be reached at 892-2271 or pswider@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 1, 2006, 08:27:51]