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Changes lie ahead for old gas station

Retail and office space will be sold along with condos in an area where a surf shop also stands.

By PAUL SWIDER
Published October 15, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - One of the holes in Fourth Street's redevelopment should get filled next year when an 11,800-square-foot retail-office-residential complex rises at 11th Avenue N.

Russ Van Zandt of Bright Sands LLC plans to raze an empty service station and the building that houses Reno Beach Surf Shop. In their place will be three retail spaces, five offices and two residences, all of which will be sold as condominiums.

Van Zandt said he arrived at the unusual combination as a way to maximize the utility of the 17,000- square-foot parcel.

The mix was driven by the parking requirements of new land regulations, he said. "That was the optimal use of the land."

Van Zandt initially planned to put a Water to Go franchise in the location when he bought the property in 2004 for $750,000. He later decided the land was too expensive for that use, so he created the mixed-use plan. He put up a sign at the site a week ago advertising the project, which will be called Orleans, and said he has had strong interest.

"I have commitments on one of each of the units and that's just by word of mouth, without any marketing," he said.

Before he begins work, Van Zandt is waiting for the City Council to pass new land development regulations this month. Those regulations, which would grant more diverse development opportunities on many of the city's major thoroughfares, should go into effect early next year. Construction would take about a year after that, Van Zandt said.

Fourth Street between Fifth and Ninth avenues N has seen new commercial development, and the area just north of Ninth Avenue is also home to new and refurbished buildings. But there had been a redevelopment gap around Van Zandt's property before shoppers reached the renewed Bradford Coach House, with its Outback Steak House, and Sunken Gardens with its Carrabba's Italian Restaurant.

The building across 11th Avenue from Van Zandt's property is being rehabilitated into new commercial space after an SUV struck it last year. Across Fourth Street, the site of the old St. Pete Hardware is being torn down for another commercial development that will include a Tropical Smoothie restaurant. South of that is a strip of shops that was recently beautified.

Reno Beach will not disappear. The surf shop will move to 1031 Fourth St. N, a storefront that was until recently a scooter shop. Jon LaBudde of Reno Beach said he anticipated having to move given that the property has changed hands twice since 2000. He said the new space is larger and will have a better floor plan for his surf and beachwear store.

Paul Swider can be reached at 892-2271 or pswider@sptimes.com or by participating in itsyourtimes.com.

[Last modified October 14, 2006, 19:54:58]