Southpinellas: Former Gateway Mall sells for $21-million

ST. PETERSBURG -- Gateway Market Center on Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) Street N has been sold to a real estate investment trust that buys shopping centers throughout the Southeast. The price was $21-million. Inland Retail Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. bought the center, the former Gateway Mall, as an investment, according to Jim Michalak, director of the financial services group Cushman & Wakefield in Tampa. Michalak represented the seller, Branch Capital Partners of Atlanta, in the July 18 closing. An Inland official said the change in ownership should have no noticeable effect on shoppers. The former Gateway Mall completed a $20-million makeover that turned it from a near-empty strip mall into a big shopping center that stretches from 77th to 83rd avenues N with clusters of stores.

Major tenants in the new center include Target, a discount department store long sought in north St. Petersburg. One of the newest tenants is Waccamaw HomePlace, a national home decor store.

The Pier Hotel to celebrate official opening Thursday

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Pier Hotel, 253 Second Ave. N, has been taking guests for about a month and will celebrate its official opening Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m.

The Pier, last known as the Cordova and built in 1921, has been refurbished. It offers 33 rooms, four of which are suites. Single rooms, some of which have king-size beds and some with double-size beds, rent for $98 per night. Suites rent for $148 per night. Many of the rooms have the original claw-foot bathtubs, which have been reglazed.

Owner Ken Ruddock said he spent $500,000 to restore the hotel and another $200,000 decorating and furnishing it. He paid $375,000 for the building. Target customers are business travelers, for whom the rooms are equipped with Internet access, and tourists.

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