April 11, 2019

Bishops Barbershop Coming Soon to the 600 Block of Downtown St. Pete

April 11, 2019/ Brian Zucker

Bishops, a barbershop with an avant-garde identity from Portland Oregon, is moving into the Green-Richman Arcade located at 689 Central Avenue. The parcel has been empty since Anglo Couture vacated the space in early 2017.

The Green-Richman Arcade was purchased in 2016 for $1.2 million by Steve Gianfilipo, who also owns Station House, a five-story, mixed-use property with dining, event and coworking space. The first floor of the arcade is also occupied by Urban Creamery and the second floor houses a smaller version of the popular coworking space, called Station House Arcade.

Bishops is a new twist to the old school barbershop. According to their website, “We love art, music, and good beer. We’re minority owned & women/LGBTQIA+ led and staffed. Most importantly, we’re here to empower you to be whoever you want to be, judgement free.”

April 09, 2019

Downtown St. Pete’s Historic McCrory Building Sold to Miami Investor

April 09, 2019/ Anthony Close

Last week a Miami real estate investment group closed on the purchase of Downtown St. Pete’s historic McCrory Building at 433 Central Avenue. The sale, which is one of many recent transactions in the immediate area, sold to Tricera Capital for just under $6 million.

The sale represents the ninth acquisition for the group in the greater downtown area. In addition to 433 Central Avenue, Tricera also owns 658-670 Central Avenue which houses restaurants such as Pacific Counter, Maple Street Biscuit Company, and Brass Bowl & Juicery as well as the Furnish Me Vintage building at 1246 Central Avenue. The group’s St. Pete holdings are primarily focused on the Central Avenue corridor in the Central Arts District, EDGE District, and Grand Central District.

Built in 1904, the McCrory Building served as the backdrop for many historic photos of St. Pete’s iconic green benches. The building’s current tenants include Pin Wok & Bowl, La V Vietnamese Fusion, and Luna Loca in the ground floor and the Rising Tide Innovation Center in the 2nd floor office space.

April 05, 2019

Matter of Fact Brings Men’s Fashion to the EDGE District

April 05, 2019/ Brian Zucker

Occasionally, I’ll ask the St. Pete Rising audience, “What do you think Downtown St. Pete is missing?” For a while, one of the most popular answers was, “a men’s store”.

The first shop specializing in menswear opened about two years ago. But not everyone has the same style or price point. Downtown needs a variety of menswear offerings. And today, with the help of one of Downtown St. Pete’s most popular women’s boutiques, another men’s shop has finally opened.

Matter of Fact is a joint venture between Matthew Baker and Amanda Henderson, owner of Ashe Couture. “The style of Matter of Fact will be for the everyday St. Pete gentleman, whether you're grabbing a drink at Intermezzo or having dinner on Beach Drive” says Matt.

April 03, 2019

OPINION: Bezu is Back, Here’s Why it Should be Approved

April 03, 2019/ Anthony Close

City Council, Preserve the Burg, developer Michel Regignano and residents of the Flori de Leon. They’ve all been players in the Downtown St. Pete development saga that has played out over the last eighteen months. We’re talking about the controversial Blue Lotus (formerly Bezu) condominium project.

While many of you think you’ve been staying up to date, you probably don’t know all of the details. Or maybe you don’t know any details. Regardless, over the past year, we’ve heard comments such as “Wait… I thought that project was denied?” Or “Hasn’t that been approved already?” Well the answer to both is yes. Confused? We are here to help.

There are a lot of details to this story, let’s take a step back and remember how we got here…

March 29, 2019

Brass Bowl Kitchen and Juicery Joins the 600 Block Next Week

March 29, 2019/ Brian Zucker

Have you ever craved fine dining cuisine, but didn’t have time to sit at a table for over an hour? A new Downtown St. Pete restaurant wants to give you the best of both worlds — flavor and speed. And they open Monday April 1st.

Brass Bowl is a new kitchen and juice bar concept located at 656 Central Avenue. Their aim is to offer one of the best chef-driven, organic, flavorful, and gourmet menus St. Pete has ever seen.

"We believe in protecting the environment, responsibly sourcing our ingredients, and supporting as many local businesses as possible,” says Executive Chef Jason Gordon, who was previously the chef at Sunset Grill in Ruskin, FL.

Brass Bowl is a 100% gluten-free scratch kitchen, so there isn’t anything pre-made coming into the restaurant. Everything from the almond butter to the hummus is made in-house. Even more impressive, there are no freezers, no fryers, and no heat lamps. All food is made-to-order with the freshest ingredients.

March 27, 2019

Renovations to 1110 Central to Add Boutique Office Space to EDGE District

March 27, 2019/ Anthony Close

There aren’t many neighborhoods in Tampa Bay that are growing faster than Downtown St. Pete’s booming EDGE District, which is identified as the area around Central Avenue between 9th Street and 16th Street. In the past few months, we’ve witnessed the completion of 930 Central Flats which brought 218 new apartments to the neighborhood, the opening of Green Bench Brewing’s Webb’s City Cellar, which boasts Florida’s largest beer cellar, and just last week we celebrated the grand opening of the new $79 million headquarters for the St. Pete Police Department.

On top of that, the area has also seen the opening of multiple retail shops like Atlas Body + Home, a men’s clothing boutique, and Retrograde Goods, a shop selling locally handmade products. Some businesses, like Kalamazoo Olive Company, which was located closer to the downtown core at 449 Central Avenue, have relocated to the EDGE District. Kalamazoo’s new store opened last Friday at 1010 Central Avenue.

March 13, 2019

WEPA! Authentic Puerto Rican Cuisine Lands in St. Pete

March 13, 2019/ Brian Zucker

Soon you won’t have to travel far to eat like you are in Puerto Rico. WEPA, St. Petersburg’s first authentic Puerto Rican restaurant, opens to the public this Saturday March 16th in the Warehouse Arts District. Located at 2149 3rd Ave South, WEPA is situated directly across the street from 3 Daughters Brewing.

“WEPA” (pronounced weh-pah) is a Spanish colloquialism used to express excitement, similar to “Wow!” or “Oh Yeah!” And as customers take their first bite of food, owner Jean Totti hopes to hear this exclamation all day, every day.

The menu at WEPA is inspired by Totti’s memories of growing up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he spent many afternoons by his mother’s, aunt’s and grandmother’s side in the kitchen. Many of the dishes available at WEPA come from hand-written recipes passed down over three generations. “Working with these recipes for months, we’ve selected a range of dishes that will represent our culinary history,” Totti adds.

March 12, 2019

Downtown Developments March 2019: A Trio of Coffee Shops Open and More!

March 12, 2019/ Brian Zucker

As many of you are aware, we write a column every month called Downtown Developments for Green Bench Monthly, a local community magazine. In the column, we highlight everything coming soon to Downtown St. Pete, including new restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. We also reveal new tower renderings, announce townhome projects, and much more. Last month we started publishing that column right here on St. Pete Rising, in addition to Green Bench Monthly!

Want this news first? Be sure to follow us! Most of what we discuss in Downtown Developments has already been posted to either our website, newsletter, Facebook or Instagram. With Downtown Developments, you’ll never miss the latest Downtown St. Pete news.

March 11, 2019

New Details Emerge About Kolter's Second Downtown St. Pete Tower

March 11, 2019/ Anthony Close

Five weeks ago it was revealed that the Kolter Group, the developers behind ONE St. Petersburg, a recently constructed 41-story condo and hotel project, were planning a second tower in Downtown St. Petersburg, FL. After the success of ONE, which completely sold out over six months before completion, Kolter knew the downtown market had an appetite for more condos. Kolter’s second project is proposed just three blocks south of ONE in the parking lot of the Hilton Bayfront Hotel and directly across from Al Lang Stadium.

New information has surfaced about the project, which is now preliminarily known as Bayfront St. Petersburg. While it was previously announced that the tower would soar 35-stories, include 200 condominiums and ground floor retail, we now know a few more specifics about the total cost, the construction timeline, and what the tower will look like.

February 27, 2019

Mixed-Use High-Rise to Bring Office and Boutique Hotel to Downtown St. Pete

February 27, 2019/ Anthony Close

Another surface parking lot in the Downtown St. Pete core is poised to become a high-rise mixed-use development according to a resolution that will go before the St. Pete City Council on March 7th. The resolution, if approved, will allow negotiations to move forward between the City and The DeNunzio Group, a Cambridge, MA based real estate company, to construct a new public parking garage as part of a new development at the southeast corner of First Avenue N and Fifth Street N.

Last year the Tampa Bay Times reported that the Christ United Methodist Church had entered an agreement to sell its parking lot at 450 1st Avenue N for $5.65 million. At the time, the buyer was disclosed as Miles River Development, a Connecticut based company. They have since backed out of purchasing the site in order to focus on other projects in the area.

This opened up an opportunity for Dustin DeNunzio, who founded The DeNunzio Group back in 2005. His company is currently under contract to buy the downtown lot for $5.3M.