March 30, 2023

New affordable housing website aims to help St. Pete residents access local resources

March 30, 2023/ Anthony Close

A new tool for tracking affordable and workforce housing developments in St. Petersburg has been released by the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership.

The new website serves to compare affordable housing production to the housing targets set by the city in addition to tracking actions the city has taken to assist developers, homeowners, and renters. It will act as a resource for residents, elected officials, and civic leaders.

“This website is designed to help policymakers, developers, advocates and investors make smart decisions,” according to the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership. “There is no silver bullet [to address St. Petersburg’s housing issues], but there are hundreds of actions that can all help attack the problem from different angles and perspectives.”

March 27, 2023

Kaia Bowls to bring acai and poke bowls to Beach Drive in downtown St. Pete

March 27, 2023/ Anthony Close

A new café serving acai and poke bowls is coming to 30 Beach Drive Northeast in downtown St. Pete. Clearwater-based Kaia Bowls is opening a location in the former Naples Soap Company space, bringing a fresh and healthy dining option closer to St. Pete’s waterfront.

The café is owned by the Ancuta family, who hail from Canada, and first discovered Pinellas County in 2013. After traveling the world for both business and pleasure, the family decided to make Clearwater their second home.

During a 2021 trip to the area, Marc and Cristina Ancuta along with their daughter Beverly and her husband Ben, stumbled upon the Kaia Bowls cafe and loved it so much they purchased the business.

March 27, 2023

Vertical construction begins on The Nolen, a 23-story condo tower in downtown St. Pete

March 27, 2023/ Anthony Close

Earlier this month, a massive tower crane was transported to the site of one of downtown St. Petersburg’s newest condominium towers—The Nolen—signaling the start of vertical construction.

The Nolen is a 23-story condominium tower under construction at 126 4th Avenue Northeast. Despite the tower’s height, which will top out at 288 feet, the building will have just 31 residences, far fewer than the other residential towers under construction closer to Central Avenue. For reference, Art House and The Residences at 400 Central will have 244 and 301 units, respectively.

The Nolen is being spearheaded by Tampa-based DDA Development, which is led by Bowen Arnold and John Schilling. Ellison Construction, who serving as general contractor, began construction on the project in October.

March 23, 2023

St. Pete approves new electric bike share program for downtown St. Pete

March 23, 2023/ Anthony Close

On Thursday, St. Pete City Council unanimously approved an agreement that will bring up to 500 shared electric bicycles to downtown St. Petersburg. The program will replace St. Pete’s existing bike share program that commenced in 2016.

St. Petersburg’s current bike share program is operated by CycleHop under the Coast Bike Share brand. The program began in 2016 with the City’s purchase of 300 blue pedal bikes and 30 bike share hubs.

St. Pete’s bike share system saw great success in the early years of the program; however, in late 2020, with the introduction of electric scooters to downtown St. Pete, usage of the bike share system began to decline as riders opted to use electric scooters over pedal bikes.

March 22, 2023

40-unit condo building Domus Urbana reaches completion on 3rd Avenue South in downtown St. Pete

March 22, 2023/ Anthony Close

A mid-rise condominium building has wrapped up construction on 3rd Avenue South in downtown St. Petersburg.

Domus Urbana, a 40-unit development at 644 3rd Avenue South, recently began move-ins and the sales team has completed closings on roughly half of the condominium residences. Closing on the remaining units is expected in the coming weeks.

Domus Urbana was developed by NJR Companies. The development was exclusively announced on St. Pete Rising in August 2020. Construction on Domus Urbana began mid-2021 and, later that year, the developer announced the project had sold out.

March 20, 2023

Plant Love Ice Cream to lay down roots in Gulfport

March 20, 2023/ Brian Zucker

“Plant love and watch it grow.” That’s the mantra at Plant Love Ice Cream, a 100% vegan, zero waste, and community driven vegan ice cream shop in downtown St. Pete.

Since its debut four years ago in the EDGE District, the locally owned creamery has won the hearts of locals and visitors alike thanks to their made-in-house vegan ice cream that’s so good you’d swear it’s not vegan.

Last year, St. Petersburg’s Plant Love Ice Cream was rated the best vegan ice cream shop in the United States and the 3rd best in the world according to Happy Cow, the country’s largest database for vegan restaurants and recipes.

March 16, 2023

20-story apartment building Modera St. Petersburg tops out in downtown St. Pete

March 16, 2023/ Anthony Close

A milestone has been reached on a new mixed-use apartment building under construction in downtown St. Petersburg.

Modera St. Petersburg, a 20-story apartment building being developed by Mill Creek Residential, has topped out. A topping out ceremony, whether official or informal, typically celebrates the time the last structural beam is put into place.

The building has reached a height of 206 feet and will feature 383 rental units and 14,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space.

March 15, 2023

Rose's Coffee Bar to debut inside the upcoming Moxy Hotel in the EDGE District

March 15, 2023/ Brian Zucker

With new options popping up everywhere from the Central Arts District to South St. Pete, the Sunshine City’s coffee culture is thriving.

In early 2024, a new coffee shop will join the EDGE District. Rose’s Coffee Bar will be located on the ground floor of the Moxy Hotel by Marriott, which is currently under construction at 1234 Central Avenue. The new hotel will also include a rooftop bar with a 1960s retro vibe, Sparrow, when it debuts next year.

The boutique hotel will be part of the 1.6-acre Edge Collective being brought to life by Wurzak Hotel Group, PTM Partners and DoveHill Capital Management. Sarasota-based Kellogg & Kimsey is the general contractor.

March 14, 2023

Chef Chris Ponte’s modern Italian restaurant OLIVIA coming to downtown St. Pete

March 14, 2023/ Brian Zucker

Chris Ponte launched his first restaurant, Café Ponte, in Clearwater in 2002. He quickly made a name for himself in Tampa Bay thanks to an extraordinary trail-blazing New American menu and impeccable service. However, after an 18-year run, Ponte decided to shutter the iconic fine dining restaurant citing a combination of COVID-19 issues and a difficult lease renegotiation.

A past nominee for the highly prestigious James Beard Foundation Award, Ponte had already taken his talents to Tampa, opening On Swann in the city’s Hyde Park Village in 2016 and then OLIVIA, a modern Italian restaurant, in South Tampa in 2019.

More recently, he, along with his two sons, JT and Andy Mahoney, and his wife, Michelle, launched a new version of Café Ponte, simply called Ponte, at the recently opened Midtown Tampa mixed-use development. They are also a partner in Bare Naked Kitchen, a fast-casual restaurant concept with locations in South Tampa and Tallahassee.

March 13, 2023

Toy and collectible shop Cultösaurus moving to Central Avenue

March 13, 2023/ Brian Hartz

Cultösaurus is in the process of relocating from 269 16th Street North to 529 Central Avenue, the former location of RockShop, a jewelry store that features hand-crafted works created by owner Carlos Lopez, the brother of Cultösaurus owner T.J. Lopez.

The move gives Cultösaurus, a store that specializes in a wide range of toys, books, art, and collectible items, a more visible presence in downtown St. Petersburg’s booming Central Avenue corridor. But it won’t happen right away, even though the 16th Street location is scheduled to shutter in the coming days.

“We have a few weeks to go before we finally move into the new place at 529 Central,” Lopez writes in an email to St. Pete Rising. “It’s been a long process, but we are making progress.”