Postcard Inn permanently closes on St. Pete Beach, will reopen as The Luce, a Marriott Tribute Portfolio Hotel

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Postcard Inn permanently closes on St. Pete Beach, will reopen as The Luce, a Marriott Tribute Portfolio Hotel

After decades as a popular St. Pete Beach destination, the Postcard Inn has officially closed its doors for good.

The hotel at 6300 Gulf Boulevard, which has remained vacant since last year’s back-to-back hurricanes, will soon be renovated into The Luce, a Marriott Tribute Portfolio hotel scheduled to open next year.

The change marks the end of an era for the resort, originally built in 1957 as the Colonial Gateway Inn and reimagined as the Postcard Inn in 2009.

In 2024, the hotel’s owners proposed an 87-room expansion to the Postcard Inn, but those plans were ultimately abandoned after Hurricanes Helene and Milton caused significant damage.

The LCP Group, which purchased the property in March 2022 for $83 million, is overseeing a full renovation of the nine-acre beachfront resort, working alongside management firm Crescent Hotels & Resorts.

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Beef O’Brady’s to replace Applebee's on 66th Street in west St. Pete

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Beef O’Brady’s to replace Applebee's on 66th Street in west St. Pete

A new Beef O’Brady’s restaurant is coming to west St. Pete.

The restaurant and sports bar will open at 2901 66th Street North, taking over the former Applebee’s building that closed abruptly in May, according to plans obtained by St. Pete Rising.

It will become St. Pete’s second Beef O’Brady’s, joining the location at 4775 34th Street South in the Skyway Marina District. The only other Pinellas County location is in Oldsmar.

The new restaurant will accommodate 182 guests indoors and 49 outdoors, for a total of 231 seats.

Built in 1972, The 5,853-square-foot building was home to various restaurant concepts in the 1990s, including Longshoreman Restaurant, The Knot Garden, and Suki’s before becoming an Applebee’s in the early 2000s.

Although Applebee’s still operates its St. Pete location at 4700 4th Street North, SEC filings show the chain’s total store count declined from 1,578 in 2021 to 1,501 in 2024.

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Lofts on 1300 to bring luxury apartments to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street North

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Lofts on 1300 to bring luxury apartments to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street North

Construction is about to begin on a new boutique apartment building just north of downtown St. Pete.

Located at 1300 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street North, Lofts on 1300 will bring nine new luxury apartments to the edge of the Euclid St. Pauls neighborhood.

The 0.37-acre site, which was previous home to two single-family residences, is zoned CRT-1 (Corridor Residential Traditional-1), which allows for a mix of residential and commercial uses.

“The beauty of this project is that it will be so close to downtown but still in the heart of the Crescent Lake and Euclid St. Pauls neighborhoods,” developer and owner David Hofstadter told St. Pete Rising. “I saw an opportunity for multifamily when I purchased the 100-year-old house on the property.”

Hofstadter bought the property in April 2024 for $848,000.

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400 Central developer asks Mayor Welch for more time to bid on Historic Gas Plant site

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400 Central developer asks Mayor Welch for more time to bid on Historic Gas Plant site

Red Apple Real Estate, the New York–based development firm behind the 46-story Residences at 400 Central in downtown St. Petersburg, has expressed interest in redeveloping the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District. But only if the city allows more time for proposals.

In a letter sent November 7th to Mayor Ken Welch and City Council, Red Apple CEO John Catsimatidis urged the city to extend its planned 30-day window for alternative submissions related to the site.

Earlier this month, Mayor Welch announced that he would open a brief period in mid-November for developers to submit competing proposals after the city received an unsolicited $6.8 billion plan led by Casey Ellison of Ellison Companies, Cathie Wood of ARK Invest, and Jonathan Graham of Horus Construction.

“Red Apple Real Estate is well-positioned to transform the 86 acres into what I call a ‘wow’ development,” Catsimatidis wrote, adding that his firm has the “knowledge, expertise, and relationships” to create market-rate and affordable housing, along with amenities that enhance quality of life and create jobs.

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Intimate fragrance boutique Super Memory to bring niche and indie scents to downtown St. Pete

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Intimate fragrance boutique Super Memory to bring niche and indie scents to downtown St. Pete

A whiff of autumn air, the pages of an old book, a hint of amber and leather. Each scent tells a story.

Soon, downtown St. Pete will have a new place to explore those stories when Super Memory, an intimate fragrance boutique, debuts on Saturday, November 22nd.

The brainchild of Merryck Walker, Super Memory will open at 600 1st Avenue North, Suite 103, in a space once part of the Reflection condo sales center.

Inside the shop, visitors can sit at a four-seat fragrance bar, choose a flight of scents to test, and experience more than 60 varieties of niche and indie fragrances, many of which are unavailable anywhere else in the Tampa Bay region.

A record player spinning vinyl will add to the shop’s immersive atmosphere.

“Mostly every scent we will carry will be unisex,” she said. “But the variety ensures there’s something for everyone.”

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First look at conceptual designs for St. Petersburg Yacht Club’s future in downtown St. Pete

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First look at conceptual designs for St. Petersburg Yacht Club’s future in downtown St. Pete

The St. Petersburg Yacht Club, one of the city’s oldest and most storied institutions, is taking the next step in a multi-year effort to determine the future of its downtown clubhouse.

At a town hall meeting on September 2nd, members were shown new conceptual designs that visualize how a rebuilt club might look.

The renderings, created by West Palm Beach–based Spina O’Rourke + Partners, show a three-story building overlooking the downtown waterfront at 11 Central Avenue, where the club has resided since 1917.

The existing Spanish Mission-style building, designed by architect George W. Stewart, has undergone numerous renovations since opening in 1917, most recently in 1989.

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Side Splitters Comedy Club bringing 250-seat venue to downtown St. Pete

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Side Splitters Comedy Club bringing 250-seat venue to downtown St. Pete

Side Splitters Comedy Club, one of Tampa’s longest running comedy clubs, is expanding to downtown St. Pete with a new modern club at the Sundial shopping center.

After more than 30 years of drawing nationally-touring headliners, as well as local talent and an award-winning open mic, to its original Carrollwood location, Side Splitters has signed a lease to open a 250-seat venue on the second level of the shopping and entertainment center located at 153 2nd Avenue North.

The 5,600-square-foot space, formerly part of FarmTable Cucina, which closed at the end of 2019, will be custom-built from the ground up and is expected to debut by summer 2026.

“The Tampa club was built in 1992, and we had to work with the layout of that building. This will be built from scratch. Although it will be similar, it will take on its own personality,” Side Splitters Owner Brian Thompson said in an interview with St. Pete Rising.

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A convenience store made entirely out of felt is coming to St. Pete

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A convenience store made entirely out of felt is coming to St. Pete

A new convenience store is opening soon in St. Pete, but you won’t find any real snacks inside.

Instead, every chip bag, soda can, and even the checkout counter itself will be made entirely out of felt.

The whimsical installation by British artist Lucy Sparrow is the latest immersive experience coming to FloridaRAMA, located at 2606 Fairfield Avenue South in the Warehouse Arts District.

FloridaRAMA, which opened as Fairgrounds in 2021, centers on immersive, participatory art that celebrates Florida’s eccentric character through the work of more than 80 artists, many of them local.

The new exhibit, called Quick Shop, will open Friday, November 21st, replacing FloridaRAMA’s previous Shrimpfinity exhibit.

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23-story Gallery Haus apartment tower set to break ground near Tropicana Field in downtown St. Pete

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23-story Gallery Haus apartment tower set to break ground near Tropicana Field in downtown St. Pete

A team of Miami-based developers is preparing to bring a new wave of residential living to downtown St. Pete.

LD&D, in partnership with IGEQ and Black Salmon, has finalized plans for Gallery Haus, a 23-story, $115 million apartment tower that will rise at 155 17th Street South, directly across from Tropicana Field and along the Pinellas Trail.

The development will contain 254 apartments, more than 10,000 square feet of amenities, and 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

LD&D purchased the 0.77-acre site from Apogee Real Estate Partners in late 2023 for just over $9 million. Apogee had previously secured site plan approval for a similar tower with 204 units in 2022.

Gallery Haus is an expansion of LD&D’s “Haus” portfolio, which includes Wynwood Haus in Miami’s Wynwood Arts District and Williamsburg Haus in Brooklyn.

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Bob’s Side Piece to open in original Dead Bob’s location in west St. Pete

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Bob’s Side Piece to open in original Dead Bob’s location in west St. Pete

A pair of well-known St. Pete restaurateurs are teaming up to introduce a new neighborhood eatery that will offer old school Italian sandwiches, pizza, and more.

Bob’s Side Piece will open in early 2026 at 6716 Central Avenue, the original home of Dead Bob’s.

The new restaurant is a collaboration between Ben Scherlis, owner of the beloved local hangout Dead Bob’s, and Jim Breazeale, owner of DeLosa’s Pizzeria in John’s Pass Village on Madeira Beach.

As Scherlis prepares to reopen Dead Bob’s this Thursday at 6475 Central Avenue, he saw potential in keeping the old space alive.

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