A new apartment building recently broke ground in the Grand Central District at 3100 Central Avenue. Named Gallery 3100, the four-story project will be located on a site which formerly housed a SunTrust Bank building. The project is a joint-venture between St. Pete-based Mosaic Development and the Brookview Companies.

“We are officially under construction!  We have demolished the former bank building, cleared the site, and have started environmental soil remediation.  There is a lot of construction activity to look forward to,” says Roxanne Amoroso, Principal of Mosaic Development.

The $20 million apartment community will contain a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units and the development is taking advantage of the City of St. Petersburg’s Workforce Housing Density Bonus. While the 1.75 acre property is zoned for 60 units per acre, allowing a base density of 105 units, the developer is adding 17 income-restricted workforce housing units to reach 70 units per acre, or 122 for the project.

Additionally, the property is located in a Corridor Commercial Suburban-2 (CCS-2) zoning which is has different development and design standards than the zoning districts in Downtown St. Pete. To make the project more consistent with development on Central Avenue, Gallery 3100 was granted a setback variance to reduce or eliminate the require setback.

Given that there is limited set back on the building, finding a staging area on site was difficult. Current Builders, the general contractor for the project, recently secured space in a nearby unused church multipurpose building which will be renovated in exchange for using the building for construction staging. “Giving back is in Current Builders’ DNA, and we are looking forward to becoming an active party of the community,” says Chip Angenendt, Vice President of the West Coast for Current Builders.

While there is no retail space in the development, the building will have 4,600 square feet of ground floor leasing and resident amenity space which will front Central Avenue. Gallery 3100 will also feature an art gallery in the amenity area showcasing the works of Duncan McClellan Gallery. On the west side of the property will be a three-level parking deck which will match the architectural styles of the building.

Gallery 3100 will join Elements on Third, located just two blocks north, which broke ground a few months ago on the third phase of their community. Elements on Third is being developed by Altis Cardinal at 3100 3rd Avenue North, three blocks north of Gallery 3100, and is in the process of converting existing office buildings into lofts. The adaptive reuse project will be complimented by new buildings for a total of 432 units.

Soil remediation and core sampling at Gallery 3100 is in process with concrete foundation work expected to begin in June. The first units at the property should be ready in late-Spring 2021.

Financing for the project was provided by Synovus Bank via a $16.1 million loan and was arranged by Matt Williams and James Maynard of Newmark Knight and Frank. Baker Barrios is serving as the architectural design firm for the project. And once completed, Incore Residential will be handling the leasing and management of the property.

For more information on Gallery 3100, visit their website.