On Thursday, the St Petersburg City Council unanimously approved a lease and development agreement between the City and Exact Shell Dash LLC to develop an affordable and energy efficient townhome project at 1120 16th Street South in the Campbell Park neighborhood of St. Pete.

The $2.5 million project will feature ten homes, including the historic Shell Dash Cottage, which will be relocated to the site from its original location at 856 2nd Avenue North near Mirror Lake. Once the move is complete, the Shell Dash Cottage will be renovated into a two bedroom, two bath live-work unit and be proposed for designation to the St Petersburg Register of Historic Places.

The remaining nine units will be newly constructed concrete block townhomes built in the traditional bungalow style. Each three bed, two bath unit will be approximately 1,277 square feet and include a front porch, contemporary landscaping, large windows, and a chef-inspired kitchen.

Shell Dash Cottage was built in 1909 or 1910 by local, legendary developer Perry Snell and his partner JC Hamlett. Likely the model home for a Mirror Lake subdivision, it features a unique exterior finish called shell dash stucco that dates back to the time of the Tocobago Indians. The cottage is one of the only known surviving examples of this material in St. Pete.

From the project’s conception, developers Bob Mayer of M R Capital Advisors and Exact Partners and Caleb Buland of Exact Architects have worked closely with Preserve the Burg and the City of St. Petersburg. The Kansas City-based pair have a reputation for successfully preserving historic buildings, creating affordable housing, and promoting neighborhood diversity with their projects.

When Mayer, who lives part-time in St Pete Beach and is a member of Preserve the Burg, first learned of the local nonprofit’s challenge in finding land for the Shell Dash Cottage, he offered to help.

“We started helping [Preserve the Burg] identify a location about a year ago, and the past 10 months we have been in dialogue with the City of St. Petersburg about vacant lots that would be available for this project,” said Mayer. “My partner, Caleb and I, we’ve always taken on tougher projects that were either condemned or in the urban core that most property owners wouldn’t necessarily look to. We want to be pioneers and catalysts.”

The proposed project site is currently owned by the City of St Petersburg. The City will transfer the land lease with a small fee sale to the developer and use $386,000 in tax increment financing (TIF) funds from the Affordable Housing Redevelopment Loan Program to subsidize construction costs, in alignment with the South St Petersburg Community Redevelopment Plan.

In exchange, homes will be sold for $239,000 (or $187 per sq. ft.) to qualified households with an area median income (AMI) of 120% or below. The Shell Dash Cottage will be priced at $220,000.

Additionally, the homes will be marketed exclusively to households with incomes of 80% AMI or below during the first 90 days on the market. The properties will also be deed restricted to qualified households for 15 years.

“It’s important to note that the price per square foot for these units is the same as other homes in the neighborhood that are older and don’t have the same energy efficiency,” says Council Member Gina Driscoll during Thursday’s meeting. “Working families will be able to live here.”

In an effort to hire local contractors, The Citizen Advisory Committee of the South St. Petersburg Community Redevelopment Area has recommended the developers work with St. Pete Works and the City’s Small Business Enterprise Program to identify local individuals who could be hired to work on the project, as well as St. Petersburg-based companies who could contribute to design and construction.

For their part, Mayer and Buland have made a concerted effort to hire a local team, including longtime residents Gabriel Dilworth of Professional Concrete and Contracting Services and Natalie DeVicente of Southern Roots Realty.

“We are very committed to making this a community-based project,” emphasized Mayer.

The City Council’s February 18th vote of approval is an important step in moving the project forward. According to Mayer, the next step is to work with the architectural planning team and begin the permitting process. The hope is to move Shell Dash Cottage from its current location in June or July of this year.

The historic property will be the first to benefit from the newly formed Preserve the ‘Burg Historic Properties Program, which was created in 2019 after Preserve the ‘Burg received a $75,000 grant from the 1772 Foundation that was matched in full by the City of St Pete. The funding has enabled the nonprofit to start a revolving fund that protects endangered properties using techniques like purchase/resale, options, easements, and tax credits with the goal of ultimately returning such properties back to the private sector with deed restrictions in place.

Mayer expressed his appreciation for the grant, noting that, without it, the project would not have been possible.

“We are hoping to bring that same model of workforce housing to the African American community in Campbell Park as a way to begin to break down racial barriers and expand the boundaries of our communities,” noted Mayer. “My heart is in helping people achieve the dream of home ownership, which has become increasingly difficult recently.”