35-story apartment tower planned near the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement in downtown St. Pete
/An Atlanta-based developer has proposed a 35-story apartment tower adjacent to the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement in downtown St. Pete, according to a site plan modification application recently submitted to the City of St. Pete.
The $100 million project, which would rise on a parcel located on the corner of 3rd Avenue North and 3rd Street North, will feature 348 apartments, 2,203 square feet of commercial space, and a 277-space parking garage. Parking for 370 bikes will also be provided.
The 375-foot tower will offer one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments ranging from 650 square feet to 1,388 square feet. The residential lobby entrance will be located off 3rd Street North.
The Atlantic Companies is under contract on the 0.61-acre property, which is currently a vacant stormwater retention area. The block is also occupied by Synovus Bank, Expansive co-working company, and the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. A closing date and purchase price are unknown.
The property is currently owned by NOVEL COWORKING FUND III GP LLC, an LLC controlled by Expansive, a Chicago-based co-working company, which bought the subject property and the adjacent office building in 2020 for $6.9 million.
The Atlantic Companies was formed in 2021 as a partnership between Atlanta real estate veterans Jim Meyer, founder of Atlantic Capital Properties, and Mack Reese, founder of Gateway Ventures Real Estate, who sought to leverage and expand the services and corresponding investments of their companies.
The company, which specializes in development, property management, construction management, and brokerage, focuses predominantly on Georgia-based projects, but has completed a handful of developments in Florida, including Midtown Tampa and 800 Second at Innovation Square in Gainesville.
For their tower in downtown St. Pete, The Atlantic Companies has tapped Albert Alfonso of Tampa-based Alfonso Architects to design the tower and Kimley Horn to handle civil engineering and landscape architecture.
In downtown St. Pete, density is governed by Floor Area Ratio, or FAR, which is a measurement of a building's floor area in relation to the size of the lot. The property is zoned Downtown Center-2 (DC-2) which allows a base FAR of 3.0 by right without public notice or public hearing if the project complies with certain requirements.
The proposed development is seeking approval for a 4.5 FAR and has incorporated the entire city block, including Synovus Bank and the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement, under a unified site plan to facilitate the development.
To achieve a 4.5 FAR the developer is requesting a 1.0 FAR bonus for contributing to the city’s workforce housing fund and 0.5 FAR for providing an additional 5% ground level open space.
A construction timeline is currently unavailable.