One of the largest residential projects currently in development in St. Petersburg will now include affordable housing thanks to financial support from Pinellas County.

On Tuesday, the Pinellas County Commission unanimously approved $5.5 million for the construction of the first phase of Sky Town, which is expected to break ground in March and include 401 apartments, 121 of which will now be affordable.

Sky Town, which is being developed by Coral Gables-based Altis Cardinal, is a massive mixed-use development expected to bring 2,084 apartments across six five-story buildings to 3201 34th Street South in the Skyway Marina District.

The project, which sits on 34.2 acres, will also include over 80,000 square feet of retail space, 22,500 square feet of office space, 4,000 parking spaces, and 119,160 square feet of self-storage space.

Of the 121 affordable apartments in the first phase, 60 units will be reserved for households earning up to 80% of the area median income (AMI) and 61 units will be set aside for those earning up to 120% of AMI. The remaining 280 units will be rented at market rate.

The land use restriction agreement associated with the construction funding will ensure a 30-year affordability period on the 121 workforce housing units.

The County’s approved funds, which is coming from a local infrastructure sales surtax called Penny for Pinellas, is contingent on the City of St. Pete approving an additional $4,500,000 in early February.

“As part of our original approval, we didn’t have any affordability requirement, and we didn’t use any affordable component to obtain an increase in density,” said Frank Guerra in a conversation with St. Pete Rising. “We are incorporating affordable housing into Sky Town because of Pinellas County and the City of St. Pete’s involvement.”

Sky Town will also include a Sprouts Farmer’s Market, which broke ground last year. The 23,000-square-foot grocery store is expected to open in October.

As for the rest of the retail, Guerra is excited for what’s to come.

“We’ve got a lot of interest. It’s been very encouraging,” said Guerra. “We are speaking with some big names, and I think the community will be very pleased.”

The first phase of apartments is expected to begin move-ins 18 months after breaking ground, or by September 2026.

“We will then break ground every 12 to 18 months on each multifamily phase,” Guerra previously said to St. Pete Rising. “The idea is to stagger not only the construction but also the leasing. We want to lease up the first phase as we are doing construction on the next phase.”

Meanwhile, the existing nine-story office building will remain. It previously served as the St. Petersburg headquarters for Ceridian, a Minneapolis-based company that provides human resources software and services.

“We are very excited about Sky Town. This is a very important project to us and to the city,” concluded Guerra. “In terms of acreage and number of apartments, this is the largest project in St. Pete outside of the Tropicana Field redevelopment.”