A 105-year-old commercial property that greets commuters as they enter the downtown St. Petersburg from I-175 may soon be demolished and redeveloped into a 21-story apartment tower.

On Thursday, the St. Petersburg City Council, meeting as the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), unanimously approved plans to redevelop the property at 446 4th Street South, which currently consists of a surface parking lot and a one-story, 4,984-square-foot office building occupied by Fresenius Kidney Care American Dialysis Center.

The proposed project includes a 21-story mixed-use building with 2,250 square feet of commercial space, 213 residential units, and a 230-space parking garage.

St. Pete-based real estate company Stadler Development is leading the $67 million tower project on the 0.69-acre property, which sits across from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

With City Council approval, John Stadler, who runs Stadler Development with his son Chris Stadler, is expected to purchase the property from Malti Realty LLC.

“This site will deliver the demand for the Innovation District. The whole community, including students and hospital workers, should be well-served by this project,” said John Stadler, Managing Partner at Stadler Development, in a recent conversation with St. Pete Rising.

Commercial real estate agents Justine Fite, Jon Wittner, and Jake Wollman of the Wittner Wollman Group represented the landlord in the sale of the property.

At 245 feet tall, the 318,683-square-foot building will be oriented toward the corner of 5th Avenue South and 4th Street South, the portion of the site farthest from neighboring residential properties to the north and east.

The ground floor will feature commercial space, a residential lobby, and parking garage access.

Parking will be available on floors 2 through 6 and residential units will occupy floors 3 through 20.

The 7th and 21st floors will include outdoor terraces and a residential amenity areas.

“The building will be urban in scale, with pedestrian-oriented features, including ground-level commercial space, lobby entrances, screening of the parking garage, floor-to-ceiling storefront windows, and ample fenestration,” according to the application. “Site improvements will include 10-foot-wide sidewalks, street trees and landscaping, bicycle parking, and a new drainage system.”

Currently, there are two curb cuts—one along 4th Street South and another along 5th Avenue South. The existing curb cut along 4th Street South will be removed, while the one on 5th Avenue South will be relocated.

The site is zoned Downtown Center-2 (DC-2) within the Central Business District and Intown Activity Center, which allows for the highest density development in St. Pete.

The proposed plan includes a floor area ratio (FAR) of 7.0, the maximum allowable FAR in the DC-2 zoning district.

Stadler Development has enlisted Tampa-based Baker Barrios Architects, civil engineering firm George F. Young, and full-service law firm Trenam Law for the project.

Stadler expects to break ground on the development by the first quarter of 2026.

John Stadler has over 45 years of experience in real estate development, having worked on similar large-scale projects in South Florida, including the Hyatt Regency in Coral Gables and the Del Monte and IBM headquarters in Miami.

In St. Pete, Stadler was involved in developing the 15-story, 368-unit Camden Central apartment community, which opened in 2019, and the 21-story, 383-unit Modera St. Petersburg apartment tower, which debuted last year.

A year ago, Stadler sold a downtown St. Pete property on 17th Street in a $9 million-plus deal to Miami-based commercial real estate investment firms Black Salmon and LD&D, which plan to build a 23-story apartment building at the site.