83-unit infill apartment buildings to rise in downtown St. Pete
/About a year ago, St. Pete City Council approved a package of Land Development Regulation (LDR) changes in an effort to help reduce the cost of building housing in the city. The package of code changes was just one prong in a multifaceted approach to help address housing affordability in the Sunshine City.
One of the approved code changes was the removal of mandatory parking minimums for residential units under 750 square feet in downtown St. Pete. Mandatory parking minimums are development regulations which require a certain number of vehicular parking spaces per residential unit.
There’s a growing body of evidence that mandatory parking minimums come at an immense cost to the cities that implement them.
A 2015 study even estimated that the cost of a single parking space in a structured garage increases residential rent by $225 per month.
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At St. Pete Rising, we are constantly providing comprehensive coverage on everything new and coming soon to the Sunshine City, but we think it’s also important to take a look back at our city's rich history.
Historically St. Pete, a monthly column on St. Pete Rising written by Executive Director of the St. Petersburg Museum of History Rui Farias, covers everything from the legend of underground mobster tunnels to the buildings and people that created the Sunshine City.
Follow us each month as we explore how these projects shaped St. Pete into the city we know and love today.
This month, we explore the history of First United Methodist Church, a nearly 140-year-old congregation whose 100-year-old Gothic Revival sanctuary at 212 3rd Street North remains one of downtown St. Petersburg’s most recognizable landmarks.