83-unit infill apartment buildings to rise in downtown St. Pete
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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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After years of planning, Craft Kafe is targeting an early October opening for a new cafe and commissary kitchen in St. Pete’s Skyway Marina District.
The homegrown eatery and bakery, known for specialty coffee and a scratch-made gluten-free menu, is putting the finishing touches on its third St. Pete cafe at 4725 34th Street South in the Marina Village shopping plaza, just south of the Marina Walk Apartments.
The 4,700-square-foot space will include a 1,000-square-foot cafe and a large production kitchen designed to supply Craft’s existing stores and support future expansion, according to the owners.
“We’ve planned this one month after opening our first store in St. Pete. Because of the pandemic, issues in logistics, and losing my home from the hurricanes, this has taken so long to open,” founder and owner Teddy Skiadiotis told St. Pete Rising during a private tour.