New Townhomes Proposed for 8th Street in Downtown St. Pete
/In a sign of confidence in the St. Pete market, a veteran real estate developer is launching a townhome development on 8th Street North in Downtown St. Pete. Located at Burlington Avenue and 8th Street, just a block from Mirror Lake, the project will be appropriately named the 8th Street Townhomes.
The development is being led by investor George Gower, who developed townhomes on Fareham Place near Beach Drive in the late 1990’s. At the time, developing new residential units in Downtown St. Pete was pretty rare. In a recent call with St. Pete Rising, Gower describes Downtown St. Pete in the 1990’s as “sleepy” and says his Fareham Place project was “one of the first new residential developments in downtown in 15 years.”
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For years, the second floor of a downtown St. Pete beer and wine bar has been used mostly for private events and overflow seating.
This weekend, Green Bench Brewing will turn that space into a new concept of its own.
Upstairs at Webb’s will begin service Friday, September 25th, at 4 p.m. above Webb’s City Cellar, Green Bench Brewing’s specialty beer and wine bar at 1133 Baum Avenue North.
The new bar and lounge will launch during Green Bench’s 13th anniversary celebration, offering a beverage program built around a somewhat unexpected idea: texture.
“The menu itself is completely built around the concept of texture and how you can use texture to manipulate the experience with products,” Green Bench Brewing owner and brewer Khris Johnson said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising. “It’s supposed to be exploration-focused, a deep dive into not just products, but service and hospitality centered around beer that you just don’t get anywhere else.”
That idea will shape nearly every drink served upstairs.
A beer poured downstairs or next door at Green Bench may also be available upstairs, but it will not necessarily taste or feel the same.