The quaint Mirror Lake neighborhood in the heart of St. Pete's bustling downtown will now limit future development and changes to existing buildings.

After years of discussions and a long-winded debate during Thursday’s City Council meeting, councilmembers cast a 5-2 vote approving a local historic district designation for properties located within 200 feet of Mirror Lake, which has the largest collection of intact historic structures in St. Pete.

The approval was met with applause from a crowd of Mirror Lake residents who largely supported the citizen-initiated application, which was spearheaded by local preservation advocacy group Preserve the Burg, aimed at preserving the community's pedestrian-friendly low-rise character.

“When I brought this forward a couple of years ago, it was covering a much larger area. I knew we needed to do some work on this and I'm glad it came forward,” said council member Gina Driscoll, who introduced a proposal on designating Mirror Lake as a historic designation in 2020.

Council member Lisset Hanewicz, who cast one of the opposing votes with council member Copley Gerdes, said she felt the 200-ft district boundary was arbitrary and had a difficult time understanding how the the boundary was determined.

“I do think parts of Mirror Lake are absolutely historic, but the process in terms of picking out what is in 200 feet [that gets designated as historic] logically isn’t clicking with me,” she said.

One registered opponent, Matthew Weidner, who recently sold a property in the proposed district, presented the same argument as he did during a recent Community Planning & Preservation Commission (CPPC) meeting, claiming the designation application was incomplete and the ballot processing was inaccurate.

He added that the designation would “scrape away density rights.”

Will Conroy of Backstreets Capital, which recently received approval to preserve a historically significant property and build a new luxury condo building fronting Mirror Lake, also asked the council to carefully consider the designation that would downzone a downtown destination.

“You rightfully took years [to approve] the Warehouse Arts District I-Mix changes. Mirror Lake deserves the same consideration,” he said, also stating he acknowledges and respects the work neighbors and Preserve the Burg took to get the application in front of City Council.

The historic district designation would have no effect on properties already listed on the St. Petersburg Register of Historic Places, such as the century-old Mirror Lake Community Library, the original home of St. Petersburg High School, and the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard and Lawn Bowling Club.

While discussing an approval of the historic district on Thursday, councilmembers found themselves in a catch-22 as they are interested in potentially redeveloping the city-owned Sunshine Senior Center, which is located within the historic district at 330 5th Street North.

The council voted 6-1, with Gerdes casting the sole no vote, to amend the language of the new district that would make an exception for the center so it would not handicap the city from redeveloping it in the future.

Hanewicz said its unfair that the city gets a “pass” for a property they want to one day develop, but other property owners are not afforded the same opportunity.

“Here we are making a decision for property owners who don't want this to apply to them. We actually have sat here and want to exclude property we own,” she said.

How did we get here

The city first issued notices to residents within the proposed historic district in January 2024 about the potential designation.

City regulations state that a demonstration of support from over half of the district’s tax parcels is required to officially file a designation application.

The ballots for the proposed Mirror Lake Historic District were distributed on March 22nd by city staff and the balloting period remained open for 60 days.

Out of the 142 tax parcels in the proposed district, 77 parcels supported the designation, just over the required 72 approval threshold.

While this is the first citizen-initiated request to create a local historic district in Mirror Lake, in 2021, St. Petersburg City Council considered a Mirror Lake historic district designation proposal submitted by Councilmember Gina Driscoll.

The discussion was ultimately deferred for fear that implementing a historic district would jeopardize the City of St. Pete’s chances of being awarded the construction of a new Florida Second District Court of Appeal courthouse on Mirror Lake.

By the end of 2021, Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls announced the new $50 million courthouse would be built on Mirror Lake in downtown St. Petersburg. The courthouse is currently under construction.

What this means for future development

The newly approved historic district requires all properties within the district to obtain a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) for future exterior alteration, new construction, demolition, or relocation.

The local historic district would not impact any future development that has already received site plan approval by the city. However, it will affect developments that have not yet been approved.

The approval comes as several recently approved projects are expected to take shape.

Earlier this year, Backstreets Capital received approval to preserve a historically significant property and build a new 7-story luxury condo building fronting Mirror Lake.

The city also approved St. Pete developer Skyward Living's plans to build the 11-story Lake House condo building on Mirror Lake Drive North.

The newly approved district will likely increase the value of properties located directly outside the district boundaries.

New York-based Red Apple Group, the team behind 46-story Residences at 400 Central condominium tower in downtown St. Pete, recently purchased a Mirror Lake property across the street from the historic district at the corner of 5th Street North and 3rd Avenue North.

The site was previously approved to be developed into a 23-story mixed-use tower containing 285 apartments and 10,000 square feet of retail space. Red Apple Group is expected to pursue a similar type of development.

In 2023, Pinellas County Schools (PCS) announced a partnership with developers Dantes Partners and Goshen + Cornerstone to construct a 225-unit apartment community on the site of the former Tomlinson Adult Learning Center, also located across the street from the historic district. Half of the residential units would be designated as workforce housing for teachers and district employees.

Additionally, the newly completed 18-story Reflection condo tower located on the west side of Mirror Lake on 3rd Avenue North recently started welcoming new residents in the 88-unit building.