Major EDGE District properties change hands in $12 million sale
/Over 30,000 square feet of commercial space in the EdGe District has sold for $12 million | PTM Partners
Several prominent properties in the EDGE District have sold for $12 million.
According to a deed recorded October 6th, developer PTM Partners sold the three-story building at 1246 Central Avenue and the street-level retail spaces at the adjacent Moxy hotel to L3 Capital, a Chicago-based private equity real estate investment firm that focuses on urban retail.
The 27,261-square-foot building at 1246 Central Avenue is home to Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine and Amorino Gelato on the ground floor. Digital marketing company WebFX has signed a lease for the third floor but has not yet moved in, while the approximately 8,700-square-foot second floor remains available for office tenants.
The sale also includes the Moxy hotel’s 3,407 square feet of ground-floor retail space, occupied by Floyd’s Barbershop and Solidcore. It does not include the 163-room Moxy hotel itself, which remains part of PTM Partners’ EDGE Collective development.
James Garner and Jim Shiebler of CBRE represented PTM Partners and L3 Capital in the transaction.
“L3 Capital is an institutional group that’s been eyeing St. Pete as a growth market for several years. I’m proud to have helped them find the right deal,” Garner said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising.
The century-old building at 1246 Central Avenue is home to Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine and Amorino Gelato | PTM Partners
The firm’s portfolio includes urban, mixed-use properties, which Garner said made the combination of retail and office space at EDGE Collective a good fit. More traditional retail buyers had passed on the deal because it included office space above the storefronts, he said.
L3 does not plan to make major changes to the properties. Instead, the firm expects to operate them as an investment and lease the remaining office space while the surrounding district continues to grow.
“They’re planning to keep it the way it is,” Garner said. “They felt like they have the relationships to bring some solid tenants and help add some value.”
PTM Partners and DoveHill Capital Management purchased the century-old 1246 Central Avenue building, the adjacent hotel land, and a 0.38-acre surface parking lot along 1st Avenue South in 2019 for $13 million.
The developers renovated the Central Avenue building as part of the first phase of EDGE Collective, which also included the Moxy hotel and a shared courtyard between the two properties.
The building previously housed Furnish Me Vintage, a longtime furniture and home décor store that closed in 2019.
THe Moxy Hotel’s ground-floor retail space, which houses Floyd’s Barbershop and Solidcore, was also part of the sales transaction | PTM Partners
The sale comes as PTM Partners moves ahead with EDGE Collective II, the development’s next and substantially larger phase. In late September, the developer closed on a $125 million construction loan to finance the project.
Crews recently demolished several buildings at the southwest corner of 11th Street South and Central Avenue to make way for a 20-story apartment tower with 330 units.
The site included the former Dr. BBQ restaurant and buildings that had housed EMOTO Electric Motorbikes, Chai Mixology, and Pin on Cafe.
Pin on Cafe has since moved to 2458 Central Avenue in the Grand Central District, where it reopened as Pin on Grand.
EDGE Collective II will also include approximately 17,000 to 18,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, about 280 to 290 parking spaces, and a network of mid-block paseos and arcades connecting Central Avenue to 1st Avenue South.
The 163-key Moxy Hotel itself, which was opened in 2024, was not part of the sales transaction | PTM Partners
Earlier plans included a smaller apartment building on the surface parking lot between Sweetgreen and The Candle Pour. However, PTM Partners has removed that building from the current phase and will instead use the site for construction staging and laydown space.
St. Pete-based Storyn Studio designed EDGE Collective II, and Balfour Beatty is serving as general contractor.
Construction is expected to take more than two years, with completion anticipated in late 2028.
