A New York-based real estate firm is under contract to purchase the prime redevelopment site at 450 3rd Avenue North on the east side of Mirror Lake in downtown St Pete.

Located at the corner of 5th Street North and 3rd Avenue North across from the historic Mirror Lake Community Library, the 0.94-acre property was previously approved to be developed into 23-story mixed-use tower containing 285 apartments and 10,000 square feet of retail space.

The site was formerly home to The Cara Apartments, a cluster of six buildings containing around 100 apartments, before the property was demolished earlier this year.

The current landowners, a group consisting of bitcoin mining company Hyperscale Data (formerly BitNile Holdings), former Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock, and Atlanta-based real estate investor Joshua Haywood, purchased the site for $15.5 million in 2022.

However, by October 2023, after having difficulty raising funds to construct the development, ownership decided to sign a listing agreement with CBRE to sell the site with an asking price of $20 million.

A year later, the property is finally under contract with a New York-based real estate firm for $13.2 million, representing $2.3 million less than what the property was purchased for and $6.8 million less than the asking price.

The sale is set to close by the end of the year.

“We are excited to have reached an agreement for the sale of our St. Petersburg development property, marking a milestone for new growth and investment in the region,” Hyperscale Data CEO William Horne said in a statement. 

“This decision reflects our commitment to strategically realign our resources and enhance our core capabilities within our data center operations.”

So, what will come of the vacant land if the sale successfully closes in a few weeks?

The site is still approved for a 23-story tower with 285 apartments and the existing building plans likely convey with the sale. So, if the new owners want to save time and money, they may decide to simply develop the existing plan for the site.

Or maybe they’ll start from scratch and propose an entirely different project.

After all, this is hardly the first time plans have changed for the property.

Back in 2005, the site was approved for a 25-story project known as La Vista which would have had a height of 341 feet. Had it been built, La Vista would have had 196 condominium units; however, approval for the proposal expired in 2016.

Then in 2018, Inland National Development proposed a 21-story tower which would’ve included 270 residential units, nearly 11,000 square feet of office space, and ground floor retail.

In 2019, a slightly modified plan was approved by the city and Inland National Development purchased the site for $7.15 million.

Three years later in 2022, Inland sold the site to the current owners.

After 20 years of failed proposals, could 2025 finally be the year this prime property in downtown St. Pete gets developed? We’ll have to wait and see.