Side Splitters Comedy Club bringing 250-seat venue to downtown St. Pete

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Side Splitters Comedy Club bringing 250-seat venue to downtown St. Pete

Side Splitters Comedy Club, one of Tampa’s longest running comedy clubs, is expanding to downtown St. Pete with a new modern club at the Sundial shopping center.

After more than 30 years of drawing nationally-touring headliners, as well as local talent and an award-winning open mic, to its original Carrollwood location, Side Splitters has signed a lease to open a 250-seat venue on the second level of the shopping and entertainment center located at 153 2nd Avenue North.

The 5,600-square-foot space, formerly part of FarmTable Cucina, which closed at the end of 2019, will be custom-built from the ground up and is expected to debut by summer 2026.

“The Tampa club was built in 1992, and we had to work with the layout of that building. This will be built from scratch. Although it will be similar, it will take on its own personality,” Side Splitters Owner Brian Thompson said in an interview with St. Pete Rising.

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23-story Gallery Haus apartment tower set to break ground near Tropicana Field in downtown St. Pete

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23-story Gallery Haus apartment tower set to break ground near Tropicana Field in downtown St. Pete

A team of Miami-based developers is preparing to bring a new wave of residential living to downtown St. Pete.

LD&D, in partnership with IGEQ and Black Salmon, has finalized plans for Gallery Haus, a 23-story, $115 million apartment tower that will rise at 155 17th Street South, directly across from Tropicana Field and along the Pinellas Trail.

The development will contain 254 apartments, more than 10,000 square feet of amenities, and 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

LD&D purchased the 0.77-acre site from Apogee Real Estate Partners in late 2023 for just over $9 million. Apogee had previously secured site plan approval for a similar tower with 204 units in 2022.

Gallery Haus is an expansion of LD&D’s “Haus” portfolio, which includes Wynwood Haus in Miami’s Wynwood Arts District and Williamsburg Haus in Brooklyn.

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Bob’s Side Piece to open in original Dead Bob’s location in west St. Pete

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Bob’s Side Piece to open in original Dead Bob’s location in west St. Pete

A pair of well-known St. Pete restaurateurs are teaming up to introduce a new neighborhood eatery that will offer old school Italian sandwiches, pizza, and more.

Bob’s Side Piece will open in early 2026 at 6716 Central Avenue, the original home of Dead Bob’s.

The new restaurant is a collaboration between Ben Scherlis, owner of the beloved local hangout Dead Bob’s, and Jim Breazeale, owner of DeLosa’s Pizzeria in John’s Pass Village on Madeira Beach.

As Scherlis prepares to reopen Dead Bob’s this Thursday at 6475 Central Avenue, he saw potential in keeping the old space alive.

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Several developments move forward along The Deuces corridor in south St. Pete

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Several developments move forward along The Deuces corridor in south St. Pete

After years of promises to revive 22nd Street South, the City of St. Pete is finally making progress on projects expected to bring new life back to The Deuces.

From the 1940s through the 1960s, 22nd Street South, from 2nd Avenue to 18th Avenue, was the heart of St. Pete’s Black community, filled with thriving businesses, music clubs, and restaurants.

But after I-275 cut through the area in the mid 1970s, the busy corridor slowly fell into decline.

Now, with a growing pipeline of new developments on the horizon, the Deuces is beginning to show signs of revival.

At a community meeting this week at the Enoch Davis Center, city officials gave updates on several ongoing projects.

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133-unit luxury condo project Corey Landing approved for St. Pete Beach

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133-unit luxury condo project Corey Landing approved for St. Pete Beach

The long-anticipated redevelopment of the east end of Corey Avenue in St. Pete Beach is officially moving forward.

On Tuesday evening, City Commission unanimously approved revised plans for Corey Landing, a mixed-use development led by Kolter Urban which features two eight story buildings with 133 luxury condominiums, 11,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space within a freestanding building, and a new public park.

In 2022, the city approved a separate proposal from Ram Realty Advisors, also called Corey Landing.

Ram, which exited the project in 2023, had planned a 243-unit apartment complex with more than 17,000 square feet of retail, a restaurant, office space, and a 39-slip marina.

Kolter Urban acquired the property the following year for $9.85 million and expanded the site to include two adjacent parcels not part of Ram’s plan: the former Charlie’s Transmissions property at 75 Corey Avenue and the shuttered Blue Parrott restaurant at 85 Corey Circle. Both structures have since been demolished.

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New 52,000-square-foot expansion proposed for St. Pete’s Maritime and Defense Technology Hub

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New 52,000-square-foot expansion proposed for St. Pete’s Maritime and Defense Technology Hub

More marine-based startups and private defense firms may soon find a new home along St. Pete’s waterfront.

City and business leaders are spearheading an effort to expand the Maritime and Defense Technology Hub, known locally as The Hub, which opened in 2022 at 450 8th Avenue SE in a city-owned building at the Port of St. Petersburg, just south of Albert Whitted Airport.

The Hub has quickly become a cornerstone for marine science, defense, and technology innovation, now fully occupied by companies such as Saildrone, which deploys autonomous ocean vehicles from St. Pete to map and monitor Florida’s coastal waters, and Pole Star Defense, which uses maritime intelligence technology to track and prevent threats at sea.

Plans for a second facility, dubbed Hub 2.0, call for developing the surface parking lot directly west of the current Hub into a 52,000-square-foot research and collaboration center.

The expansion would provide a home for additional startups, government partners, and academic institutions focused on marine technology, coastal resiliency, and defense innovation.

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Bojangles opens next week in Pinellas Park

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Bojangles opens next week in Pinellas Park

Bojangles, the beloved Southern chain known for its fried chicken, biscuits, and sweet tea, will officially open its new Pinellas Park restaurant next Tuesday, November 4, at 5:30 a.m.

The opening marks the brand’s return to the area, where it last operated four decades ago.

Located at 7930 U.S. Highway 19 North, the new 2,414-square-foot Bojangles replaces a former Burger King on an outparcel of a retail plaza anchored by Ashley Furniture, across from Walmart Supercenter.

The site features a single-lane drive-thru.

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$33 million Tierra Verde Marina redevelopment revised again, could become Florida’s second-largest boat storage facility

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$33 million Tierra Verde Marina redevelopment revised again, could become Florida’s second-largest boat storage facility

A Tampa-based developer has refined its plans to transform the aging seven-acre Tierra Verde Marina property, adding new public amenities and retail while addressing concerns from nearby residents.

Since the proposal was first introduced in March, Greenleaf Capital has made several key revisions to its $33 million, two-phase redevelopment at 100 Pinellas Bayway South.

The project, which was originally slated to go before St. Pete’s Development Review Commission (DRC) in October, has been rescheduled to December to accommodate additional design and a traffic analysis.

One of the community’s main concerns was losing the existing retail space at the marina. In response, the developer has added 2,400 square feet of new retail space to the latest plan, which could be divided into up to three storefronts and will be included in Phase 1 of construction.

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Publix at Dolphin Village in St. Pete Beach to be rebuilt into larger, elevated new prototype store

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Publix at Dolphin Village in St. Pete Beach to be rebuilt into larger, elevated new prototype store

Five months after a devastating fire left Dolphin Village’s Publix and neighboring shops in ruins, plans are now moving forward to bring a larger, more modern supermarket back to the barrier island.

New York-based Brixmor Property Group, owner of the fire-damaged shopping center, announced Monday that it will submit development plans to the city for a new 51,000-square-foot Publix Super Market — a major expansion from the previous 33,000-square-foot store.

The proposed design includes covered parking beneath an elevated store, a feature aimed at improving shopper convenience and storm resilience at the 136,000-square-foot grocery-anchored center.

Project approvals and construction are expected to take several years, and an opening date has not yet been determined.

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Great Explorations Children’s Museum plans new Discovery Center with focus on STEAM education

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Great Explorations Children’s Museum plans new Discovery Center with focus on STEAM education

After nearly four decades of inspiring young minds, Great Explorations Children’s Museum is dreaming bigger.

The beloved St. Petersburg institution, located at 1925 4th Street North next to Sunken Gardens, is searching for a larger home to keep pace with its expanding programs, growing preschool, and community impact.

Founded in 1986 as The Hands-On Museum, Great Explorations has evolved into a 24,000-square-foot center for imagination and discovery.

Children can shop in a mini grocery store, role-play as doctors, build, tinker, and experiment, all while learning through play.

In 2013, Angeline Howell joined the museum as its CEO.

A year later, the museum became the first mid-sized children’s museum in the country to earn accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, an honor that few children’s museums have achieved.

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