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.
Read More
For generations of St. Pete residents, The Chattaway has been the kind of place people do not simply visit. They return to it.
They come back for the cheeseburgers, the beer, the photos and plaques crowding the walls, and the leafy courtyard that feels tucked away from the city around it.
Some remember riding bikes there as kids. Others had first dates beneath its trees. Nearly everyone has a story.
Today, that story enters a new chapter.
The Chattaway has reopened at 358 22nd Avenue South after Cullen Mahoney, Ferg’s Sports Bar owner Mark Ferguson, and Shrimpy’s Waterfront owner John John Delladonna purchased both the restaurant and the 0.70-acre property beneath it.
Customers returning today will find the familiar restaurant, with several practical upgrades designed to make it work better day to day.