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The University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP) is moving forward with a new 7,500-square-foot veterans center on its downtown waterfront campus, replacing a temporary office with a permanent home for one of Florida’s largest student veteran populations.

Construction is expected to begin this summer, with the building scheduled to open in September 2027.

The $7.5 million project will rise at 100 5th Avenue South, the former site of USF's Family Studies Center, which was destroyed during the 2024 hurricanes.

The center will include private offices for staff, a student lounge, private study rooms, a training room, meeting spaces, and a dedicated veterans coffee area designed to give student vets a place to gather between classes.

"We call it wrap-around services," said Todd Post, Assistant Director of Veterans Success at USFSP, who is overseeing the project.

In a deal that could reshape downtown St. Petersburg’s skyline in the years ahead, Delray Beach-based Kolter Group is under contract to purchase the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront on the downtown waterfront.

The 15-story hotel, which offers sweeping views of Tampa Bay, is expected to remain open for now. Long term, however, the three-acre site carries significant redevelopment potential.

Located at 333 1st Street South, the property sits across from Al Lang Stadium, The Dalí Museum, and the Mahaffey Theater, and just steps from Central Avenue and Beach Drive.

The hotel was originally built in 1972 and renovated in 2014. It includes 333 guest rooms, 33 meeting rooms, and approximately 47,710 square feet of event space.

According to a February 20th, 2026 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the owners of the Hilton Bayfront, Ashford Hospitality Trust subsidiaries St. Petersburg Florida Hotel Limited Partnership and Ashford TRS Lessee II LLC, entered into a purchase and sale agreement on December 12th, 2025 to sell the property to Kolter Group Acquisitions LLC for $96 million.

Plans to reimagine Williams Park in downtown St. Pete are starting to come into focus, with city partners emphasizing that the park’s future success will depend as much on daily activity and programming as on physical improvements.

Leaders with the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership shared updates on the effort during a recent media availability at the Cordova Inn, where they were joined by Dan Biederman, a nationally recognized urban placemaking expert whose firm, Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, has been brought in to help shape how the park functions once construction is complete.

“It’s remarkable the progress St. Pete has made over the last four decades,” Biederman said, noting the level of downtown activity compared to other cities. “There’s a lot going on here at 11 o’clock at night — you don’t see that in many places.”

Williams Park, which opened in 1888, spans an entire city block in the heart of downtown, bordered by 1st Avenue North, 2nd Avenue North, 3rd Street North, and 4th Street North.

Long considered the city’s “town square,” the park has faced challenges in recent years related to perception issues, aging infrastructure, and an underutilized bandshell.