$70M apartments to break ground in downtown St. Petersburg
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Mar 2, 2015

St. Petersburg's next high-end apartment development is imminent.

Coral Gables-based Allen Morris Co. will break ground on the Hermitage, a 348-unit apartment building at 750 First Ave. South, on Thursday. The Hermitage will include studio, one- and two-bedroom units. The building will stand eight stories and feature a rooftop pool.

The $70 million project is backed by AIG Global Real Estate, Allen Morris said in a statement. When it was announced in April 2014, construction costs were pegged at $65 million.

At a construction cost of more than $200,000 per unit, the project is comparable to Crescent Bayshore, a nine-story luxury development in downtown Tampa that commands rents north of $2.30 per square foot - a new high benchmark for the Bay region when that property debuted last fall.

Downtown St. Petersburg has seen a boom of new multifamily construction, and more is in the pipeline, including for-sale units in the Salvador, a condominium building in the works on Dali Boulevard.

The burgeoning residential population supports independent bars and restaurants.

In 2014, St. Petersburg started to see more activity in the office sector, with more companies wanting to locate in a live-work-play environment to attract and retain young talent.

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.