Kucera Properties plans $85M mixed-use tower in downtown St. Pete
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 13, 2015

The owner of Priatek Plaza is planning a new mixed-use tower in St. Petersburg's urban core.

Kucera Properties said Wednesday that it is marketing the site adjacent to Priatek Plaza - bordered by Third Street to the west, Central Avenue to the north and First Avenue South to the south - for office users. The developer has hired Tim Callahan, a managing director with Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc., to market the property to office users.

The tower, which will likely be about 15 stories, also will include a four-star hotel component, the developer said in a statement.

Kucera won't break ground until it signs one or two anchor office tenants, said Nathan Lehoux, vice president of business development.

The vision for the site - a shorter building with larger floor plates, ranging from 40,000 to 50,000 square feet - bucks the trend for most urban development and especially in St. Petersburg, where the majority of downtown office users are smaller companies like law firms or financial advisers.

But Lehoux said Kucera is targeting one or two larger users that total 250,000 to 300,000 square feet - technology companies or regional headquarters that would prefer bigger, more efficient floor plates. The tower may include 30,000 to 50,000 square feet of speculative office space.

There would seven floors of parking, totaling more than 600 space, and ground-floor level retail along Central Avenue, Third Street and First Avenue South. Once a tenant is signed, Kucera is projecting an 18-month construction period.

Priatek Plaza has about 30,000 square feet of office space available. But there are no options in downtown St. Pete - or downtown Tampa - for a company seeking more than 100,000 square feet of modern, top-tier office space.

"We've seen some major movement to the area," Lehoux said, referencing the iQor US headquarters as well as the Twinlabs relocation from New York to St. Petersburg.

"If there's a time to do it, now is the time because everyone's eyes are beginning to look toward St. Petersburg in the Bay area," he said, "and it's time to give them something more interesting to look at."

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