Tampa developer plans project on long-vacant site in south St. Petersburg
By Margie Manning
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 1, 2016

A Tampa developer plans a mixed-use project on a high-profile parcel in St. Petersburg's Skyway Marina District.

Phillips Development & Realty has a contract on the 9-acre site at 30th Avenue South and 34th Street South, where Home Depot had once planned a store before the recession hit and the company's strategy shifted.

Phillips plans to build 250 market-rate apartments and 25,000 square feet of retail space, said Gary Jones, senior planner for St. Petersburg Economic Development and the city's point person for the Skyway Marina District.

A Phillips executive was not immediately able to provide additional details.

Mayor Rick Kriseman announced the plan at a breakfast with business leaders Friday morning at Ceridian, a human capital management firm, with offices across 34th Street from the planned project. Everyone around the table felt "a tremendous sense of accomplishment," Jones said.

The city has been pushing for redevelopment for over a year in the District, bounded roughly by 30th Avenue South and 54th Avenue South and spanning both sides of 34th Street South. The new project on the north end of the District - combined with construction of a new Publix Super Markets Inc. store to replace an existing store in Baypointe Plaza, on the south end of the District - shows confidence in the market, Jones said.

Phillips plans to construct the retail part of the project on the front one-third of the parcel, with the apartments on the back two-thirds, Jones said. The company has asked the city to extend the Skyway Trail bike path, which currently ends at 34th Avenue South, eastward to the planned apartments.

"They look at the trail system as a being a good amenity for the site," Jones said, adding nothing has been decided at this point.

The land has been vacant and on the market for several years. It used to be the site for the Suncoast Resort Hotel Inc. until it was purchased by Home Depot (NYSE: HD) in 2007. Home Depot razed the hotel, but then the economy dictated the chain put a moratorium on new stores nationally, and the company later decided it didn't meet its model any more.

Over the next several months, Jones expects Phillips to do due diligence, making sure the project is viable from a financial standpoint, and likely to get site plan approval from the city.

In addition to Ceridian, other employers in the District include Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) and Kobie Marketing, both leasing space in the Ceridian building. There's a Walmart Supercenter just south of Ceridian, and St. Petersburg College's Allstate Center is adjacent to the planned Phillips development.

"When you have new market-rate apartments in close proximity to jobs, it should be appealing to many of those workers across the street," Jones said. "This project and the amount of funds and renovation done to Baypointe Plaza, gives us two great anchors for the District. Now it's time to fill in between."

Margie Manning is Finance Editor of the Tampa Bay Business Journal. She covers the Money beat.