The biggest driver behind a billionaire New York developer's plans for 50-story tower in downtown St. Pete? Pride
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 23, 2019

The billionaire developer behind plans for a 50-story mixed-use tower in downtown St. Petersburg knows that everything about his vision for the 400 block of Central Avenue is aggressive. The number of condos. The scale. And his timeline, which would ideally have cranes in the air by fall - a mere eight months away, though a sales campaign for the condos hasn't even kicked off.

For John Catsimatidis, whose Red Apple Group is behind the imposing building, none of that matters.

"Don't forget: We have the cash," Catsimatidis said. "We don't need other people's funding. We're capable of writing a check."

Red Apple Group, which paid $16.5 million for the 2.3-acre site in 2017, unveiled plans for the tower in a New York Times advertisement on Jan. 17. The plans are currently for 325 condos and 200 hotel rooms, plans that Catsimatidis says are about "95 percent solid." With a net worth that Forbes pegs at more than $3 billion, Catsimatidis has the money to do what he wants, exactly when and how he wants to do it.

In downtown St. Pete, that will take the shape of the most pioneering stand-alone project proposed in the Tampa Bay region. Construction costs are around $250 million. Most traditional developers would need to presell around 60 percent of the units to secure construction financing and break ground.

The units, Catsimatidis said, will likely be priced from $1 million.

"I'm building it to be able to proud of it, and if I'm not proud, I'm not doing it," Catsimatidis told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. "I'm going to be personally invested in it, and I want everybody in St. Pete to be proud of it."

He hasn't yet selected a general contractor or formally filed plans with the city; the architect on the project is Miami-based Arquitectonica.

Catsimatidis amassed his fortune in supermarkets, including the New York City chain Gristedes. More recently, he's been increasingly venturing into real estate development, which now accounts for about 15 percent to 20 percent of his business, according to a New York Times profile in October 2018.

His recent projects include towers in Coney Island, which were featured in the same NYT advertisement as the St. Pete project. He has other projects throughout Brooklyn; he's particularly proud of The Eagle, a 32-story residential tower in downtown Brooklyn. That same sense of pride, he says, is driving the St. Pete tower.

Much like the development team behind Water Street Tampa - Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and Cascade Investment LLC - Catsimatidis' net worth makes him somewhat impervious to market forces.

He's been visiting St. Pete for more than 30 years. He thinks the city will continue to evolve, and there will be more than 300 people willing to pay top-dollar prices to live in the heart of the urban core.

"I'm willing to write my own checks, and I believe we're going to do well," he said. "Maybe I won't make a lot of money, but we're not gonna lose money. I think people from the Midwest and high tax states are going to continue coming on down."