46-story Residences at 400 Central in downtown St. Pete inches toward groundbreaking
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 6, 2021

The 46-story Residences at 400 Central, a new condominium tower coming to downtown St. Petersburg, is moving toward its groundbreaking.

Developer Red Apple Real Estate has officially launched reservations for the building’s 301 luxury condos. Red Apple founder John Catsimatidis Sr., a New York billionaire who owns Manhattan grocery chain Gristedes Foods, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal the tower has already secured “double if not triple” the reservations they expected in the first 10 days, though he declined to say exactly how many units have been reserved.

Michael Saunders & Co. of Sarasota is the exclusive sales and marketing agent for the project. The sales gallery for the Residences at 400 Central is officially open at 465 Central Ave., directly across from the site. Pre-construction pricing for the condos starts in the $800,000s.

Regardless of how many presales they obtain, Catsimatidis said Red Apple plans to have a groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 18 at the site.

“We have taken great care and attention to refine and elevate every detail in this development to the highest level,” Catsimatidis said in a statement. “I want more than anything for this project to become both a wonderful place to live and a tremendous addition to the community.”

He told the Business Journal that Covid-19 has changed the market for developments like 400 Central across the nation. Now there are even more reasons “people want to push the escape button from the Northeast,” he said, and he believes there will be many companies considering splitting employees up between offices in different regions.

The explosion of the residential market itself paired with the demand for office space downtown has led to a change in pricing across the board. Catsimatidis said pricing is “higher than we have ever even dreamed about,” and he believes the tower is going to create an “oasis” in downtown St. Pete.

Catsimatidis said buyers from Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other northern locations who have expressed an interest in Florida due to the state’s tax rate have already swooped in to reserve their spots.

400 Central, which will stand 515 feet tall, is anticipated to be one of the tallest residential buildings on the west coast of Florida. Besides the condos, it will also include space for ground-floor retail and restaurants and top-tier office space. The condo floor plans range from one to four bedrooms. There will also be a selection of custom penthouses, one of which Catsimatidis said he intends to purchase for his own family.

Residents will have access to more than 35,000 square feet of private indoor and outdoor amenities. This includes a Sky Lounge Observatory on the 46th floor that will have panoramic views from Tampa Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. Other amenities include a pool, spa, putting green, bocce court, outdoor kitchen and a dog walking area.

The building was originally going to include a mix of hotel rooms and office space, but last year Catsimatidis scrapped the hotel and doubled down on the amount of office space, increasing the total to 45,000 square feet.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic leading many across the country to adopt a work-from-home policy, Catsimatidis said he believes the decision was the right one — and that long-term remote work isn’t sustainable.

“People can’t work from home and get accomplished what they’re supposed to accomplish,” he said. “My opinion.”