St. Petersburg Central Ave property sells for $14.75 million
It’s the next step in the developer’s plan to bring new retail, apartments and a Moxy Hotel to the Edge District.

By Rebecca Liebson
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Feb 7, 2024

Fort Lauderdale developer PTM Partners purchased the 1100 block of Central Avenue from Tricera Capital and Eastman Equity for $14.75 million on Monday.

The second phase of a mixed-use development dubbed “EDGE Collective,” will be built on the site. It will include a approximately 350 residential units, 350 parking spaces and 20,000 square feet of retail.

Phase one, which broke ground nearly two years ago, includes the 163-room, Moxy Hotel complete with a rooftop bar, Floyd’s Barber Shop and Solidcore pilates studio. Next door to the hotel, PTM is renovating a historic 4-story commercial building, adding 16,000 square feet of office space on the upper floors and 8,000 square feet of food and beverage space on the ground floor.

Construction on phase one is expected to wrap up in about 6 weeks, COO of PTM Partners, Nicholas Pantuliano told the Tampa Bay Times. It It will take another six to eight weeks to get the hotel up and running, he said.

“A lot of what makes St. Pete special is it’s Central Avenue. It’s one of the best main streets in the country,” Pantuliano said. “When you develop along a corridor like this you have to do your part to make sure you add to it.”

The phase two site includes the building that houses Pin On Cafe, Emoto and Chai Mixology, a vacant building that was formerly home to Dr. BBQ, the building where Enigma is located and the empty lot adjacent to Enigma.

The Dr. BBQ building and the building that includes Pin On Cafe, Emoto and Chai Mixology will be demolished, though Pantuliano said it’s too soon to confirm when that will happen. He said PTM would be open to having those businesses return to the site, but that there will be a significant gap between when the current building is demolished and the new development is completed.

None of the business owners could immediately be reached for comment.

One of goals for the project is to connect the bustling foot traffic in the Edge District to the $6 billion Historic Gas Plant District that’s slated for the Tropicana Field site, Pantuliano said. EDGE Collective will feature several pedestrian walkways between Central Ave and First Ave South, including a 7500 square-foot garden on the west side of the hotel.

“The 1100 Block of Central Avenue is an integral part of our Phase II for a revitalized Edge District, where we are planning a mixed-use destination that will deliver on appreciating market demand in the vicinity of the Rays’ stadium,” Shari Neissani, vice president of development at PTM Partners said in a statement.