St. Petersburg’s Dairy Inn will be razed to build luxury townhomes
They’ll be priced between $1.2 million and $1.6 million.

By Rebecca Liebson
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Feb 27, 2024

“We are MOOOVING!!!” read a December Instagram post from longtime Crescent Lake ice cream shop, Dairy Inn.

Late last year, the iconic stand on the corner of Dr. MLK St. N and 12th Ave N in St. Petersburg was gutted and the building has remained vacant since. Soon, it will be demolished to make way for luxury housing.

Everett Vance, owner of The Vance Group and broker at Premier Properties plans to build six townhomes on the site. They’ll be priced between $1.2 million and $1.6 million.

“It will be an upscale Mediterranean look,” he said. “I think it will attract someone who wants to be close to downtown but doesn’t want to live downtown.”

Each unit will have between 3-4 bedrooms and 3-4 bathrooms, a private elevator, a two-car garage with a built-in flex room that could be used as a gym or home office and a rooftop terrace that could potentially include a hot tub or outdoor kitchen.

Vance purchased the lot for $740,000 in December after the owners approached him about selling the property.

The city approved the project last month. The zoning allows for up to eight townhomes, but Vance said they decided to cap it at six to keep things from feeling too cramped.

The project is expected to break ground in the next six to 12 months. Construction will take another six months.

The ice cream shop first opened in 1947 and was called Dairy Queen, according to Times archives. The name was changed in 1969, “after new owners took over and didn’t want to pay DQ’s franchise fee.”

Paul R. Johnson and his wife Beth took over in 2015, according to public records. The shop was under renovation for several months last year before it was sold to Vance.

The Johnsons’ other business – Old Farmer Creamery on Fourth Street North in St. Petersburg – is also up for sale. Vance is the listing agent.

Though he was sad to see the business close, the owners are ready to retire, Vance said.

He’s expecting some pushback from people who would rather see another business on the Dairy Inn site instead of townhomes. But he thinks it will be an important addition to the neighborhood.

“We’re starting to get to a point in St Pete here where there’s so many people moving here, where are they going to go?” he said. “We need more housing more than we need another coffee shop.”

Gabrielle Calise and Maggie Duffy contributed reporting