Developer of St. Pete's tallest building hints at another project
By Henry Queen
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 16, 2024

The developer of the tallest residential tower on Florida's West Coast visited another site in St. Petersburg on Monday morning in a quest to replicate the success of The Residences at 400 Central elsewhere.

John Catsimatidis Sr., founder of 400 Central developer Red Apple Real Estate, said the company has zeroed in on another site in the Sunshine City but declined to provide more details. The company has already pledged to spend its next $2 billion in Florida.

"We have one on the drawing board that I can't talk about," Catsimatidis Sr. said, "in St. Pete."

Hundreds of people — from the construction, real estate, government, media and other sectors — gathered at 400 Central on Monday to celebrate the tower's construction progress. The official topping out — when the building reaches its full height of 46 stories — will take place in the coming days as the final few floors are placed.

When vertical construction is finished, the tower will measure 515 feet tall. It will have 301 luxury condo units, 60,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurants and 45,000 square feet of office space.

Buyers are expected to close on their condos in summer 2025.

The entire Catsimatidis family attended the ceremony on Monday, including John Catsimatidis Jr., president of Red Apple Group as of January. He reiterated that the company isn't done here.

"We hope to have 10 more sites," he said. "If any of your readers are looking to sell — call me."

Red Apple's expansion strategy reflects St. Pete's growth and the frenzied demand from commercial real estate developers to cash in. Catsimatidis Sr. said he feels much safer walking around Sunshine City than his longtime home of New York City and expressed hope that the Federal Reserve would lower interest rates so that the real estate market can continue to thrive in places like Florida.

"This is the Empire State Building of St. Pete," Catsimatidis Sr. said.

Former Mayor Rick Kriseman remembered when Catsimatidis Sr. first approached him with a detailed vision of what he wanted for the site, which had been home to the abandoned “cheese grater” building for years.

"All of the promises he's made, he delivered on," Kriseman said. "This building is unlike anything else in the downtown. If you're going to be a great city, you need to have a diverse architecture. That's what I love so much about this building."

Suffolk Construction is the general contractor of 400 Central. A team of up to 600 workers has placed 69,000 cubic yards of concrete, 8,800 tons of steel rebar, 45,000 sheets of drywall and 44 miles of plumbing pipe on-site so far.

The steel and concrete workers will leave the site soon after it tops out, but other workers will replace them to execute interior work.

"There are always challenges when you're building in an urban setting curb-to-curb," said Pete Tuffo, president of Suffolk's Gulf Coast region. "But the team has done a really good job of working together."