Doggy day care Paws ‘n’ Rec to open first St. Pete location
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 4, 2024

Paws’ n’ Rec, a beloved Tampa-based dog day care, grooming and boarding provider, is opening its first St. Petersburg location.

The company will be filling an 8,500-square-foot space in the Lealman Warehouse District at 4300 28th St. N. Paws’ n’ Rec was founded by two friends, Taylor Wallace and Michael Mayleben, in 2020. Since then, the company has opened three locations in Tampa.

Wallace, a St. Petersburg resident, was “tired of driving across the bridge to bring his beloved Dalmatian Bessie to day care,” according to a release. Mayleben has more than a decade of experience running dog day cares. The group currently employs more than 75 full-time dog handlers between multiple locations.

“We’ve long had our sights on St. Pete, and we’re thrilled to now offer Tampa’s favorite dog care solution to the residents of Pinellas County,” the company said in a release. “We operate with one of the best dog-to-person ratios in Tampa Bay, and this St. Pete location will have better hours than any pet resort in Pinellas County, with pickup and drop off available between 6:30 a.m. and 10 p.m.”

The company has also installed medical-grade HVAC systems to produce “100% fresh, outside filtered air” into the facility.

Early customers will become “founding members” of the facility and receive $50 off monthly day care memberships for the first six months and a free bath each month for the first six months. The company offers two memberships: Daycare Adventure for dogs that need daytime care and Hotel Memberships for dogs that need overnight stays.

Lealman is increasingly becoming an area of interest in the county. As residents are priced out of St. Petersburg, many are flocking to the Lealman area, which lies northwest of St. Petersburg and south of Pinellas Park.

The Lealman CRA was established in 2015 and is the first CRA in unincorporated Pinellas County. It has been lauded as a monumental success for the county and may become a model Pinellas uses to address areas of blight and to encourage economic development.

Commercial properties throughout the area have become prime real estate as developers hope to expand on the success of the new Tesla Service Center, which opened in February 2023. A neighboring flex building sold in May 2023 for $7.1 million.