Nashville broker to oversee retail leasing for St. Pete's Sundial
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Feb 9, 2024

The ownership of downtown St. Petersburg's Sundial has hired an Orlando brokerage firm to market the property's retail space for lease.

Carrie Bobb, a Nashville-based senior vice president of retail services at Foundry Commercial, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal the goal is to make the Sundial into a community gathering place. In a release, Foundry said Sundial will become a “little sister” to Hyde Park Village in Tampa. Hyde Park Village is owned by Boston-based WS Development and is not related to Sundial.

The 85,000-square-foot mixed-use development near Beach Drive was sold to Paradise Ventures and Ally Capital Group in 2022. Paradise and Ally have an extensive renovation plan for Sundial that includes ditching its eponymous sundial sculpture and putting an open-air bar in the courtyard.

Paradise and Ally Capital's redevelopment plan is the second attempt at overhauling Sundial in just over a decade. St. Petersburg businessman Bill Edwards spent tens of millions of dollars into renovating the former BayWalk and reopened the property as Sundial in 2014. In 2019, Edwards entered into an agreement with the developers of Tampa's Armature Works to build a market-style food hall in Sundial. That project ended in litigation, and Edwards sued the developers in 2020.

The goal is to make the space approachable with a "hint of sophistication," Bobb said, and there will be an emphasis on programming. Bobb said The Sundial will be a destination for everyone, whether it's people finishing up a walk on the pier or holding a business meeting. She envisions people gathering in the courtyard to play games while enjoying a drink before walking over to dinner at a restaurant on the property.

The company will be targeting a few “iconic national retail brands” to act as an anchor and then emphasize the character of St. Pete by finding unique local tenants for the remaining retail space at Sundial.

She said the national brands act as a beacon for consumers, which helps boost local sales. Balance, she said, is the key to creating a sense of place and making the Sundial a destination. In the past, Bobb has worked with national brands like West Elm, SoulCycle, Sephora, lululemon, Shake Shack and Drybar.

Current tenants include Sea Salt, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Chico’s, White House Black Market and Tommy Bahama. Tampa’s Forbici Modern Italian has signed a deal for a new location at Sundial.

Available spaces range from 900 square feet to the roughly 10,000-square-foot space that was once home to Locale Market. Bobb said they are having conversations with groups interested in leasing both levels of the 10,000-square-foot space as well as groups that want to split the space.

“We love the idea of a social club upstairs and we have a little jewel box in the courtyard for a rosé bar or tequila bar or something like that, that’s kind of fun in the courtyard,” Bobb said. “We have some spaces upstairs for boutique fitness, kind of your specialty fitness. Downstairs is where we’re putting an emphasis on apparel and all of the local guys that evoke emotion when you’re walking through the project. Those local retailers are what create that sense of place."

“This is really personal to Paradise Ventures,” Bobb said. “This is a legacy project of sorts for them. It’s really personal for them to leave their mark on downtown St. Pete and be a community partner.”