Construction begins on The Central development in St. Petersburg
The site will include a four-star hotel, an office building, income-restricted apartments and more.

By Rebecca Liebson
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Feb 28, 2024

The site of the former St. Petersburg Police Department in the Edge District will be transformed into a mixed-use development with offices, income-restricted apartments, retail, a four star hotel and public parking.

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch and other community leaders joined the development team at the groundbreaking of The Central at 1301 Central Ave. on Wednesday.

“If you draw a bullseye around the neighborhood, we are the dead center,” said Casey Ellison, CEO of Ellison Development which is heading up the project. “We’ll be the center of the neighborhood, hopefully. You’ll come here to eat, work out, shop.”

There will be five buildings across the 2.1-acre site: a 15-story hotel, a 12-story office building, a parking garage with 548 public spaces, a seven-story apartment building and a smaller retail building. There will be 14,000 square feet of retail space spread across the ground level of the entire project.

The 170-room hotel will be part of Mariott’s Autograph Collection. It is the first four-star hotel to be built downtown since the Vinoy. Amenities will include a theater, a restaurant, a “listening lounge” and a fitness center that is open to the public.

The office building will have 125,000 square feet of space and tenants will have access to all the amenities of the hotel. Every office suite will have outdoor space as well.

There will be 42 apartment units designated as workforce housing, meaning they’ll be reserved for people who make at or below 120% of the area median income. Right now, that’s about $73,080 for a single person, or $104,280 for a family of four.

A monument on the site will pay homage to the Courageous 12, a group of Black police officers who sued the city in 1965 to end segregation in the police department. The group was honored at the groundbreaking ceremony.

“It symbolizes progress, it symbolizes innovation and a commitment to building a future that honors our past and our history while embracing the opportunities of tomorrow.” said Mayor Ken Welch.

The development was first announced in 2019 and came in response to a request for proposal from the city. The project went through several iterations before the final plans were approved by City Council last year.

Construction will start with the parking garage, and the public will have access to those spaces as soon as the building is completed. Construction on the entire project is expected to wrap by spring 2026.