Kolter Urban, based in Delray Beach, closed on almost four acres on east Corey Ave. in St. Pete Beach for under $10 million, according to a Pinellas County deed filed last month. An entity linked with Fortress Investment Group was the seller. Kolter took out a $9.83 million loan from CIBC Bank USA to fund the acquisition, according to property records.
“We look forward to partnering with the city of St. Pete Beach to continue the development of a mixed-use property that reflects the unique beauty of the waterfront and the character of the community,” Brian Van Slyke, regional president of Kolter Urban, said in a statement. Kolter’s purchase shows demand to build commercial real estate in Pinellas County has not died in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton. Led by CEO Bobby Julien, Kolter Urban is also the developer of 42-story Art House which just topped out at 450 feet in downtown St. Petersburg, Other local projects include One Tampa, Hyde Park House, One St. Petersburg, Saltaire and The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Sarasota Bay.
A proposed 49-story Waldorf Astoria Residences is in the works, which would be tallest yet in the St. Petersburg skyline. The plan includes 155 residences and over 10,000 square feet of retail space at Second Ave. and Second Street S.
St. Petersburg Distillery is making spirits bright this holiday season with special gift packages of their locally made, premium hand-crafted spirits. There will be two gift options – six bottles of the 750ml full-size bottles ($199) or six stocking stuffer size mini bottles ($14). Each option will include all six of the Old St. Pete Spirits – Sunset Gin, Artisanal Vodka, Righteous Rum & Spice, and the newly launched Florida Straight Bourbon. The gift packages are available exclusively at the market store (800 31st St. S) in St. Petersburg, which is open Wed.-Sun. from 11am-10pm. Gift cards for tastings, classes, and the market store are also available. For more information on St. Petersburg Distillery’s products and services, call 727-914-0931 or visit St. Petersburg Distillery.
The St. Petersburg Coliseum has been our go-to place to swing in the new year since Renee and I had our first date there on Dec. 31, 1970. Last month, on Nov. 20, it turned 100. Built for what today seems a modest $250,000 and opened Nov. 20, 1924, the same day as the Gandy Bridge, the St. Petersburg Coliseum has a 15,500-square-foot dance floor, largest in the U.S. at the time. I recall on the eve of my 19th birthday, my new girlfriend, Miss Renee LaFountain, a ballerina and acrobatic dancer, was the entertainment for Jack Golly’s big band. She was 22 years old then. I told her I was turning 24. It was a little white lie she thankfully pardoned me for four months later when I told her the truth and proposed to her. While the St. Petersburg Coliseum had been a treasured dance location, it has also been home to a wide variety of events, from beauty pageants to Horned Toad races. Last year it held the area’s first pickleball exhibit and trade show.
Join the Warehouse Arts District on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 10am for a very special holiday tour along the Pinellas Trail, starting at 2025 Third Ave. S, St. Petersburg. This unique tour will highlight three former industrial warehouses that have been reimagined and repurposed as art centers for working artists, with exclusive access to the artists and gallery owners in a small group setting. This limited-capacity tour, organized specifically for Preserve the ‘Burg, will begin with coffee and pastries at the Morean Workshop Space, a vibrant 9,000-square-foot art-making hub offering specialized workshops and artist residencies in a beautifully restored historic building along the trail. From there, you’ll head to the nearby Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA) headquarters to explore the ArtsXchange and WADA campus, showcasing an array of artist studios and galleries. You’ll also visit Soft Water Gallery, a contemporary art gallery located in a warehouse that was the former home of Soft Water Laundry, Florida’s largest commercial laundry a century ago. At each location, see how these historic commercial structures have been repurposed for use by local artists. You’ll hear directly from from gallery representatives, including Valerie Scott Knaust, director of the Morean Workshop Space; Mark Aehling, board president of the Warehouse Arts District Association; and Lisa
Lippincott, gallery director of Soft Water Gallery. This special-access tour is $20 for Preserve The Burg members. Guests and non-members are $25/person. Tour reservations are strongly recommended as space is limited to 30 people. Register at www.ptb.wildapricot.org/event-5931616/Registration
Many beach businesses are continuing to recover and reopen after the devastation of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in late September and early October. Others are not so lucky. Pizza, for example, will be harder to come by on St. Pete Beach as late night favorite for 30 years, Vito & Michael’s, decided to close and newcomer Slyce is waiting for their landlord, the PCI resort, to get their space renovated for reopening. St. Pete Beach’s Waffle House was being renovated before the storms and reopened recently. The new restaurant at the Centre of St. Pete Beach with a window at 7525 Blind Pass Road is also open late. Popular breakfast restaurants in St. Pete Beach, the Frog Pond and La Croisette, both suffered substantial damage. The former Frog Pond may return with a different concept, so the breakfast team found an alternative location to work out of, serving their terrific breakfasts at Madfish Grille, the shiny diner-like restaurant south of The Sirata, between the Bellwether Resort and Crabby Bills in St. Pete Beach. The Chamber is billing this as a partnership we should see more of. Diners love it too.By the end of 2024, New York-based Red Apple Group will purchase a Mirror Lake property, about an acre, located at the corner of 5th Street and Third Ave. N, which was previously approved to be developed into a 23-story mixed-use tower containing 285 apartments and 10,000-square-feet of retail space for $13.2 million. “We are under contract to acquire this exciting piece of land near beautiful Mirror Lake in the heart of the Sunshine City’s downtown,” Kevin King, director of Florida operations for Red Apple, said in a statement to St. Pete Rising. Currently, Red Apple is under construction on the 46-story Residences at 400 Central condominium tower in downtown St. Petersburg.Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ: ALGT) has announced a major expansion, introducing 44 new non-stop routes across the U.S., including new service at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE). Among the highlights is a new route connecting PIE to Colorado Springs Airport (COS), set to begin service on Feb. 14, 2025, with one-way fares starting at $39.* This expansion includes flights to three new cities: Gulf Shores, Alabama; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Columbia, South Carolina. To celebrate, Allegiant is offering introductory one-way fares as low as $39 on select new routes. See the Allegiant website for details.*
A gofundme page has begun for Corey Ave. businesses, with T-shirts designed by Lisa and her daughter of the Well Feathered Nest as the “prize” for people who donate. Donors just need to show proof of their donation and which business’s social media they responded on, when they stop by to pick up their shirt. They’ll leave the money with gofundme until the end of the campaign and then divide it equally among the Corey businesses who participated. This way no one has to pay up front for the shirts and some donors may actually give more than the $30 per shirt. CLICK HERE for the GoFundMe.
Red Tide is back. Sample quantities and concentrations are both on the rise, mostly offshore from Pinellas south. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports the results of sampling weekly. Please check their daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on the Red Tide Current Status page. For more info on algal blooms and water quality, please visit Protecting Florida Together. This information, including maps and reports with additional details, is also available on the FWRI Red Tide website. The website also provides links to additional information related to the topic of Florida red tide including satellite imagery, experimental red tide forecasts, shellfish harvesting areas, the FWC Fish Kill Hotline, the Florida Poison Information Center (to report human health effects related to exposure to red tide), and other wildlife related hotlines. To learn more about various organisms that have been known to cause algal blooms in Florida waters, see the FWRI Red Tide Flickr page. Archived status maps can also be found on Flickr.
The winds of Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9 shredded the fiberglass roof of Tropicana Field, with an almost $60 million repair cost and requiring the Tampa Bay Rays to find alternative digs at the Yankee’s spring training grounds, Tampa’s Steinbrenner field for the 2025 baseball season. This also has delayed the approval of bond financing for the Rays new stadium deal at both the city and county level. Tampa Bay Rays sent a letter to the Pinellas Commission saying that delays are raising the costs of a new stadium, and the team cannot absorb these increased costs they had previously agreed to cover, casting doubt on the future of the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg.
Patty Narozny, Founder & Executive Producer, Hot Works Fine Art & Craft Shows and Founder, Institute for the Arts & Education, Inc., has announced two juried art shows to be held at the Imagine Museum St. Pete Fine Art Shows taking place at the Imagine Museum on Jan. 18-19, and March 8-9, 2025. These are high quality juried fine art and craft shows where all work is original and personally handmade by the artist in the show. There is something for everyone, in all price ranges.941-755-3088 www.hotworks.org www.facebook.com/hotworksartshows