New Class A office space in downtown has long been a priority for Mayor Rick Kriseman’s administration. This year, the City has been able to secure commitments for over 300,000 square feet of new office space across four projects in Downtown St. Pete. And while nearly 150,000 square feet of that space will be occupied by UPC Insurance’s headquarters expansion, the rest, including the space in this project, will be speculative.

In speaking with St. Pete Rising, Mayor Kriseman says, “For years, I’ve been banging the drum for office space and we’ve been working toward that end. That hard work is now being rewarded. I love beautiful residential towers, but our downtown cannot just be a bedroom community. I’m excited about the fact that not only is there 100,000 square feet of office space in this project, but that it is also not yet leased, which tells you how much confidence there is in our market to build space like that.”

In addition to the office space, the project will also contain another important use — workforce housing. The project will include a minimum of 30 workforce housing rental units catering to people making 80% to 120% of the area median income.

While Downtown St. Pete has over 1,000 units of affordable housing, most only serve populations making up to 60% of the area median income. Workforce housing units are a crucial part of the Mayor’s “For All, From All” housing plan and these units will fill a pivotal gap between affordable units and market-rate units.

“Given our priorities and our recently released housing affordability plan, it was important to us that an affordable or workforce housing component be negotiated into this project,” said Mayor Kriseman. “These units will really appeal to people like first responders, nurses, and young professionals – which is an important part of our plan.”

In addition to workforce housing units, the project is also expected to contain 60 market-rate condominium units and over 22,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. The retail space will front Central Avenue, 13th Street, and Baum Avenue.