Luxury living

Adding to the construction sites along the Bayboro campus is a new $30-million, 274-unit luxury multifamily residential development by Orlando-based ZOM Development Inc. This is the firm's first project in St. Petersburg. It currently is building the Madison at SoHo in Hyde Park Village and Arbors at Carrollwood in Tampa. "We're attracted to downtown St. Petersburg because of the large number of jobs," says Greg West, the firm's vice president of development. "This is the largest concentrated employment center in Pinellas County. That drew us there. And there are no luxury apartment developments in the central business district. To us that's a perfect fit."

The project includes five-story buildings with parking on the first level. "The parking will look like it's part of the building with windows," West says. "The units will wrap around the perimeter of the site and on the second level above parking is an elevated outside deck area with a swimming pool, sun deck and planters. It will have a nice outside garden courtyard feeling. This is a new design for us."

While the Cloisters and Florencia condominium towers have recently opened, Vinoy Place is moving toward a certificate of occupancy for its families. "We've topped out construction on the first two phases," says Craig McLaughlin, a developer in partnership with Southeast Companies for this project. "These phases include 10 city homes and two condominium towers of 42 units, 21 in each building. We're approaching 90-percent sold right now."

A third phase will add 25 homes in two additional towers. That construction is due to start later in the year. "Our city homes will be completed in late November and the towers will be available for occupancy in January," McLaughlin says. "We're way ahead of where we thought we'd be in sales. We're very pleased. Our St. Petersburg location is definitely a key. We're located on a point of property surrounded by parkland and water. The views can never be blocked and you can't find better views. And we're located downtown. That's an advantage.

Vinoy Place, with two Phase I condominium towers of 21 units each and 10 city homes, is rising on the St. Petersburg's yacht basin, just east of the Renaissance Vinoy Resort. Photo:D.J. Wilson

Revitalized downtown

"People see a downtown that is phenomenal," adds McLaughlin. "They see the waterfront, restaurants, museums, baseball, all the things to do and places to go, shops, theaters. It keeps getting better and better. Downtown St. Petersburg has a nightlife. It has a life. It's not just a place to work, it's truly a place to live, work and play. Everything needed to support all three aspects is in place or getting in place. There are very few downtowns in the country that can truly claim to have that. It really has a community feel. It's not just a bunch of high-rise office buildings. It's still amazing how many people that live in other parts of Tampa Bay haven't discovered downtown yet. When they do, they're just amazed."

Neighboring Renaissance Vinoy Resort is assisting with the discovery of downtown since opening its conference center earlier in the year. "Our bookings have been unbelievable," says Russell C. Bond, the resort's general manager. "We've had a tremendous amount of convention business but also a surprising amount of social business."

Bond views the opening of BayWalk a few blocks away as a plus for his business. "We're looking forward to BayWalk," he says. "Groups who come here want something for their people to do when they go out of the resort. The more that's out there, the better for all of us."

Awaiting BayWalk

Those business clients and their families will be able to enjoy the 20-screen Muvico theater at BayWalk along with an assortment of restaurants and retail shops. "We should open in excess of 90 percent leased," says Craig Sher, president of The Sembler Co., developer of the $30-million, 130,000-square-foot entertainment and retail complex. "The other last piece of the puzzle [for downtown St. Petersburg] would be some apartments, and they're coming. The more people who live here, the more successful downtown will be."

Adding to the entertainment options for visitors to downtown St. Petersburg is the Florida International Museum, which this year has become affiliated with the Smithsonian Institute. "Our [John F.] Kennedy display is now permanent," says Wayne Atherholt, a vice president at the museum. "We're renovating the ground floor to add 10,000 square feet of exhibit space dedicated to collections from the Smithsonian. We're positioning ourselves to be a mini-Smithsonian. We can borrow artifacts from any number of affiliated museums in Washington D.C. and New York. We'll have all that contained in one building on a smaller scale."

And the museum has space for additional galleries, with the second and third stories currently unoccupied. "Our long-term goal is to fill this building with artifacts from Smithsonian instead of sitting in vault and storage lockers in Maryland," Atherholt says. "Of the millions of artifacts they have, only roughly 2 percent are on display. We have a very large building here and need to create exhibits that are going to be appreciated by people. It's a perfect marriage. We're trying to create as broad an education experience as possible."

To aid in that effort, the museum has opened year around. "This is the first summer we've been open," says Atherholt. "We're becoming more of a museum as opposed to an exhibition hall. BayWalk will put a lot more people at our doorstep. The more things within walking distance in downtown St. Petersburg, the better off we'll all be. BayWalk fills in the gap between us and the Museum of Fine Arts and the [St. Petersburg] Museum of History and Beach Drive. We'll see more pedestrian activity in downtown because of it."

Commercial real estate developer Grady Pridgen is adding his touch to downtown with the acquisition of the former United Congregationalist Church, which he plans to convert to several uses. "This is an incredible challenge, quite a puzzle," he says. "But we have just about figured it out. This church was built in 1912 for a different type of use. We're establishing an adaptive reuse of the property and have to make the facility appear to have been designed today. Everyone in the city has been helpful."

Pridgen plans to use the space in the church for a high-end restaurant, his real estate office and home. "There's a little room on the roof, a four-foot parapet," he says. "We'll make a roof garden. It has open views of Tampa Bay."

Renovation of the theater in the church building "is another story," Pridgen says. "That will take a while."

Pridgen also has an option on the YMCA's historic building downtown. "We'd like to convert that to luxury condominiums or apartments," he says. "We're doing due diligence right now. Everything looks great. The city has been very accommodating. The YMCA is starting their new facility and our agreement is to close as soon as they move into their new facility."

The fitness club's new $11-million center will be located at Central Avenue and 34th Street.

Filling Gateway

While these projects are on a smaller scale than Pridgen is accustomed to, he's continuing his commercial development activities in the Gateway area. "Gateway Business Park has 480,000 square feet and is 100 percent leased," he says. "That complex will house over 2,000 high-tech jobs."

Pridgen's next project in Gateway is a 180,000-square-foot office building at I-275 and Gandy Boulevard. "We've completed the site work and are currently completing plans," he says. "It's 100-percent speculative."

Of all those high-tech jobs at Gateway Business Park, Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE:JBL) accounts for many of them. Between its two leased buildings in that business park and its corporate headquarters campus on Roosevelt Boulevard, the firm has 3,500 employees in St. Petersburg. The company occupies 388,000 square feet at its headquarters and 250,000 square feet of leased space in Gateway Business Park. It reported 1999 annual revenues of $2 billion. "It's challenging finding staff," says Beth Walters, the firm's vice president of communications. "But it's easier for us in this area than many of our other locations. The growth in this industry is phenomenal and we're growing rapidly."

Changes are also occurring at Unaxis, formerly known as Plasma-Therm Inc. The high-tech firm, which has been operating in the Gateway area since 1990, has been acquired by Zurich, Switzerland-based Oerlikon-Buhrle Holding AG, which recently adopted a new moniker for itself and its subsidiaries. "This has been a great thing for Plasma-Therm," says Jay Sasserath, the firm's vice president and business unit director. "We're happy to be part of Unaxis. They'll make this location the center of their U.S. operations."

A new 30,000-square-foot building will accommodate customer support and research and development activities. In addition, the company is transferring its global semiconductor group to the Gateway area. "This is one of the largest units in the company," Sasserath says. "It's bringing a lot of good high-tech jobs here. Our head count has grown by a significant percentage [currently at 170 employees] and there are a lot more positions available. This growth is expected to continue."

The HSN Empire

Home Shopping Network, another Gateway firm, is growing so rapidly that it's adding 20,000 square feet of temporary space at its corporate campus, which already has buildings totaling 500,000 square feet. This expansion is due in part to the firm's newly established Internet business, hsn.com.

"This is the straw that broke the camel's back," says Bob Rosenblatt, the firm's chief operating officer. "We've added at least 50 additional people to the campus. We've had a dot-com business since September [1999] and became profitable within the first six months. We're one of those unusual dot-com companies that actually started making money after six months."

It won't hurt the bottom line that HSN was named the official television retailer of the National Football League. "They took the license away from QVC and gave it to hsn.com," Rosenblatt says. "This involved begging and pleading for the most part."

HSN was acquired by USAI (NYSE:USAI), headed by Barry Diller. "He's a media visionary in charge of Paramount and Fox," says Rosenblatt. "USAI loves the fact that we're here. We've redone many parts of the campus, including the sales and service center at a cost of $10 million. We've built an employee store so they can buy our merchandise at a large discount."

Although the new temporary building has "bought a little time," says Rosenblatt, "we're considering whether we need another 20,000-square-foot building."

Meanwhile, the firm has hired HOK Architects to analyze future growth of the campus. "We have 53 acres and 3,000 employees here," Rosenblatt says. "We're figuring out how to maximize usage of our campus."

Catalina Marketing Corp. is also growing so rapidly that it is soon to occupy a new 150,000-square-foot office building in Carillon Park. The firm is investing $25 million to equip its new corporate headquarters for 450 employees.

And Centex Development has recently built a 60,000-square-foot speculative flex building at Gateway Centre. It plans to break ground quickly on a 100,000-square-foot industrial building at the business park.

"We still feel very confident that the absorption trends will continue over the next couple years," says Bob Sebesta, the firm's vice president. "Absorption has been very good. There's a limited supply of land and that makes the Gateway Centre project very attractive."

There is no denying that the St. Petersburg/Gateway area is a thriving center of commercial activity. The only blip on the screen appears to be the lagging attendance at Tropicana Field, perhaps because the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are last in the ranks of the American League.