Recently, new residential developments have been sprouting up on nearly every corner in Downtown St. Pete. From urban townhomes to mid-rise condos to towering mixed-use apartment developments, there has been a lot of activity within the urban core as well as in downtown’s peripheral districts. 

Despite seeing enormous growth in new restaurants and retail options, St. Pete’s Grand Central District, which runs along Central Avenue between 16th Street and 31st Street, has yet to experience the boom in residential growth that the neighboring EDGE District has encountered. However, that may soon change.

Milhaus, a real estate construction, development, and management company from Indianapolis is proposing a large mixed-use development in the district. The six-year-old company is relatively new to Florida, but has plans for an expanded presence in the state, including a project currently under construction in the Seminole Heights neighborhood of Tampa. 

Their St. Pete project, which will be located at 1601 Central Avenue, will feature 251 market-rate apartments and ground-level retail along Central Avenue.

The residential units, which will start at $1,300 a month, will consist of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units ranging from 540 to 1,240 square feet. Around 65% of the units will be studios and one-bedroom units, which are floorplans typically most popular among young professionals. Amenities in the building will include a courtyard and pool, small dog park, rooftop lounge, fitness center, and co-working space.

In addition to the residential units, the project will also feature approximately 12,000 square feet of commercial space which will front Central Avenue. The vision for the retail units is to have a larger restaurant on the Central Avenue and 16th Street corner with smaller retail shops in the remaining spaces. These retail spaces will help fill a crucial gap on Central Avenue that currently exists between the EDGE District and Grand Central District.

The $53 million project will be six stories on the Central Avenue side of the building and five stories on the remaining three sides. The entire building will wrap around an interior 300-space parking garage, which will open onto 17th Street. 

Milhaus filed permitting documents last week and the project is scheduled to be heard before City Council on January 4th. If all goes as planned, construction will commence in 1Q18 with a 21-month construction schedule, which would put the first residents moving in around 1Q20.