The condominium market in downtown St. Pete continues to be red hot with high demand and low supply. For buyers, new units can’t be built fast enough.

Saltaire, a 35-story building under construction at 300 1st Street South, is over 70% reserved. And Reflection, an 18-story project planned for 300 8th Street North, is over 50% reserved. The buildings are not expected to be completed until 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The latest high-rise condominium project planned for downtown St. Pete is a 23-story tower named The Nolen.

The Nolen will be located just one block off of Beach Drive at 126 4th Avenue Northeast and is being developed by Bowen Arnold and John Schilling at DDA Development. The luxury condominium building is expected to have 31 units and will be 288 feet tall.

Like Bliss, an 18-story condominium building developed on the same block in 2017, the Nolen will have a maximum of two units per floor with private elevator lobbies and just one shared wall per unit.

The base of The Nolen will feature a three-story parking structure along with a residential lobby and 1,260 square feet of ground-floor retail space. In total there will be 63 parking spaces and 33 long-term bicycle spaces in the building. Ingress and egress of the parking garage will be off of Rowland Court.

According to preliminary site plan documents, the Nolen will feature a garden entrance with “climbing vines” and landscaping. The street-level features rounded arched windows with coquina stone cladding.

The fourth floor will have an amenity and pool deck. Floors 5 through 16 will contain two 2,150 square foot residential units each while floors 17 through 23 will each have one 3,400 square foot unit.

Given the height of the building, the upper floors will enjoy unobstructed views of Tampa Bay.  

Currently, the site is home to the Bay Gables house, a 1910-built Vernacular home that features both Colonial and Queen Anne architectural elements. It is operated as the Watergarden Inn at the Bay, a bed & breakfast, and was designated a historic structure in 1994. The building will be moved by the current owners before DDA Development purchases the land. The sale of the land is expected to close in December 2021.

In 2019, JMC Communities announced plans for The Perry on the lot. The building was slated to be 12 stories with 22 units before it was cancelled. The Nolen will be a more intense use of the site with 13 additional floors and ten extra units. 

In a statement to St. Pete Rising, DDA Development says: “The Nolen will offer a new level of sophistication to the burgeoning luxury condo market in St. Petersburg. We have put together a dynamic team to bring this project to life and look forward to The Nolen becoming a part of the downtown community.”

DDA Development has worked on several projects in downtown St. Petersburg, FL over the past few years. Most recently the group completed The Salvador, a 13-story condominium tower at 199 Dali Boulevard, and Campbell Landings, a 5-story affordable 55+ apartment building at 365 6th Street South.

The group is also currently working on Orange Station at the Edge, a mixed-use development planned for 1301 1st Avenue North, and Sixty90, a multifamily development planned for 6090 Central Avenue. 

Craig Sher and Will Conroy of Backstreets Capital are also partnering on The Nolen. Tim Clemmons at Place Architecture designed the building and Amber Brinkley at Kippen Communications is handling public relations and branding for the development.

Smith & Associates will be handling the sales for the building and pricing is expected to begin at well over $1 million.

The Nolen has not yet been approved and is expected to go before the City’s Development Review Commission later this year. A groundbreaking is tentatively scheduled for the first quarter of 2022.

For more information on sales, contact David Moyer, Director of Sales at Smith & Associates Real Estate, at dmoyer@smithandassociates.com or call 813-839-3800.