St. Pete’s Development Review Commission has unanimously approved a 23-story apartment tower at 155 17th Street South in downtown St. Pete. The building is the latest proposal for the western side of downtown St. Pete which has started to see an increase in larger developments.

The project is being proposed by St. Pete-based Apogee Real Estate Partners and will feature 204 apartments, 6,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space, and a 300-space parking garage.

“The site offers amazing views and access to all St. Pete has to offer being situated at the gateway to both the budding Warehouse Arts District and the Tropicana Redevelopment Site,” said John Barkett, Managing Partner at Apogee, to St. Pete Rising in April.

“This changes the paradigm for what is to come not only on the 86-acre redevelopment site, but for downtown St. Pete as a whole.” 

The ground floor will consist of amenity space, a leasing office, and a residential lobby with an entrance fronting 17th Street South. Plans also call for a 1,400 square foot café space and a covered “urban porch” fronting the Pinellas Trail along with 4,600 square feet of other retail space.

The project is in the Downtown Center-2 (DC-2) zoning district, which has a base floor area ratio (FAR) of 3.0. The building is seeking approval for a FAR of 7.0 and will utilize several FAR bonuses to achieve this.

As part of these bonuses, the developers will contribute a minimum of $245,000 to the city’s Housing Capital Improvements Projects (HCIP) trust fund to aid in the city’s workforce housing efforts. The development will also feature sidewalk level public art with a value of $100,000 and the developers will contribute $50,000 to the City’s downtown public art program. 

Additional FAR bonuses include purchasing transfer of development rights (TDRs) from a locally designated landmark or landmark site with available TDRs. The project also expects a FAR bonus by achieving National Green Building Standard (NGBS) Silver certification.

Topping out at 299 feet, the building will be one of the tallest on the west side of downtown St. Pete, an area which is seeing increased development activity.  

On the same day the project was approved, another 19-story apartment tower was approved just three blocks north. That building, which will be located at 1641 and 1659 1st Avenue North, will have 244 units and complementing parking and amenity space.

And immediately south of Apogee’s project is Modera St. Petersburg, a 20-story apartment building that broke ground last month.

Combined, the projects are poised to add over 830 new residential units and over 20,000 square feet of ground floor retail space to the area.

Construction is expected to begin later this year or in early 2023.