April 17, 2024

Collaborative art marketplace ASTRA debuts on MLK in downtown St. Pete

April 17, 2024/ Veronica Brezina

Vintage furniture, thrift finds, tarot card decks, and handmade jewelry curated by St. Pete artists have found a home inside a new marketplace.

Cassie Mrotek, founder of ASTRA Aromatherapy, has opened ASTRA & Friends, an art consignment shop at 242 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street North.

The storefront was previously occupied by Central Oak Barber Co., which relocated two doors down to vegan grocer Black Radish's old space.

April 16, 2024

Reflection condo sales top $65 million as 18-story tower nears completion

April 16, 2024/ Veronica Brezina

Construction crews are wrapping up the interior buildout for the 18-story Reflection condominium building that overlooks Mirror Lake.

Reaching a height of 200 feet at 777 3rd Avenue North in downtown St. Petersburg, Reflection is the tallest building in the Mirror Lake neighborhood and will have 88 condos and 2,800 square feet of retail space at completion.

Local developer HP Capital, formed by partners Fred Hemmer, Angelo Cappelli, Nick Hansen, and Chris Hemmer, recently announced that condo sales for the luxury tower reached $65 million, including $5 million sold in the past two weeks. KW Commercial is the exclusive broker marketing the condominiums.

April 12, 2024

Done Deals: Art House eclipses $200m in sales, Developer buys land for affordable housing, St. Pete apartments sell

April 12, 2024/ Veronica Brezina

Done Deals is a weekly column by St. Pete Rising spotlighting recent real estate market insight and significant deals happening in the Sunshine City and beyond. The following information is sourced from public records and trusted intel.

Have real estate news to share? Send us an email at hello@stpeterising.com.

April 11, 2024

Asian fusion restaurant Pin on Cafe finds a new home in the Grand Central District

April 11, 2024/ Veronica Brezina

Husband and wife duo Som and Roger Rattanachane, who operate Pin on Cafe and Pin Wok & Bowl in downtown St. Pete, will soon bring their Asian fusion cuisines to the Grand Central District.

Pin on Cafe, which debuted in 2021 at 1100 Central Avenue in the EDGE District, has been forced to find a new home as the existing location will be razed later this year for phase two of the EDGE Collective mixed-use development.

Known for its delicious twists on traditional Thai and Japanese dishes, Pin on Cafe is expected to debut this August at 2458 Central Avenue, formerly home to Valhalla Bakery which recently consolidated operations into the neighboring Valkyrie Doughnuts space.

April 10, 2024

The 1888 Hotel breathes new life into historic downtown St. Pete property

April 10, 2024/ Brian Hartz

As downtown St. Petersburg’s skyline becomes increasingly taller and more modern, it’s particularly refreshing to see some of the Sunshine City’s historic properties revived and repurposed.

The 1888 Hotel, at 220 5th Avenue North, is a recent example of St. Pete’s history blending with contemporary styles and trends. In its heyday, the property, which was built in 1923, was known as The Hillcrest Hotel. Managing Partners Frederick Dela Cruz and Jeffrey Pippin have renamed it The 1888 Hotel as a homage to the year the first passenger train arrived in St. Pete.

“We acquired the property in 2020, and it was a little bit of a crazy situation,” Dela Cruz said in an interview with St. Pete Rising. “A developer wanted to demolish the building and build a parking garage.”