Projects at 401 Fourth St. N and 950 Central Ave, St Pete

Condos Galore To Go Before Environmental Commission

by: Sharon Bond

ST. PETERSBURG - Two more examples of condominium developments locating out of the downtown core are the 20-story, 70-unit project planned for 401 Fourth St. N and the redesigned, larger Tamarind on Central Avenue.

The two get their first public airing by members of the Environmental Development Commission today.

A number of previously announced projects also are before the EDC, including Residences at 601 Central, with 15 stories and 108 residences; the Ovation at 140 Beach Drive NE, 26 stories and 40 estate-sized residences; and Signature Place, with 35 stories and 221 units. Signature is back before the EDC because developers want an additional 24 feet in height to accommodate a more efficient air-conditioning system.

Not yet named, the Fourth Street project will sit at the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Fourth Avenue. One of the city’s earlier condo projects, three-story Straub Court, is next door.

“It’s a modest facility,” said C. Randolph Wedding of Wedding, Stephenson & Ibarguen, architects and engineers for the Fourth Street project. “It’s aimed at more moderately priced, under $500,000.”

He said no exact prices had been set and that sizes would include one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The building will include 14 stories of residences, four levels of parking, one level of amenities for residents and street-level retail.

The proximity of Straub Court prompted the city’s development review staff to require changes in the design, which would have the four levels of parking facing the windows of Straub Court.

“The design of these open garage levels must be revised to appear more like smaller window openings with decorative grilles or other devices,” said the staff report to the EDC.

The Tamarind, 950 Central Ave., is being built by First Dartmouth Homes. It first cleared the EDC last year as a 10-story, condo-retail development that would have 211 units.

Now it is planned as having a five-story base and two towers atop the base. Facing Central Avenue, the north tower will be six stories over the base. Facing First Avenue S, the south towers will rise 22 stories above the base.

The Tamarind will have 270 units, 430 parking spaces and a specialty grocery in the retail space on the ground floors. The second plan called for 285 units, but developer Frank Maggio said some of the smaller units would be combined.

First Dartmouth sought an expansion of the project after it bought a strip of land between the site and the First Avenue S right of way. The company paid $600,000 for the 18-foot-wide, 1,000-foot-long piece of land. It was not usable itself, except as access, but it carried development rights that allowed First Dartmouth to increase the number of stories and units, Maggio said.

First Dartmouth had to agree to keep the taller of the towers on the First Avenue S side. When Tamarind was announced last year, Maggio called it a project of entry-level units. The higher number of units means now that prices will drop into the low $200,000s, he said.