A new café named for one of Pinellas County’s noisiest residents is coming soon to Gulfport.

Nanday Café will open at 3107 Beach Boulevard South, the former home of GulfPerk Coffee Bar. The locally owned café will serve coffee, breakfast, and lunch, according to its website.

GulfPerk remained closed after sustaining extensive damage during Hurricane Helene in late 2024 and announced in July that it would not reopen after three years in business.

The café’s name comes from the loud-mouthed nanday parakeets frequently seen, and heard, around Pinellas County. The green birds have become something of an unofficial mascot of the area.

Native to South America, nanday parakeets first appeared outside captivity in St. Petersburg in 1969.

More than 200,000 of the birds were imported to the United States for the pet trade between 1968 and 1990, according to a 2004 paper published in Florida Field Naturalist.

Researchers wrote that accidental escapes and possibly deliberate releases led to free-flying birds in Florida.

Although a menu has not been released, Nanday Café says it will offer espresso drinks, lattes, matcha, and “fresh, satisfying neighborhood favorites” for lunch.

Its website describes the concept as a place for a morning latte, a leisurely lunch, or time spent enjoying Gulfport’s laid-back atmosphere.

Nanday Café has not announced an opening date or hours. Follow the café on Instagram and Facebook for updates.

A new sensory play studio designed for young children will open in Pinellas Park next month.

Willow & Wonder will celebrate its grand opening Sunday, November 1st, at 6541 44th Street North, Unit 6004, near the recently opened Sprowls Horizon Sports Park.

The 1,700-square-foot studio is designed for children ages 0 to 7 and will offer a lower-stimulation alternative to traditional indoor playgrounds.

During 90-minute open-play sessions, children can move at their own pace between a play area, rotating sensory stations, and an art studio.

Each visit will include themed sensory bins and a process-art activity, and children will leave with a craft.

The woodland-themed studio will contain a collection of custom-made wood furnishings, including a play cottage, mud kitchen, dollhouse, children’s tables and chairs, and a crawler area for infants.

The studio will also feature a large STEM wall with movable pieces that children can use to create ball runs and explore cause and effect.

Rather than using one-purpose toys, owner Samantha Marti said the studio will feature materials that can be used differently from one visit to the next.

“You’re not going to see a fire truck,” Marti said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising. “You’re going to see blocks that you can build 17 different things and create different things over and over again. Let’s use our imagination to create something different every time.”

Willow & Wonder is rooted in the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy, which emphasizes child-led learning, creativity, and the role of the environment in a child’s development.

“Our philosophy here is that everything is child-led,” Marti said. “We want them to be masters of their own experience. We want them to do what they’re comfortable doing.”

The studio will accommodate up to 15 children and their caregivers at a time, helping keep sessions intentionally uncrowded.

Parents and guardians will remain on site during play sessions, while Willow & Wonder’s play guides help lead art and sensory activities.

Open play will cost $22 for the first child, including one accompanying adult, and $10 for each additional sibling ages 1 and older.

Marti created Willow & Wonder after searching for indoor activities that worked well for her oldest son, Oliver, who is almost five. She said many of the region’s traditional indoor playgrounds felt too overstimulating for him.

“We needed to create our own environment that was calming and enriching,” Marti said. “There’s a sensory room that’s dedicated to kids that just need a minute and need to chill out. It’s completely separated from the play space.”

Willow & Wonder will also offer its Discover Co-Op, a child-led enrichment program for homeschool and alternative-learning families ages 4 to 7.

The Tuesday and Thursday program will include hands-on STEM activities, literacy, sensory exploration, process art, movement, and collaborative projects.

The studio is an approved Step Up For Students provider, allowing eligible families to use scholarship funds toward Discover tuition and drop-in sessions.

Willow & Wonder will be open seven days a week, with multiple 90-minute sessions Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday sessions will run from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., while Sundays will initially feature one session from 9:30 to 11 a.m.

Private birthday parties, music sessions, storytimes, and other workshops are also planned.

The November 1st grand opening will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and include three hours of open play, sensory exploration, and creative activities. Advance online registration is required.

For more information or to reserve a session, visit Willow & Wonder’s website or follow the business on Facebook and Instagram.

A vacant site across from Lealman Elementary School will become a permanently affordable townhome community for 26 local families.

Habitat for Humanity Tampa Bay Gulfside and local officials gathered Thursday at 4000 58th Avenue North to mark the start of infrastructure work for Lealman Heights, a two-story townhome development at the corner of 58th Avenue North and 40th Street North.

The 26 townhomes are part of a broader 57-home Habitat community in Lealman, which will also include 31 single-family homes now under construction.

“Lealman Heights represents more than the construction of new homes,” Mike Sutton, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Tampa Bay Gulfside, said at the groundbreaking. “It represents opportunity, stability, and a brighter future for local families who have worked hard and dreamed of the chance to own a home in the community they love.”

The 26 townhomes will each span 1,500 square feet and include three bedrooms and a garage. The homes will be priced between $240,000 and $280,000, based on a buyer’s income.

High Point Engineering and G2 Design are leading the project team.

Habitat expects vertical construction to begin in summer 2027.

To keep cost low for homeowners, the property will be placed in a community land trust.

Under that structure, the land remains owned by the trust and is leased to homeowners through a 99-year renewable ground lease.

This approach ensures long-term affordability, even as homes change hands over time.

The county is contributing about $2.29 million toward the approximately $10 million project, including $1.8 million in Penny for Pinellas funding for vertical construction and $465,000 through the Lealman Community Redevelopment Area.

Pinellas County Commissioner Renee Flowers said projects like this are critical to “making sure that we have enough teachers that live in our community and work in our community,” as well as police officers, firefighters, and EMTs.

Habitat has completed more than 100 homes in Lealman over the years, including its 1,000th Tampa Bay-area home nearby. Sutton said the nonprofit has completed nearly 40 homes on the surrounding blocks, allowing more families to remain in the community.

As with all Habitat projects, the homes will be reserved for buyers earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income. Prospective homeowners must complete 38 homebuyer education classes and contribute between 350 and 450 “sweat equity” hours working on Habitat homes.

In return, they receive a fixed-rate, zero-percent-interest mortgage.

The future neighborhood will include Justice Way, named after former Pinellas County Commissioner Charlie Justice, whom Sutton credited with encouraging Habitat to focus on Lealman.

Another road, Carter Drive, will honor former President Jimmy Carter, whose work with Habitat helped expand the organization’s profile and reach.

Florida Rep. Linda Chaney said the development reflects broader public and private investment in the unincorporated community.

“The beautiful design speaks to the renaissance that we are seeing Lealman go through,” Chaney said. “We are creating a neighborhood that has reduced crime, beautification going on, and families moving in.”

Habitat is also advancing several other affordable housing projects in Pinellas County, including the 40-unit Pelican Place townhome community near Tangerine Plaza in St. Pete, a 14-home development in St. Pete’s Lake Euclid neighborhood, and nearly 100 townhomes on the former American Collegiate Academy site in Largo.

Bowden Hospitality

Bowden Hospitality

Bowden Hospitality

Bowden Hospitality

Bowden Hospitality

Bowden Hospitality

Bowden Hospitality

A beachfront property known for its pink cottage-style villas on St. Pete Beach could be replaced with a six-story, 34-room resort under plans recently presented to neighboring condominium owners.

Kevin Bowden, who owns the Miramar Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach and the Cambria Hotel in Madeira Beach, is proposing to redevelop the 0.89-acre Beach Haven Villas property at 4980 Gulf Boulevard.

The property is in St. Pete Beach’s Large Resort District, which allows up to 50 hotel rooms per acre.

Bowden purchased Beach Haven Villas for approximately $6.24 million in January 2025.

The 1949-built hotel temporarily closed after Hurricanes Helene and Milton damaged several units. It has since reopened following repairs but does not meet current FEMA requirements.

Under the proposed plan, the existing 18-unit hotel, pool, and parking area would be demolished for a new 34-room boutique resort with covered parking at ground level, four floors of guest rooms, a restaurant and bar overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, and an open-air, covered rooftop lounge.

Bowden and architect John “Jack” Bodziak presented the preliminary plans during a neighborhood meeting Wednesday evening attended by residents of the adjacent Beau Monde and Gulf 5000 condominiums.

At ground level, the plans show a swimming pool, pool bar, cabanas, and guest lounge area overlooking the beach.

The second floor would include a front desk, fitness center, business room, and seven units. Floors three through five would contain the remaining 27 rooms, each with a balcony facing or angled toward the beach.

A sixth-floor restaurant and bar would include indoor seating, a kitchen, and multiple outdoor dining areas. Bowden said it would offer a dining experience similar to Ember, the rooftop restaurant and bar at the Cambria Hotel.

The resort would include 58 parking spaces.

The plans list the project at 50 feet above the base flood elevation, with the ground floor elevated to comply with current flood standards.

The proposal drew immediate concerns from some neighboring condominium owners, who said the new building could obstruct beach views and create privacy issues by placing hotel balconies and public restaurant seating near their residences.

Some residents suggested moving the building farther east to protect views from adjacent condos. Bowden said doing so would reduce the parking available on the narrow site.

“For every 10 feet we build farther back from the Gulf, we would be losing two parking spaces, so if I move it back 50 feet, I lose 10 spaces that we need, but it would allow some of the condo owners to maintain their view,” Bowden said.

Bowden said additional setbacks from the neighboring condominium buildings would require reducing the room count, while the project cannot be built taller under current regulations.

He and Bodziak said they would reassess the design and make a good-faith effort to better address neighbors’ concerns while preserving a feasible redevelopment plan.

The property sits less than a half-mile north of Bowden’s Miramar Beach Resort at 4200 Gulf Boulevard, where a renovation and expansion is nearing completion. That project includes a new 30-room, eight-story hotel tower and will join the JdV by Hyatt collection.

If the project advances through St. Pete Beach’s approval process, Bowden said he hopes to begin construction by mid-2027 and complete the resort by the end of 2028.

Pre-leasing is now underway at 3rd & 3rd, a 33-story apartment tower expected to welcome its first residents in mid-December in downtown St. Petersburg.

The 262-unit building is located at 235 3rd Street South across from the Publix-anchored University Village shopping center. Third Lake Partners, along with St. Pete-based developer Echelon, are developing the project.

KAST Construction broke ground on the tower about two years ago.

3rd & 3rd will include one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom residences, including three four-bedroom penthouses, along with a 330-space parking garage and approximately 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

One-bedrooms are currently priced from $2,730 to $3,075 a month, while two-bedroom residences start at $4,570 and three-bedroom units start at $8,585.

The development is already 20% reserved, according to Echelon Senior Vice President of Development Cody LeClair.

Echelon

Echelon

Echelon

Echelon

Echelon

The building’s three four-bedroom penthouses range from 2,859 to 3,854 square feet, with over 3,000 total square feet on the west including several private balconies, 700 square feet on the south, while the eastern penthouse balcony is over 5,500 square feet under the buildings crown.

Monthly rents for the penthouses start at $20,000, and one has already been reserved.

Penthouses are two-stories with double-height windows and second-floor primary suites with upgraded appliances, flooring, countertops, fixtures and expansive custom closets and bathrooms.

Apartments will feature premium appliances, designer finishes, floor-to-ceiling windows, and private terraces that extend the length of each residence.

Residents will have access to an eighth-floor amenity deck with a private dog park and wash station, pool, cabanas, fire pits, grills, a bar and entertainment area, and views toward Tampa Bay, Albert Whitted Airport, and downtown.

Echelon

Echelon

Echelon

Echelon

Echelon

Other planned amenities include indoor and outdoor fitness areas, coworking and conference spaces, a community kitchen, a Trackman golf simulator, and a 143-inch outdoor television.

“Together, these elements create a distinctly St. Petersburg living experience—one that embraces the city’s past, present, and future architecture, the waterfront, culture, and sense of place,” LeClair said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising.

The tower’s ground floor will feature a brick façade that references downtown St. Pete’s historic architecture, while the upper floors are defined by angular balconies and expansive glass.

With preleasing underway, the first residents of 3rd & 3rd are expected to move in this December.

Prospective residents can learn more by visiting 3rdand3rdapartments.com.

A three-story office building at the Sky Town development in the Skyway Marina District of St. Pete will be converted into a self-storage facility.

Tampa-based Third Lake Development acquired the 87,705-square-foot building from Sky Town developer Altis Cardinal for $6.16 million in August.

The building was always intended for self-storage as part of Sky Town, Altis Cardinal’s $800 million redevelopment of the former Ceridian office campus at 3201 34th Street South.

The six-phase project will include 2,084 apartments and 69,000 square feet of retail space.

Third Lake, which specializes in multifamily and self-storage projects, will now develop that portion of Sky Town.

Called Centro Storage, the facility is expected to include 858 climate-controlled units and be completed in 2028.

“Third Lake is a pleasure to work with. Their team is professional and highly capable, and we look forward to Centro Storage becoming part of the Sky Town community. It will offer a high-quality product and a valuable amenity for our apartment residents,” Frank Guerra, founder and principal of Altis Cardinal, said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising.

Centro Storage is expected to offer units ranging from 5-by-5 feet to 10-by-30 feet, with gated access and personalized keypad entry.

The development team includes general contractor Elm Builders, engineering firms Stantec and Bliss & Nyitray, Inc., and Bradenton-based Designhaus Architecture.

Third Lake expects to begin construction soon.

Sky Town’s retail component is anchored by a 23,000-square-foot Sprouts Farmers Market, which opened in November 2025 as St. Pete’s first Sprouts.

Two months ago, pre-leasing began at iMMiX Apartments, the 401-unit first phase of the development.

Also under construction is another Sky Town retail outparcel that will include Foxtail Coffee Co., 3Natives Acai, and Solis Mammography.

An adjacent nine-story Ceridian office building was originally expected to remain and be converted into office space, a leasing office, and amenities for the surrounding apartments.

However, Guerra said bringing the building up to code would have been cost-prohibitive.

The nine-story building is expected to be demolished and replaced with additional green space.

Just in time for Halloween, a 1939 bungalow in the Central Oak Park neighborhood will become a new home for St. Petersburg’s paranormal activity.

Dr. Brandy Stark, founder of Spirits of St. Petersburg, will soft open the Museum of Haunted History at 4754 1st Avenue North on Friday and Saturday, October 23 and 24, from 6 to 9 p.m.

The museum will display haunted and historic objects, including a wedding dress associated with a spirit named Irene, antiques, dolls, and artifacts from the group’s past investigations.

It will also include a spiritual apothecary and space for psychic readings, workshops, meetings, and future overnight investigations.

Stark has been investigating paranormal activity since 1997. She has led local ghost tours, investigated hundreds of cases, and written Supernatural St. Petersburg and Paranormal Pinellas Vol. 1 & 2.

“I’ve always wanted to present the supernatural in a manner that, number one, is safe, number two, is educational, and number three, is a little bit of fun,” Stark said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising.

The museum is a more permanent version of a pop-up paranormal museum Stark opened in 2019 at her ArtLofts studio with support from the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance.

Finding the right building took years. Stark wanted an older property she could preserve, an idea shaped in part by watching a well-maintained 1938 house beside her childhood home get demolished and replaced with a much larger house.

“If we keep tearing down all these historic and older buildings, where are the ghosts going to go?” Stark said. “It’s a little tongue in cheek, but not really.”

Pinellas County property records show that Stark purchased the 952-square-foot bungalow for $342,500 in September.

The home had previously been bought by a developer and was slated for demolition, Stark said. City records show a demolition permit that was never carried out.

Since purchasing the property, Stark has upgraded its electrical and plumbing systems, installed a new air-conditioning unit and hot water heater, and is completing a new roof.

She plans to paint the exterior black and create a garden using plants collected or donated from historic and reportedly haunted sites around St. Pete.

One of the first plants is monkey grass Stark rescued during the demolition of the former inverted-pyramid St. Petersburg Pier. Although the pier has no known haunted history, she said it is tied to a local urban legend involving a supposed alien landing during the 1970s.

Stark also hopes to incorporate salvaged doors, windows, lampshades, doorknobs, and other architectural pieces from properties the group has investigated or that are facing demolition.

“Part of my goal is to also turn this museum into an architectural statement,” Stark said. “It’s a way to keep the property and its legend alive, and to make the building itself an exhibit, in addition to the exhibits inside.”

The museum will sell Stark’s books, crystals, pendulums, branded “Stay Spooky St. Pete” merchandise, and some dolls.

Planned additions include a Little Free Library of Supernatural Stuff, a supernatural trinket trade drawer, and a windphone, an old-fashioned telephone installation intended for reflection or for people who want to speak to loved ones who have died.

Stark said members of the group believe the bungalow may already have its own resident spirit. A team member sensed someone in the home during an early walkthrough, and Stark said the group has since recorded what they believe are unexplained voices and responses through a spirit box. They have informally named the presence William, possibly after the home’s original owner.

“I want to protect the building. I want to protect any ghosts that might be here, but also give people an opportunity to have a way to deal with what sometimes is a pop cultural phenomenon or sometimes can be a scary topic, but in a safe space,” Stark said.

The Museum of Haunted History will initially be open Fridays through Sundays, with exact hours still being finalized. It will serve as the home base for Spirits of St. Petersburg, allowing members to review evidence, host classes, and continue the ghost tours and investigations they have led for years.

A grand opening is planned for February 2027 alongside Stark’s annual Valentwe’en art show, a tongue-in-cheek “second Halloween” celebration. The next show, titled Love Letters to the Dearly Departed, will invite artists and attendees to honor celebrities and public figures who have died.

The property’s detached garage will eventually be converted into a rentable artist studio.

Plans have been revealed for two 44-story condominium towers at the site of the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront, in what would be one of the largest condo developments ever proposed for downtown St. Pete.

Delray Beach-based Kolter Urban recently circulated a site plan application to neighborhood and business associations outlining a $325 million redevelopment of the hotel property at 333 1st Street South.

If built as proposed, the towers would rise up to 509 feet. Only two existing or planned towers in St. Petersburg would be taller: the 515-foot Residences at 400 Central and the 539-foot Waldorf Astoria Residences planned at 150 2nd Avenue South.

The two new towers, which have been designed by 10 Design, would tie for the city’s third-tallest buildings, ahead of the 450-foot Art House and ONE St. Petersburg towers and the 408-foot Saltaire.

The proposal calls for 325 condo units, 17,988 square feet of commercial space, and a 519-space parking garage.

Kolter would also make 207 spaces in the adjacent Saltaire garage available to residents, for a total of 726 parking spaces.

The project has been rumored to carry Ritz-Carlton Residences branding, although Kolter has not announced an affiliation. Kolter is currently building the 20-story, 78-residence Ritz-Carlton Residences Sarasota Bay, which is expected to be delivered later this year.

The two towers would replace the existing 15-story Hilton hotel on a 3.01-acre site at the northeast corner of 2nd Street South and 4th Avenue South.

Plans show one tower oriented toward 1st Street South and the other toward the corner of 2nd Street South and 4th Avenue South.

The application lists 1.32 million square feet of proposed building area, compared with about 344,000 square feet at the existing hotel.

Kolter is seeking approval for a 7.0 floor-area ratio, or FAR, a measure of development intensity based on a building’s total floor area relative to the site.

The application says vehicle and pedestrian access would be provided from 1st Street South, 2nd Street South, and 4th Avenue South.

Kolter bought the Hilton Bayfront earlier this year for $96 million, after completing Saltaire on the hotel’s former parking lot in 2023. The company had previously said it intended to eventually redevelop the 1970s-era hotel with a taller residential project but had not released a height, unit count, or design.

The two-tower project would add to Kolter’s growing downtown St. Petersburg portfolio. The company completed ONE St. Petersburg in 2019, a 41-story tower with 253 condominiums and a Hyatt Place hotel; Saltaire in 2023, with 192 condominiums; and Art House earlier this year, a 42-story tower with 244 condominiums.

Kolter also has approval for a 21-story, 62-unit condominium tower at the former Fit2Run site along 2nd Street North, across from Sundial.

Outside the city, Kolter is also planning Water Club St. Pete Beach, a waterfront condominium project at the eastern end of Corey Avenue. The latest plans call for 129 condominiums in two eight-story buildings, along with retail and restaurant space, a public park, a marina, and waterfront access.

The new downtown St. Pete project would have more residences than any of the city’s completed condominium towers, including the 301-unit Residences at 400 Central. The 50-story Waldorf Astoria Residences will have 163 condominiums, along with office and retail space.

No project name, unit pricing, construction timeline, or hotel closure date has been announced.

Golden Corral is returning to Pinellas County with plans for its first St. Pete restaurant inside the former Hooters at Tyrone Square Mall.

The popular American all-you-eat buffet chain will open at 2250 Tyrone Boulevard, according to plans submitted to the City of St. Petersburg. An opening date has not yet been announced.

The 8,105-square-foot restaurant will take over the building where Hooters operated for 15 years, from 2006 until late 2021. At the time, the chain cited changes in shopping habits and declining mall foot traffic in announcing the closure.

The new Golden Corral will be operated by franchisee Britt Guyer, who owns Golden Corral restaurants in Winter Haven and Tampa. Guyer was not immediately available for comment.

Before opening his first Golden Corral in 2013, Guyer spent 15 years with the International Motor Sports Association, working on marketing and public relations initiatives.

His restaurant experience also includes ownership of Que Pasa, a Mexican restaurant in St. Petersburg that closed earlier this year.

Plans call for seating for up to 254 diners, with booths and tables, a wood-top bar and an outdoor patio facing the parking lot.

Golden Corral previously operated in Pinellas County at 10050 Ulmerton Road in Largo, near Largo Mall. That restaurant operated for about 20 years before permanently closing during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The former Largo Golden Corral was demolished in April for a new Chick-fil-A. Golden Corral is currently planning a new restaurant in Largo.

Founded in 1973 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Golden Corral began as a budget-friendly steakhouse before shifting to the buffet format that became its signature. The chain now has nearly 350 restaurants nationwide, most of them independently franchised.

Golden Corral’s buffet includes more than 150 items, ranging from sirloin steak, salad bar selections and carving stations to pot roast, pulled pork, fried chicken, baked potatoes and its warm yeast rolls with honey butter.

The company has recently said it is looking to expand through smaller restaurants in nontraditional settings, including travel plazas, airports and college campuses. It has also identified former sites of restaurant chains such as Red Lobster and TGI Fridays as potential conversion opportunities.

Demolition work has begun at the former Tampa Bay Times building at 490 1st Avenue South in downtown St. Petersburg, nearly two years after a construction crane collapsed into the property during Hurricane Milton.

Crews are currently completing interior, non-structural demolition and asbestos abatement, according to City of St. Petersburg permit records.

The eight-story, 240,000-square-foot complex consists of three buildings, with the original structure built in 1924 and additions completed in 1968 and 1988.

Naples-based Stock Development purchased the former Times building in June for $18 million.

The developer plans to redevelop the site with a high-rise condominium tower that could also include ground-floor commercial space and offices.

Stock Development also acquired the neighboring Tramor Cafeteria property at 123 4th Street South for $14.5 million.

Built in 1929, the former Hofbräuhaus is designated historic and cannot be demolished. The developer has said it will work with historic preservation officials to determine how the structure can be incorporated into the larger project.

On September 18th, the City of St. Pete approved and issued a partial demolition permit for the former Times building. The work is structured in two phases, according to a statement from the city.

Phase one allows for interior demolition, asbestos removal, and utility disconnections. Before structural demolition begins, the developer must secure and cap the building’s water, sewer, and gas connections and lock out the electrical service.

Phase two will include full structural demolition of the building, along with right-of-way work and site restoration. The city said no additional demolition permit is required.

“The existing permit authorizes work to proceed on both phases, subject to any necessary revisions based on findings during Phase 1,” city spokesperson Samantha Bequer said in a statement to St. Pete Rising.

The building was deemed unfit and unsafe after the crane collapse at the neighboring Residences at 400 Central construction site in October 2024. The crane struck the upper three floors of the building, which was later stabilized through separate permitted work.

Under the city’s land development regulations, demolition of a principal building in downtown’s DC districts generally requires an approved site plan and a complete building permit application.

However, the city allows demolition to move forward in this case because of the building’s unsafe condition.

Stock Development has not yet submitted redevelopment plans for the site.

St. Petersburg has a rule that protects our waterfront. If the city wants to lease public waterfront land for longer than a short term, voters decide via public referendum. That rule is worth keeping, and a "yes" vote on Charter Amendment #2 does not weaken it.

Here is what it changes. Today, the city can lease Port of St. Petersburg land to a private tenant for up to 10 years with City Council approval. Anything longer requires a citywide referendum.

Amendment #2 would raise that limit to 25 years, the same limit neighboring Albert Whitted Airport has had since 2004, when voters raised it from five years. Giving the Port the same terms as its neighbor is sensible.

Here is what it does not change. The ballot language says the amendment "would not change the permitted use of the Port." It does not approve residential development at the site, and it does not approve any specific project.

It changes one number, the maximum lease length. Every lease would still need its own approve by city administration and City Council. The amendment does not hand anyone a blank check.

The 10-year limit is a real problem because serious investment doesn't work on a short clock. A company building a facility, or a lender financing one, needs years to recover the cost. A decade is often too short, and the city risks losing good projects before they reach the negotiating table.

That matters for projects already on the horizon. The city has discussed expanding the Maritime and Defense Technology Hub on what is now a surface parking lot at the Port, and a longer lease term would make that kind of project possible.

Matching the airport's 25-year structure would also satisfy federal funding requirements, which helps bring in outside dollars and long-term financing so St. Petersburg taxpayers don't have to carry everything alone.

The Hub is the kind of work our waterfront should support. It draws maritime research, technology jobs and resilience expertise to our city. After Hurricanes Helene and Milton, knowledge about coastal resilience pays off for the whole community. Companies that start here can also grow here, rather than leave for a city that can offer longer terms.

Some residents will ask whether a longer lease means less accountability. It's a fair question. A "yes" vote does mean voters would no longer get a direct say on Port leases between 10 and 25 years. But those leases would not be rubber-stamped. Under the City Charter, long-term waterfront leases need the votes of at least six of the eight City Council members, not a simple majority, and voters keep the power to hold those officials to account. The 10-year limit was set for a different era and now works against the city's own goals.

This is also a modest request. A 50-year term was floated early on, but the council steered toward 25 years to align with the airport and keep the ask simple for voters. St. Petersburg voters have approved limited waterfront lease extensions before. The Sailing Center's long-term lease passed with 84 percent, because residents saw that thoughtful, bounded extensions serve the public.

A more resilient Port means a stronger local economy, more maritime research and a better-prepared waterfront.

St. Pete Rising recommends voting ‘Yes’ on the City of St. Petersburg’s Charter Amendment #2 to authorize a 25-year lease limitation for the Port of St. Petersburg.

For more information on the November 3, 2026 General Election, visit the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections website.

The ballot language of the charter amendment is as follows:

City of St. Petersburg
No. 2 Charter Amendment

Authorizing a 25-year Lease Limitation for the Port of St. Petersburg

The City Charter currently limits leases at the Port of St. Petersburg to 10 years without approval by citywide referendum. Shall the Charter be amended to increase that limitation to 25 years? That amendment would make the Port consistent with adjacent Albert Whitted Airport and provide the City with additional flexibility to enter into agreements with private entities for redevelopment of Port facilities. That amendment would not change the permitted use of the Port.

Yes
No

After more than three decades as The Melting Pot and a short run as Sesh St. Pete, the building on 4th Street North will now become home to a Brooklyn-Italian restaurant built around the food one family grew up eating.

Pelato, a Brooklyn-Italian restaurant known for shareable small plates, is planning to open at 2221 4th Street North.

Nashville-based Avenue T Hospitality Group recently purchased the 7,630-square-foot property for $4 million, according to a deed recorded October 7th.

The hospitality group, which operates Pelato locations in Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee, and Charleston, South Carolina, also obtained a $5.355 million loan from Pinnacle Bank in connection with the purchase.

An opening date has not been announced.

Pelato was created by chef and restaurateur Anthony Scotto and his wife, Teresa, after they relocated from New York to Nashville in 2022. The first location opened in Nashville in 2023, followed by restaurants in Charleston and Franklin.

The restaurant’s menu is built for the table rather than a traditional entree-and-sides format.

One of its signature dishes, the potato croquettes, is based on Teresa’s mother’s recipe.

Other plates include panelle with whipped ricotta, Brooklyn-style fried calamari, and chicken scarpariello from Anthony’s family.

The menu also includes house-made pastas such as radiatori vodka and bucatini cacio e pepe, along with chicken parmigiana, baked stuffed shells, and stromboli.

The drinks lean into the same New York-meets-Italian theme. In addition to wine and Italian beer, Pelato serves frozen cocktails such as an espresso martini and apple cider cocktail, along with a New York Sour, espresso old fashioned, limoncello margarita, cucumber spritz, and sangria.

On Sundays, the restaurant offers a Sunday Sauce dinner for two, built around the Italian-American tradition of gathering around a pot of tomato sauce that has simmered for hours.

The meal is meant to recall the kind of family dinner where bread, wine, stories, and a full table are as much a part of the occasion as the food.

That sense of family history should fit a building with plenty of its own.

The English-cottage-style structure was built in the 1930s by Earl Gresh, who operated the space as the Earl Gresh Wood Parade tourist attraction. It later housed French restaurant Rollande et Pierre from 1959 to 1985, then The Melting Pot for more than three decades.

Mad Beach Craft Brewing Company founder Matthew Powers purchased the property in 2021 for $1.425 million and renovated it before opening Sesh in 2023. The restaurant and brewpub closed permanently in late 2025.

The property includes an indoor-outdoor bar facing 4th Street North, a patio, and a large main dining room centered around a brick chimney.

An expected opening date for Pelato has not yet been announced.

Several prominent properties in the EDGE District have sold for $12 million.

According to a deed recorded October 6th, developer PTM Partners sold the three-story building at 1246 Central Avenue and the street-level retail spaces at the adjacent Moxy hotel to L3 Capital, a Chicago-based private equity real estate investment firm that focuses on urban retail.

The 27,261-square-foot building at 1246 Central Avenue is home to Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine and Amorino Gelato on the ground floor. Digital marketing company WebFX has signed a lease for the third floor but has not yet moved in, while the approximately 8,700-square-foot second floor remains available for office tenants.

The sale also includes the Moxy hotel’s 3,407 square feet of ground-floor retail space, occupied by Floyd’s Barbershop and Solidcore, at 1200 and 1210 Central Avenue. It does not include the 163-room Moxy hotel itself, which remains part of PTM Partners’ EDGE Collective development.

James Garner and Jim Shiebler of CBRE represented PTM Partners and L3 Capital in the transaction.

“L3 Capital is an institutional group that’s been eyeing St. Pete as a growth market for several years. I’m proud to have helped them find the right deal,” Garner said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising.

The firm’s portfolio includes urban, mixed-use properties, which Garner said made the combination of retail and office space at EDGE Collective a good fit. More traditional retail buyers had passed on the deal because it included office space above the storefronts, he said.

L3 does not plan to make major changes to the properties. Instead, the firm expects to operate them as an investment and lease the remaining office space while the surrounding district continues to grow.

“They’re planning to keep it the way it is,” Garner said. “They felt like they have the relationships to bring some solid tenants and help add some value.”

PTM Partners and DoveHill Capital Management purchased the century-old 1246 Central Avenue building, the adjacent hotel land, and a 0.38-acre surface parking lot along 1st Avenue South in 2019 for $13 million.

The developers renovated the Central Avenue building as part of the first phase of EDGE Collective, which also included the Moxy hotel and a shared courtyard between the two properties.

The building previously housed Furnish Me Vintage, a longtime furniture and home décor store that closed in 2019.

The sale comes as PTM Partners moves ahead with EDGE Collective II, the development’s next and substantially larger phase. In late September, the developer closed on a $125 million construction loan to finance the project.

Crews recently demolished several buildings at the southwest corner of 11th Street South and Central Avenue to make way for a 20-story apartment tower with 330 units.

The site included the former Dr. BBQ restaurant and buildings that had housed EMOTO Electric Motorbikes, Chai Mixology, and Pin on Cafe.

Pin on Cafe has since moved to 2458 Central Avenue in the Grand Central District, where it reopened as Pin on Grand.

EDGE Collective II will also include approximately 17,000 to 18,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, about 280 to 290 parking spaces, and a network of mid-block paseos and arcades connecting Central Avenue to 1st Avenue South.

Earlier plans included a smaller apartment building on the surface parking lot between Sweetgreen and The Candle Pour. However, PTM Partners has removed that building from the current phase and will instead use the site for construction staging and laydown space.

St. Pete-based Storyn Studio designed EDGE Collective II, and Balfour Beatty is serving as general contractor.

Construction is expected to take more than two years, with completion anticipated in late 2028.

Noble Tavern has opened a new event space next door to its restaurant in downtown St. Pete.

Called The Sterling, the space is located at 1650 Central Avenue in the Grand Central District, on the ground floor of the Tru by Hilton hotel and beside Duckweed Urban Grocery.

The room has a separate entrance on Central Avenue and will be available for private and business events, including holiday parties, birthdays, showers, rehearsal dinners, wedding welcome events, and meetings.

It can seat about 40 guests or accommodate up to 65 for cocktail-style receptions.

The Sterling includes a buffet station, climate control, a 75-inch television with HDMI connectivity for presentations, and access to Noble Tavern’s food and bar offerings.

Event hosts can choose from family-style or buffet menus, along with beverage packages that include wine, beer, spirits, and select Noble Tavern cocktails.

“The Sterling gives Noble Tavern room to do more,” Bradley Elia, Noble Tavern’s vice president of marketing and events director, said in a statement. “It allows us to bring live music, ticketed experiences, and special events directly onto Central Avenue while also creating a memorable setting for our guests to celebrate, gather, and make the space their own.”

Noble Tavern will use The Sterling for programming such as acoustic performances, wine tastings, chef-led dinners, cocktail events, and community gatherings, while also renting it for private occasions.

The restaurant opened late last year, nearly three years after the concept was first announced. Noble Tavern is owned by the same team behind Noble Crust in north St. Pete and Fat Beet Farm Kitchen & Bakery in Tampa.

Private-event guests can receive discounted valet parking through the Tru by Hilton. Two-hour street parking and nearby paid public lots are also available.

The Sterling is accepting booking inquiries. For more information, contact Elia at 727-215-6720 or privatedining@nobletavern.com.

At St. Pete Rising, we are constantly providing comprehensive coverage on everything new and coming soon to the Sunshine City, but we think it’s also important to take a look back at our city's rich history.

Introducing Historically St. Pete, a new monthly column on St. Pete Rising written by Rui Farias, Executive Director of the St. Petersburg Museum of History, which will cover everything from the legend of underground mobster tunnels to the buildings and people that created the Sunshine City.

Follow us each month as we explore how these projects shaped St. Pete into the city we know and love today.

This month, we explore the history of downtown St. Petersburg's Open Air Post Office, one of the first of its kind in the United States.

As you walk through the Snell Arcade, you cannot help but notice the amazing fresco of Venice high on the wall. It is a reminder of a time 100 years ago when C. Perry Snell and other city leaders used architecture, art, and our waterfront to transform St. Petersburg into an Italian paradise.

Homes, hotels, and high schools were built in the Mediterranean Revival style. Even Coffee Pot Bayou had its own gondola dock.

So why not our post office?

St. Petersburg’s early post offices included John Bethel’s Big Bayou home—the only post office on the lower Pinellas Peninsula from 1876 to 1885; E.R. and Ella Ward’s general store in Wardsville, the name given to the area near Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street and Central Avenue, when the Orange Belt Railway arrived in 1888; and, in 1905, a creatively designed wooden open-air post office built on Central Avenue by philanthropist Edwin Tomlinson.

As development accelerated and people poured into St. Petersburg, it became clear that the growing city needed a new main post office.

And not just any cookie-cutter, Washington-ordered, boring square building.

Local Postmaster Roy S. Hanna and others believed St. Pete needed a post office worthy of the newly Mediterranean-styled Sunshine City.

Hanna conceived the idea of a new Open Air Post Office in 1916, and architect George Stuart—who had also designed the St. Petersburg Yacht Club—was hired to bring the vision to life. Stuart looked to Italy for inspiration and found it in Florence. His design was modeled after the 1424 Ospedale degli Innocenti.

The First Congregational Church, which had stood at the corner of 1st Avenue North and 4th Street since 1889, was razed. Hanna secured a $100,000 appropriation from Congress, and construction began.

For a town determined to present the best of Europe to its winter visitors, the new Open Air Post Office was breathtaking.

The authorities in Washington, however, were not exactly thrilled that St. Petersburg had broken ranks with traditional post office design. The St. Petersburg Times reported on September 28, 1917, that the federal government was reluctant to allow an outsider to go over the heads of experienced post office architects.

But once the building was completed, the U.S. Postmaster General apparently had a change of heart and ordered identical Open Air Post Offices built in other cities around the nation.

When the new Open Air Post Office was dedicated in 1917, it was open on the north, south, and east sides, allowing customers to conduct their business in the open air. The post office boxes were accessible 24 hours a day, making it easier not only to retrieve mail but also to send those classic “wish you were here” postcards.

It was the only post office of its kind in the United States.

The tradition of delivering mail by bicycle was also conceived by Postmaster Roy S. Hanna. Bicycle mail delivery began in 1917 and continues today in the 33701 ZIP Code. St. Pete remains one of the few cities in the nation where mail is still delivered by bicycle.

Located in the heart of downtown, the Open Air Post Office quickly became a center of activity for residents and visitors alike. That included newsboys like me, selling the Evening Independent on its steps.

There was talk of demolishing the Open Air Post Office in 1972. But groups of enraged citizens stormed City Hall, protesting even the suggestion of tearing it down. The St. Petersburg Open Air Post Office was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on April 4, 1975.

A visit to the Open Air Post Office today is a stroll back in time. Much of the original building remains intact, with only a few modern additions—like air conditioning.

But be careful when heading back to your car. Those bicycle mail carriers still own the sidewalk.

A new jewelry and lifestyle shop is coming to the EDGE District of downtown St. Pete.

August Mae will open at 907 Central Avenue in a 736-square-foot storefront between Fusillo Pasta and Sunshine City Paint. The space previously housed vintage shop Now and Then, which closed in 2021.

The new shop, which hopes to open by the end of the year, will specialize in water- and tarnish-proof, demi-fine jewelry made with 14-karat gold-filled and sterling-silver materials. Demi-fine jewelry uses higher-quality metals while remaining more accessible than fine jewelry.

Customers can also choose from permanent bracelets and necklaces, create their own charm jewelry, or order personalized pieces through August Mae’s in-house engraving service.

Additionally, the shop will carry a curated selection of apparel, accessories, beauty and self-care products, candles, glassware, gifts, and small home items.

“The store is actually going to be more of a lifestyle shop,” owner Cory Lawler said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising. “I want it to be an experience. You can come in and get custom-fitted jewelry, make jewelry, buy something for whatever you’re looking for, whatever the occasion is.”

The interior will feature August Mae’s mauve-and-gold color palette with a contemporary coastal feel.

Lawler, a Buffalo native, moved to Sarasota for a sales and marketing job in 2019 and later relocated to Miami. After three years there, Lawler returned to Buffalo, where she launched her first permanent-jewelry business, Buffalo Permanent Jewelry, in 2023.

She rebranded the business as August Mae and expanded into e-commerce last August.

Earlier this year, Lawler and her boyfriend spent three months in St. Pete as snowbirds while considering a return to Florida.

Soon after arriving, Lawler came across the Central Avenue storefront and began exploring whether it could work as August Mae’s first brick-and-mortar location.

“I’ve been doing really well with pop-ups and my e-commerce store, and I felt ready to take my business to the next level,” Lawler said. “It’s really just an evolution and the next phase of my business.”

Lawler will relocate from Buffalo to St. Pete this month to open August Mae’s first brick-and-mortar storefront in St. Pete.

“One thing that I really love about St. Pete is that it reminds me so much of Buffalo,” Lawler said. “They’re both small-business oriented, with all the little boutiques and locally owned shops downtown.”

Lawler has also incorporated her life-long love of animals into her business model, often donating a portion of profits to charities and shelters. She hopes to host events with local shelters, rescues, and charities once the shop is open.

August Mae joins a growing group of businesses near the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street North and Central Avenue, including Fusillo Pasta, Sunshine City Paint, Bouquet and Bordeaux, and the forthcoming Casa Origen, Southern Luv BBQ, Shaka Shrimp Kitchen, and BankUnited.

Be sure to follow August Mae on Instagram and Facebook to stay up to date on a grand opening date and latest offerings.

A new Italian breakfast and coffee café is coming to the EDGE District of downtown St. Pete.

Café Bavaro will debut on Friday, October 16th, inside Bavaro’s at 945 Central Avenue.

The café will serve espresso drinks, breakfast plates, bagels, and sandwiches from 8 to 11:30 a.m., before Bavaro’s regular lunch service begins at noon.

“This has been in the works for a while, and we are excited about finally executing it,” Kaleigh DeSousa, manager of Bavaro’s St. Pete location, said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising.

Café Bavaro first opened at Bavaro’s Clearwater Beach location last year, giving the family a chance to build out the breakfast-and-coffee concept before bringing it to St. Pete.

The menu will include the usual espresso-based coffee drinks, from cappuccinos and flat whites to cortados, lattes, and Americanos. It will also offer specialty drinks including cannoli and tiramisu lattes, along with matcha, a limoncello refresher, and mimosas.

Breakfast will include freshly baked bagels, breakfast sandwiches on Bavaro’s asiago sourdough bread, pancakes, French toast, and more substantial breakfast plates.

The Cotto Egg & Cheese breakfast sandwich comes with prosciutto cotto, mascarpone egg, provolone, arugula, and roasted garlic aioli. Another sandwich, the Tomozza, layers mascarpone egg, fior di latte, prosciutto di Parma, heirloom tomato, basil pesto, and balsamic glaze.

The menu also includes homemade ricotta pancakes, a traditional pancake stack, and the Tuscan Harvest Breakfast with eggs, roasted potatoes, thick-cut bacon, fruit, and a choice of bagel or sourdough bread.

“We are going to focus on specialty coffees, drinks, and staples, all of which will be made in-house, like our pancakes and French toast,” DeSousa said.

The new café adds another chapter to a restaurant that has become a longtime fixture in the EDGE District. Bavaro’s celebrated its 10th year in the EDGE District in June, serving Neapolitan pizzas, handmade pasta, and other Italian dishes for lunch and dinner.

Owner Dan Bavaro and his family opened their first location in downtown Tampa in 2009 after relocating from New Jersey.

The family says it was Florida’s first traditional Neapolitan pizzeria.

Bavaro’s has since expanded to St. Petersburg, Clearwater Beach, Tampa International Airport, and Benchmark International Arena.

St. Petersburg will test a new plant-based approach to managing stormwater as part of a $7 million project coming to one of the city’s most flood-prone areas.

The city will install eight HydroPlanters, which are modular rain gardens designed to slow and filter rain runoff before it enters the city’s stormwater system.

Each rain garden is about five feet long, three feet wide, and two-and-a-half feet deep.

Filled with specially designed soil, grasses, shrubs, and small trees, the boxes will be installed in an L-shaped configuration along a city-owned grassy area near the intersection of 50th Avenue North and 7th Street North.

During heavy rain, water from the street will flow into the planters and filter through the soil and vegetation. It will then drain into the city’s stormwater system and eventually the 54th Avenue Canal.

“It’s not going to prevent the water from getting through to the canal,” Claude Tankersley, the city’s Public Works Administrator, said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising. “But it’s going to slow it down, so that not all the water gets there at the same time.”

The HydroPlanters, made by GreenBlue Urban, work much like a traditional rain garden or bioswale, where stormwater collects in a planted area and naturally filters through soil and vegetation.

Unlike a traditional rain garden, the HydroPlanters do not rely on water soaking deeply into the surrounding ground. After runoff filters through the contained soil and vegetation, the units collect it and direct it into the stormwater system, making them better suited for areas with high groundwater.

Tankersley said the design also makes the rain gardens easier to maintain, since plants and soil can be accessed and replaced as needed.

James Scott, chair of the Suncoast Sierra Club Executive Committee, said the project stands out because it combines traditional drainage infrastructure with a nature-based solution.

“What makes this project so unique is the combination of the pipes and this nature-based solution,” Scott said. “It’s something we’ve been encouraging the city to incorporate for a long time.”

Beyond slowing runoff, the rain gardens will also treat the water before it enters the canal.

The system will primarily target phosphorus and nitrogen, nutrients commonly found in fertilizer runoff. When those nutrients reach Tampa Bay, they can feed algae blooms that harm seagrass beds.

Some pollutants and metals can also become trapped in the soil or absorbed by the plants.

City crews will periodically trim and harvest the vegetation, removing the nutrients captured in the plant material from the system.

“Once you put them in the ground, they are living systems, and they must be maintained,” Tankersley said. “The number one reason why these systems fail is because the maintenance failed.”

The city expects to inspect and service the planters about once each quarter.

While the HydroPlanters will help reduce flooding, they are not intended to solve the problem on their own.

The project will also replace undersized drainage pipes along 7th Street North between the canal and 50th Avenue North, as well as along 50th Avenue North between 7th and 4th streets.

“The pipes are undersized,” Tankersley said. “They’re not big enough to carry all the water that we are getting.”

The new pipes will help move water out of the area more quickly. The HydroPlanters will add a second benefit by slowing and cleaning some of that runoff before it enters the canal.

Pipe work is expected to begin around January. The HydroPlanters will likely be installed later in the project, after the drainage work is complete.

Construction is expected to continue through 2027.

The city will coordinate with the neighborhood to minimize traffic disruptions and maintain access to residents’ properties throughout construction.

The project is partially funded by a $2.7 million grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, with the remaining cost covered by stormwater utility fees. It is part of St. Pete Agile Resilience, or SPAR, the city’s broader effort to accelerate stormwater and flood-protection projects.

Tankersley said the city will collect performance data to determine whether the HydroPlanters provide enough long-term benefit to justify their cost and could be used elsewhere in St. Pete.

“We believe that this will provide long-term benefit that’ll exceed the cost,” he said. “But it’s one thing to believe it. It’s another thing to have data to show.”

Scott said the nature-based approach should eventually become routine.

“This shouldn’t be a novelty,” he said. “This should be how we do work as a city.”

A familiar Pinellas County doughnut shop is coming to South Pasadena.

Fray’s Donut House will open at 1200 Pasadena Avenue South, taking over the former Dunkin’ location just down the street from Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish.

The shop is expected to open in January 2027.

Serey Siev, who will co-own and operate the shop with his wife, Phiny Long, purchased the building last month for $925,000, according to Pinellas County property records.

The building will receive mostly cosmetic updates before reopening, including the installation of Fray’s familiar white sign with red and black lettering.

The South Pasadena location will serve more than 30 types of doughnuts, from glazed, chocolate frosted, cinnamon sugar, Boston cream, rainbow sprinkle, and old fashioned varieties to cronuts, apple fritters, and éclairs.

The shop will also serve muffins, cinnamon rolls, breakfast sandwiches, espresso drinks, and drip coffee.

Each Fray’s Donut House is independently operated, so the South Pasadena menu will have some differences from the other locations. Siev and Long plan to model it closely after the Fray’s on Park Boulevard that Siev operated for roughly 15 years.

“I’m trying to keep as much as possible from what I offered at the Fray’s on Park Boulevard,” Siev said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising. “It will be almost exactly the same menu, but it might be a little different from the other locations.”

The new shop will be the fourth Fray’s Donut House in Pinellas County, joining locations on 16th Street North and 34th Street North in St. Petersburg, as well as Park Boulevard in Pinellas Park.

Bill Fray opened the original Fray’s Donut House at 5236 16th Street North in 1993.

He later expanded the business with additional locations in St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park before selling the shops after his wife died in 2001. Several were sold to employees and now operate independently.

Siev was not one of Fray’s employees, but he had spent years in the doughnut business before purchasing the Park Boulevard location from Fray in late 2009.

His parents immigrated to the United States from Cambodia in 1979 and opened doughnut shops in San Diego and Lake Tahoe. Siev began learning the trade from his uncle, a baker, when he was 15 or 16, then went to work in his parents’ shops as a young adult.

“I’ve been making doughnuts for 40-something years,” Siev said. “I know how to make doughnuts like the back of my hand. I’m going to try my best to put out a good product.”

Siev sold the Park Boulevard business in 2024 after health problems forced him to step away from work. After several years away, he said he is feeling better and ready to return.

“I got bored, so I purchased that place,” he said. “I’m going to turn the old Dunkin’ into a Fray’s Donut House.”

Shake Shack and Dutch Bros Coffee are headed to Pinellas Park.

Plans filed with the city show the two chains proposed for neighboring lots at 6994 U.S. Highway 19 North, across from The Shoppes at Park Place and next to a future EōS Fitness Center.

The 1.83-acre property is currently home to a Walgreens, which would be demolished to make way for the two new buildings.

Shake Shack would occupy a 3,493-square-foot restaurant at the corner of 70th Avenue North and U.S. Highway 19 North, while Dutch Bros would open a 1,025-square-foot coffee shop directly across from it.

Both locations are planned with two-lane drive-thrus. Shake Shack would include indoor seating, while Dutch Bros would operate solely through its drive-thru and walk-up window.

Drive-thrus are a newer addition to Shake Shack’s business model; the company started adding them to new locations in 2021. As of last year, the company only had 39 locations with drive-thru lanes.

Shake Shack began as a hot dog cart in New York City’s Madison Square Park in 2001 before opening its first permanent location there in 2004. The chain has since grown to more than 690 locations worldwide, including more than 445 in the United States.

The Pinellas Park restaurant would become the company’s fourth Tampa Bay-area location, joining Shake Shacks at International Plaza and Midtown Tampa, as well as a drive-thru location in Wesley Chapel.

The chain is also planning a restaurant at Seminole City Center in Seminole, where it would take over the former Pieology Pizzeria space.

Dutch Bros was founded in 1992 by brothers Dane and Travis Boersma, who began selling coffee from a pushcart in Grants Pass, Oregon. The drive-thru beverage chain now has more than 1,200 locations nationwide.

The company opened its first Pinellas County location in Largo late last year and has since opened a South Tampa shop. Additional Dutch Bros locations are proposed near Tyrone and in Seminole.

The project still requires city approval before construction can begin. The Pinellas Park Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the project during its October 1st meeting. The proposed project will go before City Council in November for final approval.