A look inside the now-open Moxy St. Pete hotel

After more than two years of construction, the 163-key Moxy St. Pete hotel is officially open in St. Petersburg.

The hotel developers and city officials cut the ribbon on the new seven-story building Wednesday night, ahead of the hotel opening to its first guests Thursday. 

The grand opening party inside Moxy’s lobby bar Wednesday night. Photo: Ashley Morales.

Moxy St. Pete, developed by PTM Partners and DoveHill and managed by the Wurzak Hotel Group, is part of the first phase of a mixed-use project that PTM is building along the 1100 and 1200 blocks of Central Avenue. The development, called the EDGE Collective, will include a 20-story, 360-unit apartment tower and a 365-space parking garage.

A standard king guest room at the Moxy St. Pete. Photo: Ashley Morales.

Amenities at the new Moxy hotel include a rooftop pool, restaurant, coffee bar, gym and an indoor-outdoor lobby bar that serves appetizers, salads, flatbreads and sandwiches. A small stage area inside the lobby bar is available for live music and entertainment. The hotel also has ​​1,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and a podcast room that the public can rent for free.

The Moxy St. Pete’s podcast room. Photo: Mark Parker.

“We love this market, and this is what we feel was missing in St. Pete,” Michael Tillman, CEO and Co-Founder of PTM Partners, said at Wednesday night’s grand opening event. This is as much our asset as it is yours. We really want everyone to enjoy all the things that we put here, finding all the details and things that we’ve done. It’s as much for our benefit as it is yours.”

The rooftop pool at the new Moxy hotel in St. Petersburg’s EDGE District. Photo: Ashley Morales.

Moxy St. Pete is located at 1234 Central Ave. Opening rates start at $249 per night. Retail tenants in the building will include [soildcore] fitness studio, Floyd’s Barbershop and Bosphorous Turkish restaurant.

A double queen room at the Moxy St. Pete. Photo: Ashley Morales.

“Two years ago, this was a parking lot on a cool street, and over the year that we’ve been involved with this project, we started to see that something special is going to happen,” said Jake Wurzak, President of Wurzak Hotel Group and co-developer of Moxy St. Pete. “You are the ones that are going to create the magic. We need you to think of this as your second home, as your office, as your place to grab dinner, as your place to sit by the pool. This is your hotel.”

The Moxy’s 4,000-square-foot rooftop bar and restaurant, Sparrow, is not open to guests yet. It’s slated to open this fall and will serve “Asian-inspired cuisine” and craft cocktails. 

The bar inside Sparrow, the Moxy St. Pete’s rooftop lounge and restaurant. Sparrow is set to open this fall. Photo: Mark Parker.

“This is what progress looks like,” said St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch. Speaking to the crowd during Wednesday’s grand opening celebration, Welch thanked the hotel development team for “listening to the community and developing something that really reflects what we’re about in St. Pete moving forward.”

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