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City approves Tuxedo Court project
The St. Petersburg City Council, meeting Thursday as the St. Petersburg Community Redevelopment Agency, approved the plans for a 15-story tower to be developed downtown.
The proposed $65.4 million development – dubbed the Tuxedo Court – will house 260 residential units and 2,700 square feet of ground-floor retail/restaurant space.
The site for the development at 720 Charles Court South is bordered by Tropicana Field to the west and downtown St. Pete to the east. The proposed building will have an 11-story, u-shaped tower sitting on top of a parking garage.
Plans for the tower were filed by Tuxedo Court LLC, which is linked to White/Peterman Properties Inc. There are currently 10 residences on the 1.15-acre property that are slated to be demolished for the project.
The city and Development Review Commission approval allows the project to move forward.
Although the CRA ultimately voted in favor of the project during the Thursday meeting, several council members voiced concerns regarding the number of parking spaces as well as the proposed location for the retail.
The proposed project would have a total amount of 293 parking spaces, accessible from Charles Court South and Grey Eagle Court South.
Anne Pollack with St. Petersburg-based law firm Fletcher Fischer Pollack P.L., who represents White/Peterman Properties, and developer Tim Connelly of White/Peterman Properties addressed the concerns and noted the decision-making process behind the design.
“We worked very hard to create a project that was cognizant of the neighborhood and works well with the surrounding community – placing townhome-like units on 4th Avenue to reflect the residential across the street and our retail on 8th Street to reflect the commercial across the street,” Pollack said.
The u-shape was purposely designed to meet code and border 4th Avenue, so the smaller units would face the neighbors across the street, she explained, adding how the development would have four times the amount of required landscaping and provide wide sidewalks.
“One of the challenges we placed on ourselves for the site was to make the building work with the context of the surroundings,” said Connelly.
The transportation department did not have any concerns about the number of parking spots and that it meets city code.