For 54 years, Webb’s City was one of the things visitors remembered most about St. Petersburg. From his flagship four-story building at the corner of 9th Street and 2nd Avenue South, J.E. “Doc” Webb lorded over an empire of 77 stores, encompassing seven city blocks.
You could get anything at Webb’s City – and St. Petersburg’s predominantly elderly population, traveling mostly on city bus lines, did. From groceries to clothing, from haircuts to shrubs, from furniture to automobile tires to bus and airline tickets, Webb and his 1,200 employees were only too happy to provide.
A second proposal to buy city-owned land downtown raises a key question about corporate expansion and jobs versus luxury housing for the city of St. Petersburg.
Related Development LLC, a Miami-based developer, wants to buy city-owned land in the 800 block of 1st Avenue South and build a luxury apartment building on the site, according to a letter sent to the city on Aug. 29. Related said it would pay $6.5 million for the site, and for a parking lot now leased by United Insurance Holdings Corp.
The AARP Florida caregiver accelerator in St. Petersburg is kickstarting cutting edge technology and entrepreneurial business opportunities in the $72 billion caregiving industry.
The accelerator, housed at The Innovation Lab at The Poynter Institute in the Innovation District, has worked with 43 companies over the past three years, including its most recent class of eight emerging firms from all over the United States. Two of those companies — TechUrElders and Alz You Need — won the organization’s pitch competition Monday and now move on to a national competition in Washington, D.C.
