Kriseman selects Dynasty’s proposal to take over downtown property

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman has accepted Dynasty’s proposal to purchase the city-owned site at 910 2nd Ave. South and develop Class A offices and workforce housing. 

St. Petersburg-based wealth management firm Dynasty was one of seven development teams vying to purchase the lot, used as parking for the Tampa Bay Rays, and transform it into a live-work development. Under Dynasty’s plans, the new Class A offices would house Dynasty’s new HQ and potentially the new HQ for Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest firm. 

“We were proud they [Dynasty and ARK Invest] chose to relocate their HQ to St. Petersburg and we want them to stay in our community,” Kriseman told the St. Pete Catalyst. “The difference between Dynasty’s proposal and the others proposing to build residential and office spaces is we know what is going to be in Dynasty’s building. With the others, there is a risk of it not getting built and is speculative.” 

The proposal process was initiated after Atlas Real Estate Partners made an unsolicited bid to buy the 2-acre site for $5.5 million and build a 10-story development. The unsolicited bid triggered an open process for others to submit proposals. 

(Left to right) Josh Brown, CNBC Halftime Report and co-founder and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, Shirl Penney, founder, President and CEO of Dynasty, and Cathie Wood, founder and CEO of ARK Invest, at Dynasty’s Investment Forum in Nashville in November 2021. Photo courtesy of Dynasty Financial Partners.

Dynasty’s proposal states the firm would offer the city $6.25 million to purchase the site. It intends to build 60,000-90,000 square feet of Class A office space; 400 residential units that will include a combination of workforce housing; and an innovation and recruiting hub among other components. Third Lake Partners and Ken Jones, and Revolution and Steve Case would be anchor contributors to the innovation hub of the project. 

“There’s not a reason why the Tampa Bay region cannot become a wealth management hub. This is an opportunity to anchor two of the city’s biggest brands,” Shirl Penney, founder and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners, previously told the Catalyst. 

Dynasty and ARK Invest are currently leasing space inside the 200 Central tower. Both firms relocated their headquarters from New York to St. Pete. 

Penney said Dynasty is seeking a larger space as it is preparing for more acquisitions and will need a site to consolidate them. He said Wood also needs a larger physical space for ARK Invest. 

Sources familiar with Wood’s lease at 200 Central said she was going to quickly outgrow the space, but she wanted the business to remain in the city. 

Additionally, Penney said the mixed-use development may include restaurant concepts from Iron Chef and Michelin star holder Marc Forgione of New York and Chef Michelle Bernstein, a James Beard Foundation Award-winning chef. 

The entire grand vision may cost anywhere from $140 million to $160 million to develop.

When Kriseman was considering which proposal to favor, he had narrowed it down to three – Dynasty’s proposal, Apogee’s proposal and Allen Morris’ proposal. He questioned each group before making the ultimate decision. 

“We have worked with Allen Morris before. It’s hard not picking a team like that knowing their high-quality results when talking about residential and office projects,” Kriseman said.

The estimated time frame for the Dynasty’s due diligence period is 120 days. As part of the due diligence period, Dynasty will have discussions with appropriate parties regarding parking requirements for the Rays’ lease on utilizing the lot.

Closing will occur 10 days after the due diligence period or after construction permits have been approved from the city, according to Dynasty’s proposal. 

Here’s a summary of all the other proposals that were submitted: 

Apogee’s proposal

The St. Petersburg-based Apogee Real Estate Partners LLC, in conjunction with South Florida-based architects Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates and office leasing specialist Cushman and Wakefield, collectively the Development Group, submitted a proposal to the City of St. Petersburg. 

Apogee is the same group behind the Icon Central and The Hermitage developments. 

Apogee and its partners offered the city $5 million to purchase the site. The group’s proposal consisted of two parts: The first part is to build a 216,000-square-foot, Class A office tower. Nine floors of the tower would front Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street South. The second part involved a 25- story Class A residential tower over podium parking housing with approximately 360 units fronting 10th Street South, with 10% is available as workforce housing.

Mill Creek Residential’s proposal 

Mill Creek Residential offered to purchase the site for $10 million to develop a mixed-use project dubbed Modera NineTen. 

Modera NineTen would be a minimum 385-home, mixed-income multifamily hi-rise with ground-floor retail and structured parking.

Mill Creek said 15% of the apartments at Modera NineTen would be workforce housing units. 

Blake Investment Partners and Eastman Equities’ proposal

St. Petersburg-based Blake Investment Partners and Eastman Equities offered the city $15 million to purchase the property. 

The duo, referred to as EastmanBlake, would develop a mixed-use development with multifamily units with 10% dedicated to workforce housing, retail and office space. 

EastmanBlake would reach out to medical research tenants in conjunction with Moffitt Cancer Center. 

Allen Morris’ proposal 

Coral Gables-based real estate firm The Allen Morris Company offered the city $5.5 million to purchase the site to build a mixed-use development dubbed the Edge District Centre.

Allen Morris intended to develop a five-story building with 100,000 square feet of Class A office space; a 400-unit Class A apartment building, of which 60 units would be designated for affordable housing; and 20,000 square feet of ground-floor space for retail and restaurants.

Trammell Crow Residential’s proposal 

Texas-based Trammell Crow Residential offered the city $13.5 million to purchase the site to build a residential development. 

Trammell Crow hoped to develop a seven-story residential development to include 45 workforce housing apartments at 120% AMI (15% of units), 15 live-work townhomes and 240 market-rate apartment units.

The proposal was very similar to the proposal the group submitted when it was vying to purchase the 800 Block to build a residential complex.

Read more about the proposals here.