Know
Playhouse Theatre may become an office building
The Playhouse Theatre will soon meet the wrecking ball as plans have been filed for a new development to rise in its place.
Property owner Reid Graves, a St. Pete Urology physician, and ARO Engineering have filed a stormwater permit application for the demolition and redevelopment of the nearly 100-year-old theater at 1850 Central Ave. and the shuttered Morph Nightclub building next door at 1833 1st Ave. S.
The site of the Playhouse Theatre and adjacent property. Image: ARO Engineering.
The application shows plans for a future office building at the current site of the dilapidated theater and a parking garage at the adjacent property, which was a 6,636-square-foot night club venue.
The project also entails creating an asphalt pavement alley, a storm water system, and other related civil infrastructure, according to the permit.
The Morph Nightclub. GoogleMaps.
In 2021, Graves and his colleague Dr. Nicholas Laryngakis paid $2.7 million for the entire city blocks, including two vacant commercial lots to the west.
Although the plans were filed, Reid said in an emailed statement that the project is “still in the early stages and nothing definite at this time.”
At the time of the sale, PaulaClair Smith, Colliers Commercial Real Estate Services’ managing director, who brokered the deal, said there wasn’t a rush nor a set timeline to demolish the Playhouse.
The theatre, built in 1925 as an open-air venue called The Patio, doesn’t have a historical designation.
ADDITIONAL READING: Vintage St. Pete: The Playhouse Theatre
The site is zoned CCT-2, which allows for the development of a restaurant or bar, retail, offices, co-working space, apartments or a boutique hotel and other mixed uses.
The application did not state if the office development would solely cater to the St. Pete Urology business or if it would house multiple companies.
The push to move plans forward comes as the city is facing a limited inventory of new and available office space.
The city’s Class A vacancy rate hovers around 3%, forcing many growing companies to look outside the downtown core for offices.
S. Rose Smith-Hayes
August 28, 2023at7:39 pm
I have fond memories of taking my 3 children to dinner theater there. I took them one at a time so it could be their event. Great memories. I wish they could save the facade and Marilyn on the West wall, oh well, so much for nostalgia.
Pat Fling
August 24, 2023at12:57 pm
We have lots of empty office buildings in St Oete and do not need more. What would be smart is to preserve the historic appearance and create affordable housing for people who earn 80% of the average medium income or less. There is a huge and growing need for that.
Donna Kostreva
August 24, 2023at8:21 am
The “fresh face“ of St. Petersburg is the 1963 Pete Seeger song.
Little Boxes
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes, little boxes
Little boxes all the same
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same
And the people in the houses all went to the university
Where they all were put in boxes
Little boxes all the same
And there’s doctors and there’s lawyers
And business executives
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martini dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
Where they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
And they all get put in boxes
Little boxes all the same
There’s a green one, and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same
Allie
August 24, 2023at6:49 am
I’m going to miss Marilyn. 🙁
Big mike
August 23, 2023at6:27 am
Does anyone knows what is going to happen to Haslam bookstore on central? Are they going knock it down as well and build million dollar condos on it?
Steve Allen
August 22, 2023at6:07 pm
RUSH Played there 1974
Bill Herrmann
August 22, 2023at4:27 pm
We know that most times the least expensive shell of a structure is one that exists. Why not repurpose this 100-year old building? There are numerous tax advantages for doing so.
At the minimum saving the facade would help preserve the historic streetscape. DTSP and the Edge District occupy a unique niche in the market place. That unique niche or brand is the reason why folks want to live and work here!
Much like a business protects their brand, we need to embrace, protect and expand on that brand. Doing so well help us weather the upcoming real estate price adjustment that numerous publications forecast.
John
August 22, 2023at3:44 pm
A much needed office park can take over the Playhouse and the Morph. Continuing to expand downtown St Pete further along Central Ave and into the Grand Central District.