Redevelopment of Exchange Hotel moves forward

The Exchange Hotel, located at 234 3rd. Avenue N., has served as a hotel in the city for decades, but it is not a historic structure; therefore, it can and will be redeveloped into a 28-story apartment tower. 

This was the conclusion from the St. Petersburg Development Review Commissioners Wednesday afternoon. After hours of continuous deliberation, by a majority vote, the DRC approved Ally Capital’s plans to demolish the hotel and develop a mixed-use apartment building. 

The hotel was identified as a “potentially eligible” property for historic preservation; however, applications were never filed to preserve the three-story building. 

The proposed $120 million project that will rise at the site calls for 327 apartment units, 7,890 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor and a 325-space parking garage, which will wrap around the apartments. 

Renderings of the building.

Over 170 emails were sent by people and the Huntington Townhomes residents challenging the project, citing issues with the historic nature of the building, the proposed tower’s height and additional vehicular traffic it may bring. During the public hearing portion of the meeting, a St. Petersburg Urban Forestry representative said their group also opposes the planned development as it involves the removal of trees. 

Steve Lang, a forensic architect who conducted a property conditions study, said the Exchange Hotel, constructed in 1928 as the Martha Washington Hotel, “bears no resemblance” to the current building. 

When the Ally Capital group filed demolition plans in 2022, the city staff said they did not receive any public comments regarding the planned demolition of the hotel, according to city records. 

“Old and historic don’t necessarily equate,” Lang said, comparing photos of the original colonial revival building to the current structure. “Everything has been stripped, modified and changed.” 

He highlighted changes such as the removal of the original sign and windows and the addition of roofing shingles, a pool and a front porch among other upgrades.  

An aerial rendering of the proposed apartment tower as seen from the northwest. 

Bill Herrmann, a member of the Preserve The ‘Burg advocacy group, said the building will be out of scale and is not compatible with the neighborhood, and it will be significantly taller than the recently approved hotel that will rise at the Fit2Run site. 

DRC member Joseph Griner reminded Herrmann that the property is zoned DC-1, which encourages this type of development and scale. 

Terra Wood Dozark, a designer at local design firm Behar and Peteranecz Architecture working with Ally Capital, said the design firm understands the concern of residents and the development team is sensitive to the surrounding historic structures and the new project would create a residential corridor connecting Mirror Lake to the waterfront. She also noted the podium of the tower will match the height of a building across the street. The team will also reconnect the sidewalk, eliminating the semi-circle driveway and providing two access points into the parking garage. 

Renderings of the building.

The ground floor of the planned building will consist of the residential lobby, commercial space and two entrances to the parking garage. Floors two through seven will have residential units and parking. The eighth floor will include residential units and amenities. Floors nine through 27 will consist of residential units and the top floor will include indoor and outdoor amenity space.

The apartments will range from studios to three-bedroom units above a seven-story base. 

Ally Capital received approval for a 4.0 FAR (floor area ratio) bonus. As part of the bonus approval, the group will provide $1.2 million to the city’s Housing Capital Improvements Projects (HCIP) trust fund.