Retail project under construction in Skyway Marina District 

National chains Huey Magoo’s Chicken Tenders, Jersey Mike’s Subs and Smoothie King will be part of a retail project currently being constructed in St. Petersburg’s Skyway Marina District. 

Allied Group Holdings owner Jack Dougherty, who is behind the project, has invested in the area heavily in recent years. He first acquired 14 acres of property in the Skyway district in October 2020. 

Dougherty developed the adjacent Marina Club Apartment Homes, which opened in March, and oversaw the construction of a bank and storage facility on the land. 

The new building, located at 4321 34th Street South, will be 6,000 square feet, Dougherty said. construction began in August and is scheduled to be completed in January 2026. 

The retail space has been planned for the property for some time to “complement” the apartment home complex. 

 “What I’m looking for, for any of these types of projects that I do, is something that’s going to be an amenity to the resident,” Dougherty explained. “It makes the whole location more desirable because there’s more activity and more things going on.” 

He added that choosing the tenants was a strategic decision. 

“The one thing you always have to consider is you don’t just want to get something that’s good for your apartment,” Dougherty continued. “For it to succeed, it also has to have a draw for the whole neighborhood.” 

The building will have three retail units. Huey Magoo’s will occupy a 2,800-square-foot space. Smoothie King will be located in a 1,500-square-foot unit and Jersey Mike’s Subs will be in a 1,700-square-foot space. 

This will be the first Huey Magoo’s location in St. Pete, although there is one in Pinellas Park.

Dougherty’s multi-year investment in the Skyway Marina District was also a calculated decision. He saw a great opportunity in the area, he explained. 

“When I first started investing in it, it had sort of been neglected. It was developed starting in the 1950s, and the buildings were getting older, and there just wasn’t a whole lot of stuff going on in the district.” 

However, after doing some research, Dougherty found that the demographics in the area were similar to more heavily developed sections of St. Pete, such as 4th Street. 

“I saw the same potential here as there and I thought ‘let me try to get in on the ground floor.’ It’s more of a risk when you get in on the ground floor, but there’s also more of a reward because you saw the potential before other people did.”