EDGE District building gets historic designation
October 16, 2020 - The St. Petersburg City Council voted unanimously Thursday to designate the Smalley-Green Auto Building at 1180 Central Ave. as a local historic landmark in the city's register of historic places. The structure, which currently houses Bodega, a popular Latin restaurant, is owned by St. Petersburg developer Blake Whitney Thompson and is in the EDGE District. It was built in 1921 and originally used as an electrical service station that specialized in automobile electrical equipment. It later housed a paint company, a furniture store, a gun shop and other retailers, according to a memo from city staff to Council members. The St. Petersburg Community Planning and Preservation Commission approved the local historic landmark status in September. Thompson has applied for an ad valorem tax exemption, a program for qualifying properties that exempts the increased value of a qualifying rehabilitation project from ad valorem property taxes for a ten-year period, the city memo said.