The Pinellas County Parks & Conservation Resources department announced Monday that parking terminal upgrades are complete. Pinellas County park and boat ramp terminals are now cashless and feature 4G-LTE connectivity. The new terminals accept credit card payments only, and patrons will be required to enter their vehicle’s license plate number. Customers must display a receipt until a “mobile parking” feature is introduced next year. The county states the upgrades will improve transaction speeds and communication reliability.
Demolition began Tuesday afternoon on the old St. Petersburg Police Department HQ on Central Avenue. The site will become Orange Station at the Edge, a new mixed-use project.
The City of St. Petersburg has contracted to install an outdoor ice skating rink at the St. Pete Pier. Opening Nov. 20, the 4,000-square-foot rink will be part of "Winter Beach," a seasonal concept that includes holiday food and gift vendors, music, movies and more. Skating tickets (including skate rental) will cost $17 per person, through closing day, Jan. 17. Details are available here.
On Monday, the International Shuffleboard Association (ISA) announced that the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club will host the 40th ISA Championship. The championship will be held from Oct. 22 – 28, 2023. The St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club was founded in 1924, and the event will kick off the club’s 100-year anniversary celebrations. The St. Pete club is the oldest and largest shuffleboard club in the world. The announcement comes after two ISA Championships were canceled due to the Covid pandemic
The Tampa Innovation Partnership is hosting its annual Innovation Gathering on Thursday, Oct. 28. Now in its seventh year, the Innovation Gathering will feature the Taste of Uptown, the Innovation Exhibition, and the Community Impact Awards. New for this year’s event will be the inaugural presentation of the Jack A. Kolosky Healthcare Innovator Award. The Innovation Gathering will be held a RITHM@Uptown in Tampa, from 5:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $10-50, and more information on the event can be found here.
Allegiant (NASDAQ: ALGT) will have a new nonstop route to St. Petersburg from Akron, Ohio beginning March 4, 2022. To celebrate, the company is offering one-way fares on the new route as low as $59, Allegiant announced. “St. Pete-Clearwater is one of the most popular destinations in Allegiant’s network,” Drew Wells, Allegiant’s senior vice president of revenue and network planning, said in a release. “This new route will give our customers in Northeast Ohio an affordable, convenient travel option for their vacations to one of the hottest markets in Florida.” The new service would operate twice weekly.
As of Monday morning, drivers on Interstate I-275 near Tropicana Field can see a billboard paid by a Canadian nonprofit group reading, "Dear Rays, Montréal won’t pay for your new stadium. Sincerely, Taxpayers." The group behind the billboard is the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a federally incorporated, not-for-profit citizen’s group. The message is directed at the Rays, as the team has considered splitting future seasons between Tampa Bay and Montreal.
Renowned author, advisor and journalist Sarah Chayes will be the keynote speaker for the 2022 St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs, which kicks off Feb 15. Chayes has a long trajectory of covering political corruptions during her career at National Public Radio to advising the topmost levels of the U.S. military, serving as a special adviser to two commanders of the international forces in Kabul. The St. Petersburg Conference will bring together distinguished diplomats, military and academic experts to discuss current critical international issues. The St. Pete Catalyst is one of the sponsors for the event.
Florida Funders, a Tampa-based hybrid of a venture capital fund and an angel investor network, are set to close on $50 million-plus of funds for its Fund 2 LLC on Oct. 31. Through its Fund 2 LLC, the investor network has invested in startups such as Intecrowd, Grow Credit and Kliken.
As part of the ongoing upgrades to the city's sewer system, St. Pete Beach is conducting construction along Gulf Boulevard and 55th Avenue. The construction will continue for about two weeks and is followed by PTSA installing a new bus stop south of 55th Avenue on the west side of the road. This will cause daily lane closures of the outside lane until the project is complete around Thanksgiving day.
Tampa Bay Rays rookie phenom Randy Arozarena may be home from the playoffs, but his little brother now awaits his turn to experience a professional sport's postseason. Arozarena's younger brother Raiko Arozarena made his professional debut with the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Wednesday night, and his big brother was there to cheer him on from the stands. Similar to the Rays before them, the Rowdies clinched their division and home-field advantage with the win against Miami FC. The Rowdies begin their postseason run on Nov. 6 in Al Lang Stadium.
The St. Pete City Council approved a resolution Thursday to financially support an affordable housing development to be located at 6090 Central Ave. The project, dubbed Sixty90, would receive $5 million in Penny for Pinellas funding for the development through the land acquisition program. The project is being developed by DDA Development in Tampa and Backstreets Capital in St. Petersburg. The 204-unit development would have 90% workforce housing. The Sixty90 developer is expected to start construction in the first quarter of 2022 and has estimated a total project cost of roughly $49.73 million.
