Tampa Bay Business Journal By Emma Behrmann – Reporter
The redevelopment of St. Petersburg’s former police headquarters is closer to welcoming a Marriott hotel.
The Central, a large redevelopment project led by Ellison Development, in partnership with J Square Developers, DDA Development and Backstreets Capital will bring a 12-story, 130,000-square-foot spec office tower called the Halcyon, a 16-story Autograph Collection Hotel, 15,900 square feet of retail space and 42 affordable housing units to the Edge District.
On Friday, the development team submitted a permit to the City of St. Pete for its 168-room, 165,000-square-foot Autograph Collection Hotel, which is expected to cost $55 million. The new construction at 1300 1st Ave. N. will be built by general contractor Ellison Construction.
Construction on the project’s parking garage is complete, opening parking to the public on June 17.
The 2.1-acre property on Central Avenue was formerly home to the St. Pete Police Department headquarters and previously known as Orange Station. The mixed-use project underway will bring the city’s first speculative office tower in over three decades.
The hotel will include a bar and restaurant as well as more than 8,000 square feet of meeting and event spaces, fitness facilities and a rooftop pool.
The Central redevelopment was first announced in February 2024. The parking garage is complete; the workforce housing is expected in 2026 and the hotel in early 2027 with office and retail delivering in late 2027.
Ellison expects the hotel, which will take about two years to build, will employ about 100 full-time and 140 part-time employees with an annual payroll approaching $8 million.
Read more in the Tampa Bay Business Journal.