ST. PETERSBURG — The Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront, a downtown waterfront fixture since 1972, would come down to make way for two 44-story condominium towers under plans filed with the city this week.
Delray Beach-based Kolter Urban submitted a site plan application Monday for 325 condos, nearly 18,000 square feet of street-level commercial space and a 519-space parking garage on the hotel site at 333 First St. S., at the corner of Second Street South and Fourth Avenue South. Coverage of the filing puts the cost at about $300 million to $325 million.
How big this would be
At up to 509 feet, the twin towers would tie as St. Petersburg's third-tallest buildings, behind the 515-foot Residences at 400 Central and the planned 539-foot Waldorf Astoria Residences a few blocks away, St. Pete Rising reported. They'd rise above Kolter's own ONE St. Petersburg and Art House, both about 450 feet, and its 408-foot Saltaire next door.
The application lists about 1.32 million square feet of building area. The 15-story Hilton has about 344,000. The 325 units would also top the 301 at the Residences at 400 Central, currently the city's largest completed condo building, though Kolter's would be split between two towers. The architect is 10 Design.
Parking would total 726 spaces once 207 spaces in the neighboring Saltaire garage are counted. “Traffic impact reports are not required in downtown,” the application says, according to the Tampa Bay Reporter. “The entitlements for the Project are already permitted by the property's land use and zoning designations.” Ground-level open space would shrink from about 10,241 square feet to 4,648.
Whose name goes on it?
The filing doesn't name the project. Kolter's Florida west coast regional president, Brian Van Slyke, previously told the Tampa Bay Times it would be a branded condo carrying a hospitality group's name, without saying which one. Kolter is building the Ritz-Carlton Residences Sarasota Bay, and people following the project expect that partnership to come to St. Pete. Kolter hasn't confirmed it.
The Times also reported that some units will be set aside as lower-cost workforce housing. No pricing has been released.
What happens to the hotel
Nothing yet. Kolter will keep running the Hilton as a hotel until construction starts, and it hasn't announced a closing date or construction timeline. Kolter bought the property for $96 million in cash in March, according to a securities filing by seller Ashford Hospitality Trust. It had already built Saltaire on the hotel's former surface parking lot.
Before it can move forward, St. Petersburg City Council members, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, must find the project consistent with the city's Intown Redevelopment Plan. No hearing date has been set.
Kolter's land-use attorney, Matthew Poling of Trenam Law, argued in the application that the towers further city goals, “specifically with regard to the promotion of redevelopment, elimination of surface parking and the promotion and expansion of downtown.”
Kolter's growing downtown footprint
The Hilton site would be Kolter's biggest St. Pete project yet. The company finished ONE St. Petersburg, with 253 condos and a Hyatt Place hotel, in 2019, Saltaire in 2023 and the 244-unit Art House this year. It also has approval for a 21-story, 62-unit tower at the former Fit2Run site on Second Street North, and it's planning Water Club St. Pete Beach, a 129-condo waterfront project at the east end of Corey Avenue.