Janelle Irwin Taylor
A little more than a year away from completion, The Elements on Third, a 10-acre residential campus in St. Petersburg’s Historic Kenwood, is already having a considerable impact on the neighborhood.
Before Coral Gables-based Altis Real Estate Strategies scooped up property in 2015, the area where apartments are now opening or under construction was once a hotbed for crime. For example, St. Petersburg Police officers were called on a daily basis to the site of the Mosley Motel on 34th Street North near 5th Avenue — sometimes multiple times a day.
In the last two years, there have been just 35 calls for service to the same site, according to the city.
Large scale developers aren’t always welcome in neighborhoods like Kenwood, where historic homes line brick streets, and homeowners take pride in the quaintness that marks its unique community.
But this isn’t an ordinary situation.
For years, vagrants and drug addicts calling the Mosley home spilled into the neighborhood and caused trouble. Neighborhood leaders worked with St. Pete City Council and fought the previous owners in the city’s nuisance abatement program worried about the steady flow of drugs and prostitutes.
But Altis came in and purchased loan documents on the troubled property, formerly owned by Michael Shimshoni, and worked its way through foreclosure proceedings to acquire the property. They also scooped up the land behind the hotel including a 12-story building that’s filled with modern apartments catering to young singles and couples.
“People thank us all the time,” said Frank Guerra, principal and founder of Altis. “Especially people who have been there a long time.”
He said since building on the 10-acre plot, surrounding areas have seen a noticeable boom. There’s a new SPCA veterinary center. The old Circle K gas station on the corner went through a multi-million renovation and went from a run-down convenient store with old pumps, to a new facility with tougher corporate oversight to push out troublemakers.
And the apartments that are already open, nearly 400 of them, are bustling with young professionals eager to enjoy an urban lifestyle.
Two of the three construction phases for The Elements on Third project are complete.
The 12-story “Sea Glass” building, once iconic for its rhombus shaped window slats, now houses 178 units.
Two three-story buildings with walk-up apartments are complete, as well as another four-story building with loft-style apartments.
Altis breaks ground on its final phase in April and expects completion by next March.
Once complete, six buildings will house more than 400 residential studio, one and two bedroom units.
Each building is named, loosely, for an element. The tower is called “Sea Glass,” after its green glass windows. The four-story buildings showcasing wood exterior are appropriately named “Wood Lofts.”
The two three-story walk-ups painted yellow are “Sunshine Lofts” and another four-story building, made of renovated steel, is home to “Steel Lofts.”
The entire campus is enclosed, creating its own internal community with a gym, clubhouse, pool and pet grooming center.
Developers are catering to young professionals, taking full advantage of the location’s proximity to downtown and easy access to transit including the Central Avenue Beach Trolley and future Central Avenue Bus Rapid Transit.
