The Vinoy Legacy Part 2: Downtown Revitalization

This is the second of a two-part series on the Vinoy Renaissance Hotel. The first part told the story of the Vinoy’s restoration, reopening in 1992. The second part deals with the Vinoy restoration’s impact on the revitalization of downtown St. Petersburg. The current era of downtown revitalization may be divided into four phases: The Events Prior to 1999; The First Wave of Downtown Condominiums; A Second Wave of Downtown Construction; and The Present Boom Period.

The Historic Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort and Golf Club. Each year the Bank of Tampa St. Petersburg Division commissions a holiday card featuring a St. Petersburg historic scene. This year’s card contains an image of the Vinoy illustrated by Frank Saso. Image 2014.
Phase 1: The Vinoy Restoration Era
The restoration of the Vinoy is credited by many with being a major catalyst for the downtown revitalization, particularly near the waterfront. Fred Guest, one of the principals in the Vinoy’s restoration, envisioned it that way. Long before the restoration was accomplished, he said, “There have certainly been a lot of skeptics about downtown St. Petersburg. But we’re true believers in where St. Pete is going. I’ve felt for years that this was a town just waiting to happen, and I think in a couple of years this is going to be a spectacular city.” In a 1992 statement he said, “There was a special window: 1986, 87-88… the Dome [Tropicana Field stadium] was under way, Bay Plaza, the Mahaffey Theater, The Pier – it was before the recession, when it looked as if a lot of things were coming together for the city… Now many are looking to the Vinoy as the psychological boost that will make the long-hoped-for downtown rejuvenation a reality.”

Historic view of the downtown waterfront with (left to right) the Ponce de Leon Hotel, Yacht Club, and 300 room Soreno Hotel. The Soreno hotel was on the approximate site of today’s Florencia condominium. Historically, downtown was perhaps even more vibrant in terms of activity in the past, and the structure of past vitality continues to serve as the foundation for today’s resurgence. Image Ca 1935. Michaels Family Collection.
The restoration itself removed an eyesore from one of the downtown’s most prominent locations. A derelict Vinoy cut short any interest investors might have had in the city. The hotel is an important engine for the city’s economy in its own right, now employing approximately 500 people, generating annual revenue of nearly $50 million, and various taxes of nearly $6 million. But more importantly, the Vinoy’s reopening eventually played a major role in stimulating new construction and business, especially along Beach Drive and other nearby areas; helped make new financing available for additional development projects; and had an important psychological effect on investor confidence. As architect and Cloisters developer Randy Wedding said, “There was a lot of back pressure built up for a long period of time. The problem was that people were a bit timid about it [investing].”
Interpreting the cold statistical data available from the City on major construction throughout the downtown between 1985 and 2010 is challenging. If one were to graph it and control for inflation, there would be no steady progression of construction dating from the Vinoy. Prior to the Vinoy restoration in 1992, there were significant developments in 1985 (South Trust Tower), 1987 (Hilton Hotel Renovation), 1988 (Mahaffey Renovation), 1990 (Tropicana Field), and 1991 (Barnett Tower). Two of these were largely publicly funded projects, the Mahaffey and Tropicana Field. While Tropicana was not completed until 1990, the City first committed funding for it in 1983. Subsequent to the Vinoy restoration, there were also significant medical construction projects in 1994 and 1995 (Suncoast Medical, Bayfront, and All Children’s) and in 1997 another significant public investment in getting the Trop ready for baseball.

Craig McLaughlin was president of the Vinoy Development Corporation and a partner with Fred Guest and Bert Stephens in restoring the Vinoy. He was also a principal in building the Vinoy Place condos. Michaels Family Collection.

David Fischer was mayor of St. Petersburg from 1991 to 2000. He was a principal in organizing the Florida International Museum. Michaels Family Collection.
Former Mayor Dave Fischer was instrumental in obtaining the Czars exhibit. Originally the plan was to bring an exhibit on Catherine the Great. Mayor Fischer and former St. Petersburg College president Carl Kuttler flew to St. Petersburg, Russia, to make arrangements. Upon arrival they were escorted for three or four days by none other than Vladimir Putin who at that time was a mere assistant to the city mayor. After the visit to St. Petersburg, Fischer made a side trip to Moscow. While there, he visited the Kremlin Museums which held the treasures of the czars. Later, when negotiations for the Catherine exhibit fell through, he managed to secure the czars treasures, which had never before left the country.

Mayor David Fischer and St. Petersburg College President Carl Kuttler visited St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1992 to negotiate bringing an exhibit on Catherine the Great to St. Petersburg, Florida. While there they were escorted about by Vladimir Putin, at the time a mere assistant to the Russian city mayor. Google Images

The Florida International Museum greatly helped to add to the momentum for downtown’s revitalization begun by the Vinoy Restoration. Some 800,000 people visited the exhibit Titanic. Image 2002. Courtesy of St. Petersburg Museum of History.

The Cloisters was the first condo to open on Beach Drive after the Vinoy Restoration. Its lead architect was Randy Wedding who was also involved in early efforts to restore the Vinoy.
Phase 2: First Wave of Downtown Condos
None of the development to occur during this first phase was on Beach Drive or immediately adjacent to it. None of it was residential. Then in 1999, a second phase of revitalization began when a wave of residential condos began hitting the waterfront starting with the Cloisters, soon followed by the Florencia, Vinoy Place, and the Madison apartments, two blocks west of the Mahaffey. McLaughlin views this second phase as finally giving the downtown a “residential address.” These developments led the way in again validating downtown as a desirable place to live.

The Ovation is located at 180 Beach Drive and opened in 2009. It was built at a cost of $65 million (hard costs) and has 26 stories and 45 units. Michaels Family Collection.

The Florencia was the second condo to open on Beach Drive after the Vinoy Restoration. It is located at 100 Beach, has 51 units, 21 stories, and cost $30 million to build (hard costs).
Mike Cheezem, CEO of JMC Communities, said in a 2002 interview that the Vinoy opened the way for the Florencia on Beach Drive. “It was a real big factor in our decision to build that community, the Vinoy’s stature, its success, the quality of what they did, the clientele they were attracting.” The Florencia broke ground in 1998 and was completed in 2000. In the same interview Mayor Rick Baker summed it up, “I have always felt that bringing back downtown was a three-legged stool: Getting the Vinoy renovated, bringing baseball downtown, and getting an entertainment center into downtown. The Vinoy really kicked off the renovation of downtown St. Petersburg.”
Phase 3: Second Wave
McLaughlin saw these first Beach Drive projects as a test of the market. Could three downtown condos built about the same time be successful? Had the downtown again achieved the “synergy” and “critical mass” necessary for sustained development? The answer was a resounding “yes.” Once that was clear, the third phase of downtown revitalization began five years later. Starting in 2006 and continuing into 2009 was another wave of construction including Parkshore Plaza, 1010 Central, The Sage, 400 Beach, Ovation, and the Signature. There was also significant construction at USF and Mahaffey. Then building again paused as the effects of the Great Recession of 2008-2009 set in. But while the building market paused, McLaughlin’s perception is that the demand for living in downtown St. Pete did not. For example, he believes, despite the recession, the downtown saw yet another record number of restaurants.
Phase 4: Current Boom

A new development named “ONE” is planned for the Tropicana block at First Street and First Avenue North. The development will combine a 13 story hotel with a 41 story condo. The project will become the city’s tallest structure. Courtesy of City of St. Petersburg.
It must be remembered that we are talking about downtown re-vitalization. Historically, downtown was perhaps even more vibrant in terms of activity in the past, and the structure of past vitality continues to serve as the foundation for today’s resurgence. Location of course is everything. Our founding city leaders recognized this by taking the downtown waterfront off the tax rolls and making a strategic decision to dedicate it as parkland. At one time, the Pier upland was far more developed than today, including the indoor Spa swimming pool, the Solarium for nude sun bathing, and several other recreational amenities. Before the Vinoy, there was the 300-room Soreno Hotel on Beach Drive. Both were located to take advantage of the waterfront parks, bay views, and water-related recreation.
The genesis of urban development can be a complex process, at times difficult to interpret. No doubt the baseball stadium and other pre-1992 projects had their influence, both on the decision to invest in the Vinoy and in subsequent projects. But, the Vinoy clearly played a special role in downtown revitalization, especially near the waterfront. Its narrative and ultimate success was definitely on the minds of the developers of the Cloisters, the Florencia, and others wanting to make an investment in our city. The role of the Florida International Museum, opening three years after the Vinoy, was also prominent, sparking restaurants, retail, and even BayWalk. While the International Museum is no longer, it was followed by an array of other prominent cultural institutions including the new Dali, an expanded Museum of Fine Arts, a renovated Mahaffey, the Chihuly Glass Collection, and an increasingly energetic History Museum, to name a few. Tom James, CEO of Raymond James Financial, has committed $75 million for a new museum to exhibit his collection of western and wildlife art. Ruby Ciccarello of the Two Red Roses Foundation plans to build the largest arts and crafts museum in the nation next to the Synovus Bank on 3rd Avenue North. A new Pier is pending, and master planning is underway to further invigorate the storied downtown waterfront parks. These cultural resources not only attract visitors, but also provide rich cultural opportunities for city residents, particularly those living in the downtown area. While the Vinoy was prominent in sparking the process of downtown revitalization, each subsequent development further added to the snowball effect, creating a synergy that both sustains development accomplishments previously achieved and boosts them further yet.
(First figure is cost when built/second is cost adjusted for CPI)
1965 Bayfront Center (400 4th St. SE) (demolished 2004)
1965 Mahaffey Theater (400 4th St. SE)
1971 Hilton Hotel (Bayfront Concourse) ($8M)
1973 Inverted Pyramid ($8M)
1975 Bayfront Tower (1 Beach Dr. SE) ($5M/$21.6M)
1979 Plaza Tower & Courtyard (111 2nd Ave. N.) ($2.5M/$8M)
1982 Salvador Dali Museum opens at Bayboro
1985 South Trust Tower (150 2nd Ave. N.) ($20M/$43.3M)
1987 Hilton Hotel Renovation (333 1st St. S.) ($23M/$47.2M)
1988 McNulty Station (260 1st Ave. S.) ($11.5M/$22.7M)
1988 Municipal Pier Renovation ($12.5M/$24.6M)
1988 Tampa Bay Times Building ($13.5M/$26.6)
1990 Tropicana Field ($152M/$271M)
1991 One Progress Plaza (200 Central Ave.,
originally Barnett Tower) ($57M/$97.5M)
1991 Maas Brothers closes
1992 Vinoy Hotel reopens ($93M/$154.4M)
1995 Florida International Museum
1995 Tampa Bay Devil Rays contracted
1998 Devil Rays Play First Game
1999 The Cloisters (288 Beach) ($17M/$23.7M)
2000 The Florencia (100 Beach) ($30M/$40.6M)
2000 BayWalk (199 2nd Ave. N.) ($20M/$27.1M)
2001 Madison (200 4th Ave. S.) ($30M/$39.5M)
2001 Vinoy Place Condominiums ($60M/$78.0M)
2002 Hampton Inn & Suites (50 Beach Dr.) ($5.1/$6.6M)
2006 Duke Energy (100 3rd St. N.) ($66M/$76.3M)
2006 USF Additions ($33M/$38M)
2006 ParkShore Plaza (300 Beach) ($100M/$115.6M)
2006 Renovated Mahaffey Theater (400 4th St. SE) ($26.3M/$30.4M)
2007 Albert Whitted Aviation Terminal Building and Restaurant ($4.4M/$4.9M)
2007 1010 Central ($32M/$36M)
2008 400 Beach Condos & Chihuly Glass Museum ($70M/$75.6M)
2008 The Sage (419 4th St. S.) ($53.5M/$57.9M)
2009 Ovation Completed (180 Beach) ($65M/$70.6M)
2009 Signature Place (100 1st Ave. S.) ($170M/$184.6M)
2010 All Children’s Hospital ($329M/$352M)
2011 Fusion Apartments ($44M/$46M)
2010 Bella Brava Restaurant (204 Beach) ($670K/$714.8K)
2011 New Salvador Dali Museum (401 1st St. SE) ($36M/$37.3M)
2012 St. Anthony’s Hospital Additions ($50M/$52M)
2013 Birchwood Inn ($6M)
2014 Sundial (153 2nd Ave. N.) ($20M)
2015 Rowland Place (146 4th Ave NE) in construction ($3.5M)
2016 Bliss (176 4th Ave. NE) to begin construction
Source: City of St. Petersburg, Major Construction List. Most cost
figures are taken from city permits and do not include “soft costs” such as architectural design, engineering, legal, and land acquisition.
Sources: City of St. Petersburg, City Charter (1982, 1984), and “Major Downtown Development Projects List” (2014); Prudy Taylor Board, The Renaissance Vinoy: St. Petersburg’s Crown Jewel (1999); Evening Independent (Various; especially 4/23/86); Walter P. Fuller, St. Petersburg and Its People (1972) (pp. 219-229); Tampa Bay Times (Various but especially 11/7/84; 8/10/02;8/1/2012; 11/21/14); Hotel News Resource, “US Hotel Occupancy Rate to Recover to Pre-Recession Levels in 2014 According to PKF,” (March 18, 2014); Gary Lantrip, “Profile: Frederick E. Guest II,” Tampa Bay Life (September 1990); Communications with Peter Belmont, Martin Normile, Craig McLaughlin, and Dave Fischer. Also, many thanks to Elaine Normile, Renaissance Vinoy Hotel historian, for her extensive help and support.