The office, housing and retail project planned for the site of the former St. Petersburg Police headquarters has all the factors the EDGE District needs for longterm success, the leader of the district’s business association told the St. Petersburg City Council.

A parking garage that will be part of the project is especially important, said Barbara Voglewede, executive director of the EDGE Business District Association, just before the City Council approved a lease and development agreement with EDGE Central Development Partners for the property at 1300 1st Ave. N.
While Thursday’s vote to approve the deal was unanimous, at least one City Council member is questioning the need for more office space in light of workforce changes brought out by the Covid-19 pandemic.

EDGE Central plans a 100,000-square-foot Class A office building, 22,000 square feet of retail space, at least 56 residential condos, 30 workforce rental apartments and a 600-space parking garage. The development will be organized around a new civic plaza, which will include a tribute monument to The Courageous 12, the 12 Black St. Petersburg police officers who sued the city to gain the full rights of their white counterparts.

by: Kevin McQuaid | Florida Business Observer, Commercial Real Estate Editor
After being selected from a shortlist of five last November to redevelop the former St. Petersburg police headquarters site, Edge Central Development Partners had planned to begin demolition this summer. In place of the old police station and offices, Edge Central intends to construct an $80 million mix of offices, condominiums, a parking garage, “workforce” apartments and ground-floor retail space. For the city’s Edge District and beyond, the project has been highly anticipated: The new offices will be the city’s first in about 30 years; the new condos the first in the district in more than a decade. Mayor Rick Kriseman last fall described the redevelopment of the roughly two-acre tract at 1300 First Ave. North as “the most exciting and dynamic” project in recent history because it met several city needs, most notably for more affordable rental units.
Then COVID-19 hit, disrupting plans far and wide.