Amenities/character/etc

Downtown is St. Petersburg’s most cosmopolitan and urban neighborhood. It includes the city’s central business district; many of its government buildings including City Hall; a wide array of museums and art galleries; numerous restaurants, entertainment venues including The Pier and Al Lang Field, small hotels and specialty retail shops; and spectacular waterfront parks. It is adjacent to Albert Whitted Airport and USF. All of this is within walking distance of the neighborhood’s 6,000 residents who rent, or increasingly, live in owner-occupied townhouses, lofts and high-rise condominiums.

History

History is a palpable presence in the neighborhood. One of Downtown’s architectural jewels is the Mirror Lake Branch Library, a Carnegie library which was built in 1914 and perfectly restored in the mid 1990s. Another is the Coliseum Ballroom, which opened in November of 1924 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Coliseum still hosts ballroom dancing, sock hops, and concerts. Just south of the Coliseum is the Sunshine Center complex, which includes a senior-citizen center, the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club (open for play since the early 1920s), the St. Petersburg Chess Club and the St. Petersburg Lawn Bowling Club.

The city of St. Petersburg was founded in 1888 by John Williams and Peter Demens. Originally from Detroit, John Williams owned the property that today comprises downtown. Peter Demens was a Russian émigré who brought the first railroad to Pinellas County. During the city’s early years most of the buildings were one and two-story, wood-frame vernacular buildings. One of the city’s early “big” buildings is the Detroit Hotel, constructed in 1889 at the corner of Central Avenue and 2nd Street, and converted in late 2002 to condominiums.

St. Petersburg’s first boom was in the early 1910s. St. Petersburg had been declared “Health City U.S.A.” and tourism was starting to become its major economic engine. The waterfront park system was under development and gave the young city a gracious, leisure oriented character that contrasted with most American cities’ industrial waterfronts. Bigger commercial buildings made of brick were built along Central Avenue as well as 1st Avenue North. The apartment buildings and hotels also became bigger and more architecturally ambitious. Perhaps the most important landmark from this era is the Open Air Post Office built in 1916 at the corner of 1st Avenue North and 4th Street. It is one of the city’s earliest and finest examples of the Mediterranean Revival style of architecture.

Downtown’s most significant boom period, however, was the mid-1920’s. Dozens of hotels were built to accommodate the surge of winter tourists. Williams Park, Straub Park, and Mirror Lake Park were all improved to provide leisure and recreational activities for residents and visitors alike. Central Avenue was bustling due to the shops, restaurants, and movie theaters, all with offices, hotel rooms, or apartments above. Many of the churches that continue to beautify downtown were built during this era, including the Gothic Revival First United Methodist Church at 2nd Avenue North and 3rd Street. By the end of the great Florida Land Boom, most of Downtown was built out.

Although new construction slowed during the 1930’s and early 1940’s due to the Depression and World War II, many buildings were enlarged and renovated. It became popular to give older buildings modern Art-Deco facades. After the war, downtown thrived due to an increasing population that continued to shop and do business in the city center. In addition, as tourists moved out to the Gulf Beaches, many of the downtown hotels became seasonal and year-round residences for senior citizens, establishing St. Petersburg’s reputation as the nation’s leading retirement community.

By the 1960s, Downtown was in decline due to increasing competition from the suburbs. Most of the development of this period was the demolition of older buildings to create office buildings to serve the increasing white-collar work force or parking lots to accommodate America’s growing obsession with the automobile.

Although the city undertook serious redevelopment efforts in the 1980s, it was not until the 1990s that neighborhood revitalization began in earnest. An explosion of new arts and entertainment venues such as galleries, movie theaters, and restaurants fueled this rebirth, followed by a host of new residential developments with many more in the planning stages.

Because of its history, Downtown is a primer of 20th Century architectural styles, from Craftsman to Mediterranean Revival, from Art Deco to Modern. The National Register Historic District covers much of the neighborhood and includes over 400 structures.

Organizations/programs

The Downtown Neighborhood Association was incorporated in 1993 as the Mirror Lake Neighborhood Association, and covered the area between Central Avenue and 5th Avenue, from 4th Street N to Martin Luther King Street N. In 1998, the organization was renamed North Downtown and expanded its boundaries east to Tampa Bay. In 2004 it merged with University Park to include all of downtown. The association is a member of the Council of Neighborhood Associations (CONA). Association meetings are held on the second Thursdays of January, April, July and October at the Sunshine Center, 330 5th Street North.

Boundaries

5th Avenue South to 5th Avenue North from Tampa Bay to Martin Luther King Street North.