{"id":14272,"date":"2026-05-18T18:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/?p=14272"},"modified":"2026-05-18T18:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:55:00","slug":"619-unit-skyway-marina-apartment-project-cleared-to-move-forward-after-appeal-denied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/?p=14272","title":{"rendered":"619-unit Skyway Marina apartment project cleared to move forward after appeal denied"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alton Skyway, a 619-unit dwelling group proposed for the Skyway Marina District in St. pete | kolter multifamily<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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St. Petersburg City Council denied an appeal last Thursday hard a beforehand well-liked 619-unit dwelling vogue identified as Alton Skyway within the Skyway Marina District, allowing the challenge to scramble forward.<\/p>\n

The appeal failed in a 6-1 vote, with Councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders casting the lone vote supporting the appeal. Councilmember Brandi Gabbard modified into as soon as absent.<\/p>\n

The challenge, proposed by developer Kolter Multifamily<\/a>, will likely be constructed on a 17.25-acre property at 3200 thirty fourth Avenue South<\/strong>, changing a extinct St. Petersburg College<\/a> public security practicing property with eight five-epic dwelling constructions.<\/p>\n

The foremost section of vogue will encompass 342 flats all over four constructions on the southern portion of the design, whereas section two will add the final 277 models in four extra constructions on the northern portion of the property.<\/p>\n

The group will maintain one-, two-, and three-bedroom flats ranging from 618 to 1,322 square feet.<\/p>\n

At elephantine buildout, the advance will grasp 883 parking areas, exceeding the minimal requirement of 775 areas.<\/p>\n

Plans additionally living aside a one-acre outparcel on the southwest corner of the property for a future 5,000-square-foot industrial building, though no retail home is currently incorporated within the well-liked design plot.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Alton skyway will likely be developed on a 17.25-acre design currently dwelling to the St. Petersburg College Allstate Campus | Google Maps<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The appeal modified into as soon as filed by Frank Guerra of Altis Cardinal<\/a>, the developer within the wait on of the blended-exhaust Sky City<\/a> challenge all over thirty fourth Avenue South. <\/p>\n

Sky City will bring 2,084 flats, 69,000 square feet of retail anchored by a now not too prolonged within the past opened Sprouts Farmers Market, and 120,000 square feet of self-storage to the district\u2014making it the placement\u2019s largest blended-exhaust vogue.<\/p>\n

Guerra argued Kolter\u2019s proposal conflicted with the Skyway Marina District Concept<\/a>, which City Council adopted in 2015 to book redevelopment alongside the hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re dissatisfied that the City Council didn\u2019t follow the very plot that they adopted themselves in 2015,\u201d Guerra stated in a dialog with St. Pete Rising<\/em>.<\/p>\n

At the center of the dispute modified into as soon as whether the challenge will have to were required to encompass retail alongside thirty fourth Avenue South, the same to some different dwelling traits well-liked within the district over the last decade.<\/p>\n

At some level of the hearing, Guerra argued every outdated market-price multifamily challenge well-liked within the district incorporated retail substances and accused the metropolis of applying varied standards to Kolter\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u200d The positioning plot for Alton skyway | kolter multifamily<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Guerra additionally challenged the challenge\u2019s impervious surface ratio calculations. <\/p>\n

Impervious surface ratio measures how considerable of a property is roofed by surfaces that prevent water from soaking into the flooring. <\/p>\n

Guerra argued the advance\u2019s stormwater pond must peaceable count as impervious surface on fable of it is designed to keep water. If counted that scheme, he stated the challenge would exceed the utmost ratio allowed below the design\u2019s zoning.<\/p>\n

City workers and the applicant\u2019s engineering group disagreed, sustaining the pond capabilities as section of the design\u2019s stormwater design and complies with metropolis guidelines.<\/p>\n

Planning workers all as soon as more and all as soon as more emphasised at some level of the hearing that multifamily housing is well-liked by lovely below the design\u2019s Retail Center (RC-1) zoning designation and that the challenge met all relevant vogue standards, in conjunction with density, peak, parking, and impervious surface necessities.<\/p>\n

Group additionally argued that whereas the Skyway Marina District Concept encourages blended-exhaust vogue and retail activation, the plot itself modified into as soon as adopted as a guiding framework rather than a binding land vogue legislation.<\/p>\n

Approved skilled Elise Batsel of Stearns Weaver Miller, representing Kolter, pushed wait on on the appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s name it what it is \u2014 a competitor seeking to decelerate residences from being constructed all over the highway. Duration,\u201d Batsel stated.<\/p>\n

Batsel additionally infamous that the challenge intentionally offers a varied kind of housing product now not realized in loads of of the district\u2019s more moderen traits.<\/p>\n

As an alternative of structured parking garages and podium-vogue building, the proposal relies on massive surface parking areas, which Batsel stated would enable rents to come wait on in roughly $300 to $500 decrease monthly than nearby projects.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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alton skyway wll provide one, two and three-bedroom flats | kolter multifamily<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Supporters of the challenge all as soon as more and all as soon as more pointed to the metropolis\u2019s rising housing shortage at some level of public comment.<\/p>\n

Plenty of Stetson University College of Legislation students spoke in prefer of the challenge, describing the challenge of finding doable housing come campus and at some level of St. Pete.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur group is lacking a third risk, the heart flooring between each and each ends of the spectrum,\u201d stated Aliyah Shriver at some level of public comment. \u201cThis challenge and the revitalization of thirty fourth Avenue as a entire gives the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others strongly opposed the proposal, in conjunction with representatives of the Skyway Marina District organization<\/a>, who argued the advance falls fast of the district\u2019s prolonged-term vision for a walkable blended-exhaust hall anchored by retail and group areas.<\/p>\n

District president Frank Marsalisi warned that approving the challenge may well well likely bear a precedent for future builders to assist some distance from retail altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as the challenge\u2019s constructed, the metropolis has lost its leverage to in finding plod any kind of meaningful blended-exhaust activation even occurs,\u201d Marsalisi stated at some level of the hearing.<\/p>\n

Figgs-Sanders echoed a few of these issues before casting the sole vote supporting the appeal. <\/p>\n

She puzzled whether \u201cmarket-price\u201d flats in actual fact take care of affordability components within the placement and criticized what she considered as inadequate outreach to nearby neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hear market price a few times, market price in my book manner my puny one is peaceable at dwelling on fable of he can\u2019t give you the money for market price,\u201d Figgs-Sanders stated.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The property is currently dwelling to St. pete College\u2019s Allstate Campus that can perhaps well likely also neutral be demolished to in finding scheme for the dwelling challenge | CoStar<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Plenty of different councilmembers within the extinguish sided with metropolis workers and the Trend Overview Rate, which had beforehand well-liked the challenge in a 5-1 vote on March 4th<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Copley Gerdes stated the challenge aligned with the metropolis\u2019s zoning code and broader housing dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ideal technique to in finding models more more cost effective is one of two recommendations,\u201d Gerdes stated at some level of the hearing. \u201cBoth the demand goes down or other folks come in and add to our stock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under metropolis code, overturning the Trend Overview Rate\u2019s approval required a supermajority vote of City Council, a threshold the appeal failed to reach.<\/p>\n

Following the vote, Guerra stated he remains concerned about what the risk may well well likely imply for future vogue at some level of the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bother is the differential remedy,\u201d Guerra stated after the hearing. \u201cYou handled five projects one scheme and a sixth challenge comes alongside and also you\u2019re treating them in every other case.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the denial of the appeal by a majority vote, Kolter will scramble forward with closing on the property later this 300 and sixty five days. The developer has had the design below contract since October 2024 for $26 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whereas Alton Skyway is being developed by Kolter Multifamily, one other division of Kolter Community, Kolter Urban, is more healthy identified in St. Pete for growing downtown home towers in conjunction with ONE St. Petersburg<\/a>, Saltaire<\/a>, and Work Dwelling<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Kolter additionally now not too prolonged within the past purchased the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront hotel<\/a> in downtown St. Pete for $96 million.<\/p>\n

Kolter Urban is additionally within the wait on of Corey Touchdown<\/a>, a proposed blended-exhaust waterfront vogue in St. Pete Seaside that can characteristic 133 luxury condominiums, 11,000 square feet of retail and restaurant dwelling, a public park, and public dock dwelling.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alton Skyway, a 619-unit dwelling group proposed for the Skyway Marina District in St. pete | kolter multifamily St. Petersburg City Council denied an appeal last Thursday hard a beforehand well-liked 619-unit dwelling vogue identified as Alton Skyway within the Skyway Marina District, allowing the challenge to scramble forward. The appeal failed in a 6-1…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unit","category-main"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeteobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}