Affordable artist housing may be coming to St. Pete’s Warehouse Arts District

ST. PETERSBURG — Good news could be on the horizon for St. Petersburg artists looking for sustainable housing. The Warehouse Arts District Association wants to build 40-60 units on a piece of property it owns within the district, with about 50 percent of them having studios attached to them, said board president Mark Aeling.

The Warehouse Arts District Association operates the ArtsXchange, a compound of galleries and studios at 515 22nd St. S.

After years of providing affordable artist studios, the next logical step is to provide sustainable housing where they can live and work, said executive director Markus Gottschlich.

The property is located at 2275 Sixth Ave. S. and backs up to the Pinellas Trail.

Aeling said the project will cost around $15 million and they are looking to partner with the city, state and a philanthropic developer to “bring together a financial structure that will make this happen.”

But nothing can happen until the area is rezoned from general industrial to industrial mixed-use, to include residential spaces. The zoning changes for the area have been in the works for about five years, but are expected to go through during a final public hearing the first week of September, said board member Joe Furst.

Furst is the founder of Place Projects, a Miami-based real estate development company that played a huge role in the redevelopment of the Wynwood area of Miami from a warehouse district to a trendy, mural-rich neighborhood.

In 2019, Furst bought about nine acres of land for redevelopment along 22nd Street S., from First to Sixth avenues, within the bounds of the Warehouse Arts District.

He approached the association, Aeling said, and was upfront about wanting to incorporate the goals of the community into his plans, so that the development that was inevitably coming would “raise all boats.”

“It became clear, after a couple of years of doing this, that Joe had our back,” Aeling said. “He’s having these meetings with other developers and with the city and going through the ridiculous amount of legwork that he’s done through this process. He has not lost sight of keeping the creative community in the mix.”

Furst said that someone with development expertise, not necessarily an actual developer, could help get the project going as long as the capital is there.

“The end owners should be the organization and be able to control their destiny without somebody else meddling in their business,” Furst said.