Commercial Truck Insurance in Saint Petersburg, FL

Developer and St. Petersburg native Fred Hemmer discusses the challenges that lie ahead for builders.

By

Published Oct. 24, 2023

Close

Get unlimited digital access for $11.75 99¢.

Enjoy the many benefits of a Tampa Bay Times digital subscription.

tampabay.com

e-Newspaper

e-Newsletter

App

Support local journalism and pursue the truth. Access Now!

LIMITED-TIME OFFERCancel anytime.

Subscriber Log In | Privacy Policy

Driving east on Central Avenue into downtown St. Petersburg, it’s hard to ignore the signs of growth. Cranes, scaffoldings and fenced off lots boasting “coming soon” signs seem to line every block.

Fred Hemmer, 69, can remember a time when this sort of activity would have been unthinkable. The banker turned real estate investor turned developer grew up in the city and is now making his mark on downtown with Reflection, a mid-rise luxury condo overlooking Mirror Lake.

In just the past five years, the city of St. Petersburg has approved at least 32 major multi-family projects like this one, building permit records show. But as the economy slows, could this construction boom come to a screeching halt?

In this interview, Hemmer discusses the evolution of St. Petersburg’s urban core and the challenges that lie ahead for developers.

Instead of specializing in one type of development, you’re working on a wide variety of projects. Can you talk about that?

We have Reflection which is our most well known project in downtown St. Petersburg. It’s a condo we’re building with 18 stories and 88 units.

We’re also in the affordable housing side of the business too. We’re getting ready to break ground on a 264 unit project on 34th St and Fairfield Avenue South in St. Petersburg. Actual construction should start there in the next several months.

We also do lot development work, primarily for DR Horton. They’re the nation’s largest homebuilder and we have five projects underway in the Tampa Bay area where we’re developing lots for single family homes.

What are the challenges that come with each of those different sides of development: luxury, affordable and single family?

Probably the hardest part of developing luxury is selling. You have to go out and find the buyers for luxury units.

For the affordable units, selling or renting is not a problem. They fill up quickly. There the challenge is the cost. Our construction costs are so high. Without grants from the city or the county, it would be impossible to make those deals work.

For single family, in Pinellas County pretty much any single family lot you can develop, you can sell. The challenge is finding the single family lots. We’re the densest county in the state. And when I look around, I think about our projects, they’re just unusual pieces of land that we’ve been able to put together here and there. The days of going out to the farmer and buying 40 acres of clear land and putting in 200 lots, that’s not happening in Pinellas County anymore.

Follow trends affecting the local economy

Subscribe to our free Business by the Bay newsletter

We’ll break down the latest business and consumer news and insights you need to know every Wednesday.

Loading...

The other big area of concern in all areas is insurance. On Reflection, in the last two months before we closed on the project and started it, our insurance cost tripled from what the budget was. In Tallahassee, there’s going to be a lot of attention to this situation in the next session.

We’ve seen a ton of projects spring up in St. Petersburg in the past five years. Do you expect that trend to continue?

When you look around at the skyline and you see the cranes, all those projects started probably four or five years ago. It takes that long to bring something to actual construction.

Things have changed since then. It’s more difficult to get the financing. You’ve seen the cancellation of some projects because of that. At that same time, there’s rising construction costs. So how are people going to make those numbers work?

Something has to change, in my opinion, before we see another round of projects like we’ve seen in the past three, four years. It’s just not sustainable with the costs right now.

On the other hand, we have people moving into this state and creating demand for housing and different things. But I don’t know if that can bring the selling prices or rental prices up enough to support the current costs that developers are facing.

As it becomes more challenging to build in the city, what kinds of deals will continue to be successful?

When you look at [Tropicana Field] and the commitment there for long term development, that might be a situation where it’s less risky because of the $6.5 billion investment that’s planned there over the next ten years. So maybe we’ll see more things popping up around there though I’m speculating.

For us, we’re moving more toward the development of single family lots for builders and affordable housing.

With affordable, there will continue to be funds available through public grant programs. These agencies like the Pinellas Housing Authority are sitting on this money and they need to deploy it into good projects.

Some people might be happy to hear you say that you expect some of that growth downtown to slow. What would you say to those people who have concerns about the rapid rate of development?

I’ve lived in St. Petersburg my whole life so I’ve seen the change. I personally like the changes but I can understand why some people don’t like it because the city isn’t the same as it was back then.

People need to understand that as new people move into the city, they need places to live. Whether that’s luxury or middle level or affordable. We have to accommodate that.

I think it’s important that people understand that we’re trying to do development responsibly. I think the city of St. Petersburg is doing a very good job with that as far as their planning goes.

Not everybody’s going to be happy with the change but it’s happening.

Things may be slowing down in the short term, but where do you think the city is headed in the long term? What will St. Petersburg look like 10 years from now?

I think St. Petersburg is a world-class city.

Not many cities have the waterfront like we do. The founders protected that green space along the water. You don’t usually see that, especially so close to downtown.

To me, it’s just too nice of a place to have growth be stagnant for long. It may not be as fast of a pace as we’ve seen in the last five years but I’m confident it will continue to grow.

Up next:Former Tampa home of Derek Jeter, Tom Brady to be torn down and rebuilt

Even though Florida isn’t in the sweet spot in the middle of the country where folks can witness a total solar eclipse on April 8, we will still experience a partial eclipse that day, and there are some viewing parties planned in the Tampa Bay area.

There will be a celebration on Clearwater Beach, an educational setup at St. Petersburg College and special solar telescopes available at Tampa’s Museum of Science and Industry, among others. Just be sure to have safety in mind and protect your eyes, scientists warn.

Between about 12:30 and 4:30 p.m. that day, the path of the eclipse will move from Mexico and proceed northwest across the United States. The moon is going to pass in front of the sun, bringing a few minutes of darkness similar to dusk.

Prime viewing will be in a swath across the Midwest, including the cities of Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo and Montreal. But we won’t be totally left out in Florida.

“Here in St. Petersburg, we will see a partial eclipse, with 65% of the sun covered by the moon at eclipse maximum,” said St. Petersburg College professor Craig Joseph, who heads SPC’s planetarium. “Because only a portion of the sun will be covered, this unique event can be viewed only if special precautions are taken to reduce the sun’s brilliance to safe levels.”

The college will host a viewing of the eclipse on April 8 between 1:30 and 4 p.m., where they will supply eclipse viewers and telescopes with solar filters. They will be set up in the “quad” area of the St. Petersburg/Gibbs campus, near the southwest entrance of the West St. Petersburg Library at 6700 Eighth Ave. N.

Joseph said the bay area will notice things changing at 1:43 p.m. when the moon first touches the sun’s disk.

“Over the next 77 minutes, more and more of the sun will be covered by the moon, with mid-eclipse occurring just before 3 p.m.,” Joseph said, adding that the last of it will end at 4:14 p.m.

Visit St. Pete/Clearwater and the Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival will team up for a special viewing party on Clearwater Beach. Beachgoers can pick up free eclipse glasses at the Visit St. Pete/Clearwater booth at the Sugar Sand Festival starting at noon.

“It is bound to create a special viewing experience during our picturesque springtime sunshine,” an announcement said.

Planning your weekend?

Subscribe to our free Top 5 things to do newsletter

We’ll deliver ideas every Thursday for going out, staying home or spending time outdoors.

Loading...

The Sugar Sand Festival, an annual sand sculpting event that runs March 29-April 14, will have a special live sand sculpting display that day to celebrate the total solar eclipse.

“The eclipse gives us the perfect opportunity to host a unique watch party,” said Steve Grimes, chief marketing office for the Visit St. Pete/Clearwater tourism bureau.

The Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa will host a Solar Eclipse Celebration in its outdoor Science Park on April 8 from 1:30-4 p.m. that is included with MOSI admission. They will supply sun-safe solar telescopes with guidance from MOSI astronomers at 4801 E Fowler Ave., Tampa.

There will also be hands-on eclipse activities led by educators in the Primary Colors Amphitheatre, and worldwide live streams of the eclipse will be on televisions in the museum. And at the eclipse viewing in Science Park, guests can view the eclipse with glasses that can be purchased for $5.

Because the moon is closer to Earth than it was during the 2017 solar eclipse, it will appear slightly larger, resulting in a prolonged period of totality and darkness, NASA points out. The 2017 event lasted around 2 minutes and 40 seconds, while the 2024 eclipse will result in a prolonged period of totality and darkness closer to 4 minutes depending on your location.

“In Florida, we’re not in the path of totality, but we will certainly see a change if we view the sun safely,” said MOSI educator José Cotayo. “From our point of view in Tampa Bay, the moon will block more than 60% of the sun’s solar disk. Remember, it’s never safe to look directly at the sun — even during an eclipse — without appropriate safety gear.”

Other viewing parties in the area include:

Safety Harbor Public Library: There will be a viewing party at Safety Harbor Waterfront Park from 1:30-4 p.m. The library will be passing out free eclipse glasses. 105 Veterans Memorial Lane, Safety Harbor.

Hillsborough County Public libraries: There are multiple libraries streaming the eclipse from NASA TV from 1-3:15 p.m. including: John F. Germany Public Library, SouthShore Regional Library, Egypt Lake Partnership Library. In addition, library programs include:

Seminole Community Library: Bring chairs, blankets and make a picnic to watch the eclipse behind the library at the St. Petersburg College Seminole Campus, 9200 113th St. N. One pair of eclipse glasses per person for ages 3 and up while supplies last.

Crescent Lake Park: Great Explorations Children’s Museum is hosting a Solar Eclipse Day in which they will explore outer space from inside its planetarium starting at 10:30 a.m. and witness the eclipse in person across the street at Crescent Lake Park starting at 2:45 p.m. (weather permitting). Admission is $12; $15 for age 1-17. 1925 Fourth St. N., St. Petersburg.

A lifelong Tampa Bay Rays fan and apparel designer is combining his passions to honor the late Rays radio broadcaster Dave Wills.

"Everyone loves t-shirts," Matt Shapiro says. "Every sports fan you know will buy a new shirt for every season."

This year, however, Shapiro is doing some of his finest work.

When Shapiro, who owns 1771 Designs, heard about the passing of longtime Rays radio broadcaster Dave Wills, the St. Pete native wanted to honor the voice he grew up listening to.

"I listened to Dave from 2005 and on," Matt recalls. "When suddenly he passed, I knew I had to do something."

With the Wills family's blessing, Matt created a shirt for charity using one of Dave's most iconic calls printed on the front.

"He brought us so many memories from 2008 on," said Matt. "He impacted the Rays community in so many ways."

Now, Shapiro is updating his design with the help of Dave's daughter, Michelle.

"She kept telling me what she wanted, what her mom wanted and what the family wanted," said Shapiro.

Only this time, Michelle and Matt decided not to feature just one of Dave's iconic calls, but all of them.

Inside the outline of home plate on the back of Matt's design, he and Michelle Wills selected phrases Rays fans have come to love over the years.

"I want people to see the shirts and say 'Oh yeah! I remember that call.' Or ‘Gosh, I can hear his voice just reading the shirt,’" said Shapiro.

The point of the shirt, however, isn't to further Matt's business, but to help another while honoring Dave's memory.

That is why all proceeds from the shirt sales will go directly to an organization Dave loved, Buddy Baseball.

"My dad loved it, and my mom and I want to keep it going. It's a great organization," Michelle Wills said.

Last year, Shapiro and the Wills family raised around three thousand dollars for Buddy Baseball through the shirt's sales. This year, they are trying to double that.

It might be a t-shirt printed for a good cause, but it also reminds many of what Dave Wills meant to the community.

"That was my biggest fear: that all of Tampa Bay would forget Dave," said Liz Wills, Dave's widow.

Now, thanks to a few mouse clicks, and some printing presses, Dave Wills' memory continues to live on with every shirt purchased.

With the recent announcement that beloved pizza food truck La Strada is in discussion to open its first brick-and-mortar location at the new retail and residential development at 4350 6th Street South near Coquina Key, the future is looking bright for the island that has seen its share of ups and downs throughout history.

The proposed redevelopment of the former Coquina Key Plaza by Stoneweg US recalls the optimism of 1957, when the shopping center was created by Publix Markets to cater to the growing population of nearby Coquina Key. Then, like now, St. Petersburg was experiencing a surge of popularity, with thousands of new residents moving to the Sunshine City and previously under-developed areas undergoing rapid transformation.

ADVERTISEMENT

Coquina Key was once known as Lewis Island

This island known today as Coquina Key was originally called Lewis Island, after Edson Lewis, an early St. Pete grocer and banker who purchased the land in 1910. He platted a subdivision called Lewiston, but gave up on selling lots by 1913, realizing the area was too far out of town, with no access to utilities. At that time the area was not an island at all, but rather a peninsula. Developer Charles Hall, who created Lakewood Estates on nearby Lake Maggiore, dredged a channel through the peninsula in 1923, creating a need for a bridge at 45th Avenue South to reach the “new” island. When the 1920s land boom went bust in 1926, the potential for development of Lewis Island vanished, along with the money and dreams of real estate developers.

The island remained little more than a popular place for picnickers until 1955, when the Mackle Company, three brothers who had become the largest developers in the South and the ninth-largest home builders in the nation, bought 350 acres of Lewis island to build a development modeled after their successful Key Biscayne project in Miami. It was boom-time once again in the Sunshine City, and the Mackles planned to build 1,400 homes on Lewis Island, adding a second bridge at 39th Avenue S to accommodate the expected flood of buyers. They even named the main road in the neighborhood after themselves…Elkcam Blvd is Mackle spelled backward.

FHA and VA loans were allowing an increasing number of white, middle-class families to make a down payment on homes in the post-war period, and during the decade of the 1950s, 47,000 houses were built in St. Petersburg. Optimism was high for Lewis Island.

ADVERTISEMENT

Publix bets on the boom

Anticipating the thousands of hungry new residents of Lewis Island, Publix Super Markets Inc. paid $115,000 in January of 1956 for a 17-acre tract of land between 42nd and 45th Avenues South and 4th and 6th Streets South, just across the bridge from Lewis Island, with plans to build “a shopping center to end all shopping centers”.

Shortly afterward, the Mackle brothers sold their interests on Lewis Island to Irving Green, having built only 200 of the 1,400 houses they promised. Starting in 1957, Green built several hundred more homes on the island, but his most lasting contribution was renaming the island, which he did as a publicity stunt to attract attention to his new development. Green’s renaming contest, which promised a 15-day cruise to the West Indies as a prize for the winner, attracted more than 7,000 entries, with Caribee Key and Memorare Island coming in as second and third choice behind the winning name, Coquina Key. Early pioneer resident Florence Bethell Loader summed up the general population’s dismal opinion of the new name “When a child and in my early teens, I used to gather oysters, clams, scallops, and crabs all around Lewis Island. I still have yet to see the first Coquina shell on Lewis Island.”

Southside Shopping Center grows

The Publix Supermarket was up and running by February of 1958, with just one other business on the property – the popular Nagle’s Bakery, which offered 12 different types of bread baked fresh daily, along with a variety of pastries, donuts, cakes, pies, and cookies. By 1959 Publix decided to expand the shopping center with an additional 18 stores.

On opening day in March of 1960, the St. Petersburg Times ran an eight-page spread advertising the businesses in the newly named Southside Shopping Center. The new stores were almost exclusively national or regional chains. They included Kresge’s Variety store (which boasted of its 3,000 square feet of counter space designed by “average sized women” rather than “tall men”) DeSears Appliance Store, Leed’s Shoe Store, Toy King (with a full line of hobby and game equipment and a store staffed by teenagers) FreMac’s Ready to Wear Mens’ Store, and Diana Shops womens’ store. When their newly purchased ready-to-wear clothes were dirty, nearby residents could take them either to the laundromat or the dry cleaners in the Southside Shopping Center and while they waited, could get their hair done at Joseph’s Hair Fashions or the Esquire Barber Shop.

The boom goes bust

By the early 1960s, the post-war real estate boom was going bust. Homeowners, on the hook for just a small down payment under FHA and VA guaranteed loans, simply mailed their keys in to the mortgage company and walked away. Pinellas County was one of the hardest hit in the state, with 2,000 foreclosures in 1963 alone. Coquina Key became a graveyard of vacant, foreclosed houses, 145 of them by 1965.

FHA efforts to end the foreclosure crisis and promotional publicity from new landowner Frank Stumm brought buyers back to Coquina Key by the late 1960s. Early attempts to build apartments on the island had faced tremendous opposition in the 1960s, but by 1972 the Mahaffey family managed to sway public opinion in favor of bringing more residents to the forlorn island. In 1972 the Mahaffeys built the first of two apartment complexes known as the Coquina Key Arms. The second was built in 1979, bringing a total of 1,006 rental units to the island. In 2006 those 1,006 apartments were converted into 912 condominium units with a new name: Waterside at Coquina Key.

Southside Shopping Center becomes Coquina Key Plaza

In 1993 the Southside Shopping Center received a $400,000 facelift and a new name, becoming the Coquina Key Plaza. Publix was still its anchor tenant, but as consumer trends changed so did the other stores in the plaza, with Pic-n-Pay shoes, Simply 6 Fashions, and Aaron’s Rental moving in.

By the year 2000, Publix announced that its Coquina Key Plaza store was losing money and would shut its doors for good, much to the chagrin of adjacent neighbors. It accelerated a downward trend for the shopping plaza that left nearby residents without a grocery store and attracted undesirable activity to the area.

Stoneweg buys plaza

Developer Stoneweg bought the former Coquina Key Plaza in 2021 and is preparing to break ground on a new residential and retail development within the next few months. It will be a full circle moment for an area whose development has progressed in fits and starts for more than 100 years. The lovely sea breezes and striking views of the former peninsula once known as Lewis Island have always attracted hopeful residents who appreciate its proximity to downtown and its relative affordability. Today, Coquina Key and the new residential and retail development coming to its shores are poised to fulfill the promise that its residents and developers have always known it had.

What to read next:

ST. PETERSBURG —Flatland Cavalry, a band from Texas playing country and Americana music, will perform on Sunday, April 7, at Jannus Live, 200 First Ave. N., St. Petersburg.

Gates open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $24.50 in advance and $30 at the door. Visit www.jannuslive.com or call 727-565-0550.

Formed in 2014 while attending Texas Tech University, Flatland Cavalry made their presence felt in local songwriting circles and dancehall circuits. Banking on Cordero’s earnest pen and the band’s blend of country instrumentation, toe-tapping grooves, and earworm choruses, Flatland quickly became a regional sensation.

What started as an early and catchy descriptor — "Easy on the ears, heavy on the heart" — slowly turned into a motto of sorts for the band. All these years later, it's remained the tried-and-true pulsing heart of Flatland. Even all these years later, that’s still the foundation on which Flatland begins and builds their albums.

While the roster of collaborative confidants and colleagues (Spencer Cullum, Jim Hoke, Billy Justineau, Hailey Whitters, and Kaitlin Butts) has continued to expand with Flatland’s sound stride for stride, Countryland isn’t a cut and paste effort with Nashville studio musicians. Rather, it finds the rootsy Texans delivering their A-game due to countless tour runs zig-zagging across the country and becoming seasoned performers and musicians.

The Texas sextet — bandleader and chief lyricist Cleto Cordero, guitarist Reid Dillon, bassist Jonathan Saenz, drummer Jason Albers, fiddle player Wesley Hall, and recent newcomer utility instrumentalist Adam Gallegos — continue to embrace their trademark sound while further pushing into the wild unknown. When it was time to embark on recording a new album, resting on their laurels was simply out of the realm of possibilities.

CLEARWATER — Grammy winning band Alabama will perform Friday, April 5, 7 p.m., at The Sound at Coachman Park, 255 Drew St, Clearwater.

Tickets start at $49.50. Visit www.rutheckerdhall.com.

It’s been over 40 years since Jeff Cook, Teddy Gentry, and Randy Owen left the cotton farms of Fort Payne, Alabama, to spend the summer playing in a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, bar called the Bowery. Word of mouth eventually earned the band a major label deal. In 1980, the band broke through with their first Top 20 hit, “My Home’s in Alabama.”

Alabama introduced rock style guitars, lights, pyrotechnics and sounds to the country audience.

"We were renegades in sneakers and T-shirts," said Teddy. "We had long hair and played loud and some of the country folks resisted us for a while. But then of course they did accept us and then after that, our success made it lots easier for other bands to try it in country music."

The band has sold more than 80 million albums, has charted 43 No. 1 singles including 21 No. 1 singles in a row, has won over 200 industry awards and has earned 21 gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums. It’s in the Country Music Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

They are also world-class philanthropists who have raised over $250 million for charity.

Special guest Diamond Rio will open for Alabama.

Selling more than 6.8 million albums and surpassing over 1.05 billion global streams, Diamond Rio is known for making timeless country music for over 30 years. The group has charted 20 Top 10 singles, 15 Top 5 singles, and seven No. 1 singles. Their songs “Big,” “Appalachian Dream” and “Poultry Promenade” all received Grammy nominations for Best Country Instrumental Performance.

Following their Arista Nashville deal, the band released two albums with Word Records — their Christmas album, “The Star Still Shines,” and their Dove and Grammy-winning Christian Country album, “The Reason.”

Al Stewart & The Empty Pockets

Friday, March 29, 8 p.m.

Capitol Theatre, Clearwater.

Visit www.rutheckerdhall.com.

The Artimus Pyle Band

Friday, March 29, 8 p.m.

Central Park Performing Arts Center, Largo.

Visit LargoArts.com.

Indigenous

Friday, March 29, 7:30 p.m.

Safety Harbor Art & Music Center, Safety Harbor.

Visit www.safetyharborartandmusiccenter.com.

Descendents

Friday, March 29, 7 p.m.

Jannus Live, St. Petersburg.

Visit www.jannuslive.com.

Christian Lopez

Saturday, March 30, 7 p.m.

Music4Life Living Arts Center, Clearwater.

Visit wileyhouseconcerts.org.

Kream

Saturday, March 30, 10 p.m.

The Ritz, Tampa.

Visit theritzybor.com.

“The Underpants”

Through April 21

Early Bird Dinner Theatre, Clearwater.

Visit www.earlybirddinnertheater.com.

“The Beauty Queen of Leenane”

Through April 7

Straz Center, Tampa.

Visit strazcenter.org.