Multiple buildings at the corner of 4th Avenue South and 4th Street South have been painted pink as part of an art activation. Some of them were known as the Ventnor Apartments and date back to the 1920s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Valor Capital CEO Moises Agami, it\u2019s a way to celebrate the site\u2019s future. The structures will eventually be knocked down to create room for French furniture designer Roche Bobois\u2019s first branded residential tower in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis pink is really a flash of creativity that is going to give way to the old and bring forth the new,\u201d he explained. \u201cWhat stood here before is being reimagined and recreated into something bold, design driven and really born out of art.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Choosing the color was a reflection of the development that is to come. \u201cIf you look at our designs and renderings, they have a lot of pink and creative colors,\u201d Agami added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to muralist Johnny Vitale of the Vitale Brothers, who is overseeing the effort, pink was also selected to reflect St. Petersburg. The Vinoy downtown and the Don CeSar hotel at St. Pete Beach are both pink.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Local artists will be able to paint designs on the buildings before they are removed, Agami said. A \u201cflash mob\u201d workshop event is scheduled for Saturday (Feb. 21). This work will continue through next week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see what kind of great, crazy ideas they create,\u201d he explained, \u201cbecause we are going to be selecting different murals that are going to be painted inside the (new) building and around the development.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, the workshop is not a competition. Designs will be selected at a later date.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is sort of a way for Valor Capital to acknowledge all of the art talent that\u2019s here,\u201d Vitale said, \u201cand I\u2019m trying to bring the best of the best and let them see samplings of what these artists can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Vitale Brothers will be compensating the artists as part of their budget for the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several of the derelict buildings will be removed as soon as next month. Construction on the Roche Bobois St. Pete Tower project should begin by the summer, Agami said. The 29-story development, which will include 164 units, will take approximately three years to build.\u00a0<\/p>\n