{"id":261404,"date":"2026-05-07T00:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261404\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T00:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:36:11","slug":"former-playhouse-theater-site-eyed-for-affordable-housing-project-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261404\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Playhouse Theater Site Eyed For Affordable Housing Project: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, FL \u2014 A 12-story, 150-unit affordable housing tower has been proposed for the former Playhouse Theater property, which is just over a century old, in St. Petersburg\u2019s Grand Central District, according to St. Pete Rising<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Tampa-based Blue Sky Communities has the 0.61-acre site at 1850 Central Ave. and 1833 1st Ave. South, next to the Interstate 275 overpass, under contract for $6.25 million, with the deal expected to close in March 2027, the report said. <\/p>\n

Plans call for a project tentatively named JR Tower with 3,000 square feet of commercial space.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting affordable and workforce housing in downtown St. Pete is becoming increasingly difficult so this is an opportunity that doesn\u2019t present itself often,\u201d Blue Sky\u2019s vice president and CFO Scott Macdonald told St. Pete Rising, adding, \u201cI hope it will alleviate a lot of the challenges this area is seeing for staffing businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue Sky has developed other affordable housing projects in the city, including at Skyway Lofts in the Skyway Marina District.<\/p>\n

In the late 1960s, the theater became known for showing adult films, before it was bought by a youth minister who turned the space into a teen nightclub called Papa\u2019s Dream, the St. Pete Catalyst said. <\/p>\n

During the 1980s, the building was home to several dinner theaters, followed by Extra Inning Ballpark Cafe and a hip-hop-focused martini bar called Concert Central, the profile said. <\/p>\n

After this, the building sat empty for years. <\/p>\n

It was purchased by an investment company, the Nahakama Group, in 2016, who gave the facade an upgrade, including a black-and-white Marilyn Monroe mural painted during the 2018 SHINE Mural Festival, and put the property on the market. <\/p>\n

Urologist Dr. Reid Graves and his colleague Dr. Nicholas Laryngakis bought both parcels currently being considered for the affordable housing development, as well as two vacant lots to the west, for $2.7 million in 2021, reports said. <\/p>\n

For a time, Graves considered knocking the theater down and building an office on the site, St. Pete Catalyst said in a separate article<\/a>. <\/p>\n

While demolition and building permits were submitted to the city, the project never transpired, reports said. <\/p>\n

Are you a local business owner? Post a business listing on Patch! It\u2019s an easy way to reach a local audience and connect with customers close to home. Go here<\/a> to get started today.<\/p>\n

See Also: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, FL \u2014 A 12-story, 150-unit affordable housing tower has been proposed for the former Playhouse Theater…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-261404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}