{"id":9943,"date":"2025-10-18T15:29:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T15:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/9943\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T15:29:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T15:29:35","slug":"developer-plans-to-transform-st-pete-parking-garage-roof-into-rare-dinosaur-skeletons-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/9943\/","title":{"rendered":"Developer plans to transform St. Pete parking garage roof into rare dinosaur skeleton\u2019s home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dinosaur <\/p>\n

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – St. Pete<\/a> is stepping into prehistoric times as a 76-million-year-old Gorgosaurus is moving in on the roof of a new parking garage on Central Ave.<\/p>\n

“Central Ave is one of the most special downtown main avenues in Florida,” Casey Ellison, CEO of Ellison Companies, said. “So, why not give Central Ave. and its collectiveness a dinosaur? I mean, it sounds like a great idea,” he said.<\/p>\n

The 540-spot parking garage that\u2019s now open in the Edge District is the first of a few buildings planned for The Central, a mixed-use development.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

A 140,000 square foot office building with modern amenities, 168-room hotel, 42 workforce housing apartments and 14,000 square feet of shops and gathering spaces will go up around it.<\/p>\n

The developers decided to give people living and working there a view of something other than a typical parking garage.<\/p>\n

“Our goal, and when we develop real estate is to leave the community in a better place after we are done than before. And so, when we were looking at the 3D modeling of the project, it’s not very attractive and probably not leaving the community in a place where everybody’s looking at a parking garage with cars,” Ellison said. “So, we changed the design at the last minute and included a one-acre urban park which then we figured was a really great place to house a dinosaur, so we were going to include the Gorgosaurus here in the park.”<\/p>\n

READ: Florida woman fights off gator after being attacked while walking dog<\/a><\/p>\n

The nine-foot-tall, 27-foot-long dino is pretty rare. The company says it\u2019s one of just 20 worldwide, and the only one that\u2019s privately owned.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“It’s part of my partner’s Sidd Pagidipati\u2019s collection. He’s actively buying dinosaurs due to his passion as a child. It really kind of spurred an interest into STEM activities and learning, and he wants to go in and take these private dinosaurs out of private collection and put them into the public,” Ellison said.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t their first time-sharing the fossil collection. Big John, the world\u2019s largest triceratops skeleton, found a home at the Glazer Children\u2019s Museum in Tampa.<\/p>\n

St. Pete\u2019s dino, named Devaiah after Pagidipati\u2019s father, Dr. Devaiah Pagidipati, will be stored in a UV-protected glass case that can withstand up to a category five hurricane.<\/p>\n

Ellison says children\u2019s entry will be free. They\u2019re still figuring out some details when it comes to admission for the rest of the community.<\/p>\n

Devaiah will move in early 2027 when the rest of the development opens.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE:>>> Follow FOX 13 on YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

The Source: This story was written with information provided by Ellison Companies\u2019 CEO.<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg<\/a>Pinellas County<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – St. Pete is stepping into prehistoric times as a 76-million-year-old Gorgosaurus is moving in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[47,115,1157,202,204,203,199,201,200,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-9943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-fl","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-pinellas","11":"tag-st-pete","12":"tag-st-pete-headlines","13":"tag-st-pete-news","14":"tag-st-petersburg","15":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","16":"tag-st-petersburg-news","17":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9943","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=9943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}