Ellison Development has acquired the former St. Petersburg police headquarters site for $6.4 million and is preparing a large-scale mixed-use redevelopment to be known as The Central. The project is planned to combine new office, hotel, residential and retail components on the property, replacing the legacy civic use with a privately led, multi-phase build-out.
Plans for The Central call for a 10-story office tower named Halcyon, a 165-key Autograph Collection hotel, affordable housing and ground-floor retail. According to reporting from the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Halcyon is expected to be delivered within 19 months after vertical construction begins, positioning the office component as one of the earlier phases of the project once the structure starts rising.
The development program also includes 42 affordable housing units, which are on a 16-month construction schedule once work starts. These units are planned alongside the commercial elements, adding a residential component with a defined affordability focus to the overall mixed-use plan. The 165-key Autograph Collection-branded hotel is on a longer timeline, with completion anticipated in approximately two years, reflecting the more complex build-out and interior program typical of a full-service hospitality asset.
Retail space is being incorporated at the base of the office tower, with plans for more than 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. This street-level space is expected to activate the project and serve office users, hotel guests and nearby residents. The hotel is slated to feature a signature restaurant, rooftop experiences and event spaces, adding food-and-beverage and meeting components to the overall mix and broadening the project’s appeal to both local and visiting users.
Construction activity at The Central will be supported by an existing structured parking facility. The 531-space parking garage on the site is already operational and is expected to remain open throughout the redevelopment process. Keeping the garage in service during construction will maintain on-site parking capacity for current users and help support phased activation as different components of the project are delivered.
Taken together, Ellison Development’s acquisition and redevelopment plan for the former police headquarters will convert a single-use civic property into a multi-faceted commercial and residential destination. With defined timelines for the office tower, affordable housing units and hotel, and with parking already in place, the project is positioned to roll out in stages as construction milestones are met.
