Advocacy

It’s not every day that you see a 100-year-old mansion being driven down the street. But that’s exactly what downtown residents encountered in the early morning hours this past Sunday as the Historic Bay Gables home at 136 4th Avenue NE was loaded onto a massive flatbed truck, destined to make history in a new neighborhood ten blocks away.

In the 1960s, the Polish American Society of St. Petersburg, anchored in their clubhouse at 1343 Beach Dr. SE, welcomed Polish-American baseball players in town for Spring Training. Over on 13th Avenue South, the Melrose Clubhouse was home to the “Colored YMCA,” a meeting place for the first Black Boy Scout troop and the local NAACP.

In an effort to help one understand the historic district designation process Preserve the 'Burg offers the following answers to frequently asked questions. Why would a neighborhood want to become a local historic district? Neighborhood character or feel is an important factor attracting people to neighborhoods.

The Edge District is booming. This district, spanning the corridor along Central and the 1st Avenues and between MLK & 16th Streets, is home to both historic buildings and new developments. Recently, the city approved two projects for large new developments in the Edge. PTB, working with the Edge District Business Association, was successful in improving the design of both of these projects, including the reuse of a historic building that was originally proposed for demolition.