Owners of Crane-Hit St. Petersburg Tower Seek Demolition

One of downtown St. Petersburg’s largest office buildings is going down for the count.

The owners of 490 First Avenue South, a nearly 240,000-square-foot office complex, told city officials they plan to demolish the property after it was heavily damaged by a falling crane during Hurricane Milton in October, the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported.

A spokesperson for the city confirmed that early, informal conversations have taken place, though no demolition permit has been filed.

The owner is listed in property records as an entity tied to Atlanta-based investor Robert Mason, which paid $39.35 million for the property in 2018, about $164 per square foot.

The building, which spans three connected structures built between 1924 and 1988, was gashed open when a construction crane fell from the nearby Residences at 400 Central site. Several floors were left exposed to the elements for months, and even though some tenants have remained, the damage significantly impacted occupancy and leasing activity.

Tenants include L3Harris Technologies, the law firm Johnson Pope, which has naming rights on the building, and the Tampa Bay Times, which leases 120,000 square feet, although about 70,000 square feet of that is currently up for lease or sublease, according to CoStar.

To proceed with demolition, the building’s ownership would need to submit a formal application to the city. The request must either include plans for a replacement development or a structural report showing the building is unsafe because of its location in the urban core.

The building sits on 1.25 acres, a large and highly desirable site in the St. Pete urban core and one that will likely attract luxury condo developers if the site is cleared.

If demolition moves forward, it would remove one of the downtown office market’s biggest assets.

The property accounts for 12.5 percent of the submarket’s total square footage, and its loss could shift the competitive landscape for large tenants. Only four other multitenant office buildings in downtown St. Pete offer more than 200,000 square feet, according to the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership.

— Judah Duke