In downtown St. Petersburg, the century-old Ventnor Apartments are going out in a blaze of bubblegum glory. The entire block has been washed in pink and turned into a temporary mural park, a final curtain call before the buildings come down to make way for a branded luxury tower.
The Paint It Pink activation stretches across five aging buildings, where more than 20 local artists have covered walls, fences and even tree stumps in bright, camera-ready artwork. Visitors have been flocking to the corner to snap photos and weigh in on their favorite pieces, with public voting on the murals open through April 12.
Art as a last hurrah at Ventnor
The send-off is a collaboration between the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and Valor Real Estate Development, which plans to fold select murals into the future Roche Bobois St. Pete Tower. Valor CEO Moises Agami said the unapologetically pink palette was chosen as a nod to “the ethos of St. Pete” and as a way to honor the site’s long history.
According to FOX 13 Tampa Bay, the St. Petersburg City Council signed off on the redevelopment last July, and demolition of the Ventnor buildings is scheduled to start the week of April 20.
Festival and public vote
To kick things off, Valor staged a free #PaintItPink art festival on March 22, turning the block into an all-day open studio with live mural painting, food trucks and music. Throughout the day, more than 20 muralists worked on-site while crowds wandered through the pink maze of buildings.
As laid out in a press release shared via PR Newswire, five murals from the weekend will be selected for future installation. Four will be picked by the project sponsor and one People’s Choice winner will come directly from the public vote, which runs through April 12.
Where the art could live next
The pink party is a prelude to a 29-story, design-branded Roche Bobois tower planned for the block at 4th Street South and 4th Avenue South. Organizers say several of the temporary works are expected to resurface in a future public plaza or as commissioned interior pieces once construction is complete.
The official contest rules spell out the eligible addresses and note that all the murals are on structures “scheduled for demolition.” As reported by St. Pete Rising and detailed on the project’s site, the Roche Bobois tower is projected to be finished in 2029.
Artists and mixed reactions
For many participating artists, the Ventnor’s swan song has been a rare chance to go big and get weird without anyone hovering over their sketches. Several described the activation as unusually open, with “no restrictions” on what they could put on the walls. “They were able to do something they wanted to do… without restrictions,” artist Arturo Romero told FOX 13.
Not everyone is sold on the concept, though. Some local creators told St. Pete Catalyst that the project looks less like a love letter to the neighborhood and more like clever marketing for a high-end tower. Critics argue that using art to soften the blow of demolition helps erase a piece of the city’s architectural story at the very moment it is being torn down.
Legal and artist rights
The project’s official competition rules make clear that artists keep the copyright to their work. At the same time, they grant the sponsor a perpetual, royalty-free license to reproduce and use images of the murals, and note that selected artists may sign separate commission agreements for future installations.
The fine print also states that all participants explicitly consent to the eventual removal or destruction of their pieces, since they are painting on buildings “scheduled for demolition.” That clause brushes up against questions of moral rights and the federal Visual Artists Rights Act, which the project materials acknowledge.
Organizers say the Paint It Pink weekend pulled in hundreds of neighbors and families and briefly turned the Ventnor block into a viral stop on downtown walking routes. Public voting remains open through April 12, with demolition crews expected to roll in the week of April 20. For full contest details, voting instructions and the legal terms, see the developer’s press release via PR Newswire.
