Downtown St. Petersburg’s next big high-rise swing is inching toward liftoff. The Central, billed as one of the city’s largest new projects, is “ready to rise,” according to developer Ellison Development, with a key land closing now in sight. On the 2.1-acre site, the only fully finished piece is a new 540-space public parking garage. Foundations for the hotel are going in, but the office tower, retail space and workforce housing are still sitting on the bench, waiting for that final land deal. If it closes, St. Pete could finally see its first major new office tower downtown in decades.
Developer's timing and schedule
The current schedule comes from recent coverage that lays out Ellison’s step-by-step plan. The developer told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that the remaining land closing is the missing piece before full vertical construction can begin. The Business Journal reports that Halcyon, the planned 11-story office tower on the site, is targeting completion by fall 2026, even though most of the broader project is still at the foundation stage. For now, that makes the garage the lone fully wrapped component, with the rest of the campus held back until the closing and associated financing line up.
What’s been built
The Central’s 540-space public garage opened in June 2025 and almost doubled the EDGE District’s formal parking supply, according to city officials who spoke at the ribbon-cutting. Universal Parking manages the facility, and developers have floated a rooftop amenity plan that would include a glass-encased dinosaur display as a quirky public attraction. In the meantime, the structure has been pulling double duty, supporting construction logistics for the rest of the site while the main buildings wait their turn to climb, as reported by WUSF.
Anchors, program and neighborhood payoff
When fully built out, The Central is slated to pack in a 168-room Marriott Autograph hotel, about 14,000 square feet of retail, an 11-story office tower of roughly 125,000 square feet branded as Halcyon, and 42 units of workforce housing, according to St. Pete Catalyst. The project is already drawing headliners. ARK Invest is expected to take upper-floor space in Halcyon, and celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian is lined up to run the hotel’s signature restaurant, as detailed by StPeteRising. City officials and developers alike pitch that mix as a way to inject more daytime workers, overnight visitors and retail spending into the EDGE District.
Why the land closing matters
According to the development team, the pending land transfer is the gatekeeper that unlocks permanent financing, long-term contractor agreements and, eventually, the arrival of tower cranes and full hotel crews. Ellison Development told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that once the closing is recorded, the plan is to move quickly into vertical construction. Local boosters argue that the project’s hotel rooms, office jobs and retail square footage could help fuel a broader redevelopment wave downtown, tying into the ongoing debate over the Historic Gas Plant District and the high-stakes Trop site showdown.
What to watch next
In the near term, the clearest signs of liftoff will likely come on paper. Developers say new permit filings and lender documents over the next several weeks would be the big tell that cranes are about to move in. Local reporting still pegs full completion of The Central around mid-2027, with Halcyon and the hotel expected to open earlier in a phased rollout, according to St. Pete Catalyst. If that timeline holds, the EDGE District could see a noticeable jump in daytime population, hotel capacity and fresh retail choices within roughly a year of vertical construction getting underway.
