A century-old retail strip along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street South that sat vacant and blighted for decades is finally getting new tenants, thanks to roughly $3.5 million in private money from developers John and Julie Barkett. The couple bought the 900–938 block property for $1.5 million in September 2025 after nearly a decade of negotiating with the previous owner, and they're now filling it with a bookstore, a coffee shop and a community garden aimed at serving longtime South St. Petersburg residents.
The project, known as the Looking Glass Initiative, is drawing attention as a test case for whether corridor-level redevelopment can bring investment into South St. Pete without pushing out the people who already live there. As WTSP reports, the local developer is working directly with the community to bring businesses to the historic Roser Park neighborhood and the surrounding blocks. The site itself includes a 13,218-square-foot retail strip built in 1925 alongside a 15,239-square-foot vacant lot, according to St. Pete Catalyst, which reports the lot had accrued municipal code compliance liens after decades without investment.
A Long-Vacant Corner With a Local History
The vacant parcel was previously owned by late City Councilmember Richard Martin, who passed away in March 2025 before the property changed hands, the Catalyst's reporting notes. That lot, at 1013 Dr. MLK Jr. Street South, is being transformed into the Healthy Roots Garden & Community Center — a concept that includes a Food Farmacy fresh grocery stand, clinical exam rooms for community health days, and a Tech & Innovation Hub sponsored by ARK Invest, according to WUSF. The station notes the concept was rebranded from an earlier plan called Wonderland Garden.
City Hall may soon add public dollars to the private investment. Mayor Ken Welch has recommended awarding $325,000 to the project from the South St. Petersburg Community Redevelopment Area's Economic Development Incentive Program for fiscal year 2026, per the Catalyst's reporting. If the City Council approves it, that award would mark the first use of the incentive program since it was created in 2023.
New Storefronts Take Shape
Commercial tenants are already lining up along the strip. Café Ora, a community-focused specialty coffee shop founded by Historic Roser Park Neighborhood Association Vice President Meiko Seymour, has signed a lease to open in fall 2026 at 908 Dr. MLK Jr. Street South, according to St. Pete Rising. The café will pour coffee roasted by St. Pete-based Look Alive Coffee and plans neighborhood evening programming, the outlet's report notes.
Next door, independent bookstore and mocktail bar Pages and Perks has secured 1,600 square feet at 914 Dr. MLK Jr. Street South, offering fiction titles, local author events and nonalcoholic beverages. Owner Kate Johnson previously worked for HSN before launching the bookstore, per the same account.
Guarding Against Displacement
Behind the tenant selection is a deliberate strategy. The developers formed a South St. Petersburg resident Community Focus Group and adopted what the Tampa Bay Business Journal describes as an anti-gentrification tenant curation approach, designed to offer affordable retail bays and recruit local Black-owned businesses. Three of the project's first seven planned commercial tenants are Black-owned, according to that reporting.
The concern isn't abstract. Historic Roser Park was established in 1911 as St. Petersburg's first local historic district, but it was platted without an internal commercial corridor, leaving residents reliant on surrounding areas for everyday retail and food, according to the Catalyst. Racial segregation policies that began in 1936 restricted African American business and residential properties southwest of the project site, according to municipal historical records cited by the Catalyst, which fostered the growth of The Deuces on 22nd Street South as the primary Black commercial corridor. Community members continue to monitor whether CRA investments directly benefit long-standing local residents, the outlet reports.
Community leaders have expressed optimism about additions like Café Ora and Pages and Perks, though civic meetings have also reflected ongoing sensitivity around rising property values and gentrification, per the Catalyst's coverage. Positioned along the 900 and 1000 blocks of Dr. MLK Jr. Street South, the developers view the corridor as a critical physical link between downtown St. Petersburg's Innovation District and the South St. Petersburg neighborhoods beyond it, aiming to prevent an economic drop-off between the two.
