Focusing on more than aesthetics, the City Center in St. Petersburg is undergoing some renovations. Keeping tenants in mind, $8 million is being invested into the 240,000 square-foot-two-building complex, adding and renovating several state-of-the-art amenities.

“This business isn’t just about attracting tenants, but maintaining them after their lease expires, as well,” says Larry Feldman, CEO of Feldman Equities, one of the owners of the City Center. “When a tenant moves out and you have vacant space, you obviously lose rental income, you may have to do a reconstruction of the space and eventually pay a broker to find a new tenant. Maintaining existing tenants is a key part of amenity packaging.”

Among the recently added amenities is a first-class fitness center with high-impact wood floors, several cutting-edge exercise machines, granite sinks, shower and locker facilities and 15-foot high ceilings. The City Center will also soon receive an atrium cafe including indoor bamboo planters and ficus trees, as well as a 40-foot long granite and wood concierge desk.

A 65-seat conference center with full audio and visual connections and Scandinavian-style elevator lobby makeovers are to be included in the renovation project, featuring high-end finishes such as blond oak wood paneling, dark wood base and granite floors.
“In addition, we also have a fully rain-protected garage that’s shaded,” says Feldman. “We just put in a whole new lighting system to make the 6-story garage bright at night — almost like daytime. After analyzing the whole workforce, we found that more than 50 percent are women who’d like to see a brightly lit garage with full-time security.”

According to Feldman, one of the focuses at the City Center is to become the best building in downtown St. Pete, attracting the kinds of tenants the city needs — new, intellectual, innovative tech-companies.

“We want to promote a high-quality lifestyle,” says Feldman. “One building can help attract the types of companies that the St. Pete area needs that aren’t just the old financial services businesses. We’re looking to bring in the innovative-type tenants to make for a really dynamic workplace.”

Renovations on the City Center are expected to be complete by November 2012.
Writer: Alexis Quinn Chamberlain Source: Larry Feldman, Feldman Equities