Denser housing, larger mixed-use projects and lower parking requirements could reshape redevelopment along Central Avenue after approval of optional new zoning rules tied to SunRunner stations, creating a new development framework stretching from downtown St. Petersburg west toward the beaches.
Property owners can continue building under existing zoning rules or opt into the overlay standards for greater density and redevelopment flexibility.
City officials have increasingly aligned zoning policy around the SunRunner since the service launched in 2022, viewing the transit investment as a catalyst for additional housing and redevelopment along Central Avenue.
The framework concentrates the highest development intensity around the 22nd Street South and 32nd Street stations, where the city envisions medium- to high-rise buildings, mixed-use projects and stronger pedestrian and bicycle connections, while lower-density “Neighborhood” and “Village” station areas apply farther west along the corridor. That station-area approach grew out of the city’s SunRunner Rising planning effort, which began in 2020 and later became part of St. Petersburg’s long-term development strategy…