Downtown St. Pete? (Tampa, Wesley Chapel: to buy, theatre, to live in)

[Dino1]

Has it changed? Have not been there in ten years and I was wondering. Last time I was there it needed a facelift badly and had lots of closed stores, etc. Is it any better, worse, or what? Used to live in St. Pete and still miss it.

[ferret111]

It's gotten a lot better. It's a pretty happening place to be.

[flviking]

It has more to offer than downtown Tampa..

[chi_tino]

I moved from Tampa to St Pete three years ago and am shocked by the changes since then.

The square mile of downtown (with the exception of the black hole of commerce called Baywalk) has seen a new bar or restaurant open every week during that time. Name what you are looking for and downtown St Pete has it -- craft beer bars, jazz clubs, outdoor dining, midscale/upscale restaurants, wine bars, etc.

What has amazed me is how the demand is increasing with the new supply. A new restaurant opens up (for example, The Avenue, which used to be Buona Vita, which used to be a coffee shop) and within a few days is completely packed every night. It's actually difficult to get a table for dinner downtown on most weekend nights.

The other underappreciated factor that has helped downtown dramatically has been St Pete bringing the hammer down on the homeless scum. It's tough to enjoy alfresco dining when someone is defecating on the sidewalk in front of you.

[Quikpick]

St. Pete downtown is very vibrant and the sea breeze that comes in is fantastic. It's a not-so-hidden gem these days. I visited about eight years ago and the vibe was much quieter.

As an aside, with regard to some of the previous posters' responses, I've lived in Tampa for a few months and before that in Chicago for several years. I've spent many vacations in LA and NYC. Homelessness is a noticeable challenge in all of these cities. The homeless folks in Tampa have been mild-mannered and unobtrusive in my life, other than the regret I feel for their predicament and the fact that I forget to carry cash with me to buy the Epoch more often. I realize this is a difficult problem to solve and that it's hard for most of us to conceive how these situations came about. However, most folks in Tampa do not feel the need to belittle and shame human beings who are struggling in their midst, nor to blame them for a city's various perceived issues. I cannot imagine why some people are so threatened and offended—and threatening and offensive—about other people’s obvious challenges. Fear that if they imagine what it's like to walk in others' shoes they might feel uncomfortable amounts of compassion? Stranger things have happened. ;-)

[Roscoe Conkling]

Originally Posted by chi_tino

I moved from Tampa to St Pete three years ago and am shocked by the changes since then.

The square mile of downtown (with the exception of the black hole of commerce called Baywalk) has seen a new bar or restaurant open every week during that time. Name what you are looking for and downtown St Pete has it -- craft beer bars, jazz clubs, outdoor dining, midscale/upscale restaurants, wine bars, etc.

What has amazed me is how the demand is increasing with the new supply. A new restaurant opens up (for example, The Avenue, which used to be Buona Vita, which used to be a coffee shop) and within a few days is completely packed every night. It's actually difficult to get a table for dinner downtown on most weekend nights.

The other underappreciated factor that has helped downtown dramatically has been St Pete bringing the hammer down on the homeless scum. It's tough to enjoy alfresco dining when someone is defecating on the sidewalk in front of you.

In Paris they'd call that street theatre.

[chi_tino]

Originally Posted by Quikpick

I cannot imagine why some people are so threatened and offended—and threatening and offensive—about other people’s obvious challenges. Fear that if they imagine what it's like to walk in others' shoes they might feel uncomfortable amounts of compassion? Stranger things have happened. ;-)

Imagine you are a small business owner. You've saved up your money for years to start a business -- a restaurant, perhaps. You find a good location downtown with lots of foot traffic, spend a lot of cash to get going, and open your doors.

A few weeks later, you find out that no one is coming to your store because there are a couple of big, nasty homeless people that spend their days and nights camped outside your front door. What do you do?

I believe that this is one of the main reasons that St Pete's downtown has become vibrant while no one is opening retail businesses in downtown Tampa -- St Pete's leaders realized that downtown is the cash-producing crown jewel of the city and did what they could to clean it up. Did you know that before the change in policy, they had been sending crews weekly through downtown just to clean up the human waste on the roads/sidewalks?

A few years ago it was a challenge to go downtown. You would literally have to step over people sleeping/soiling themselves on the sidewalk or dodge people hitting you up for money every 50 feet. Why would tourists/citizens/unarmed women even bother?

The rights of the "urban outdoorsmen" can be debated all day, but their rights certainly do not include the right to harass people and businesses.

[roadtrip75]

Originally Posted by Quikpick

I cannot imagine why some people are so threatened and offended—and threatening and offensive—about other people’s obvious challenges.

You don't have to figure out why, you can just take our word for it. We don't like being around them. End of story.

[powellmacaque]

Originally Posted by roadtrip75

You don't have to figure out why, you can just take our word for it. We don't like being around them. End of story.

lol Gentrification at its finest. If city life bothers you so much, move back to Wesley Chapel. Chances are those that are homeless have been in St. Pete longer than most people on this forum have.

[roadtrip75]

Originally Posted by powellmacaque

If city life bothers you so much, move back to Wesley Chapel.

That doesn't make sense. Why should the people who like a society's rules be driven out by the people who don't like the rules? The reverse makes much more sense, morally speaking. And from a practical viewpoint, it seems like a fatally flawed way to build a society. I can't think of a successful society that embraced the tyranny of the minority.