Multiple buildings at the corner of 4th Avenue South and 4th Street South have been painted pink as part of an art activation. Some of them were known as the Ventnor Apartments and date back to the 1920s.
For Valor Capital CEO Moises Agami, it’s a way to celebrate the site’s future. The structures will eventually be knocked down to create room for French furniture designer Roche Bobois’s first branded residential tower in the U.S.
“This pink is really a flash of creativity that is going to give way to the old and bring forth the new,” he explained. “What stood here before is being reimagined and recreated into something bold, design driven and really born out of art.”
Choosing the color was a reflection of the development that is to come. “If you look at our designs and renderings, they have a lot of pink and creative colors,” Agami added.
According to muralist Johnny Vitale of the Vitale Brothers, who is overseeing the effort, pink was also selected to reflect St. Petersburg. The Vinoy downtown and the Don CeSar hotel at St. Pete Beach are both pink.
Local artists will be able to paint designs on the buildings before they are removed, Agami said. A “flash mob” workshop event is scheduled for Saturday (Feb. 21). This work will continue through next week.
“We want to see what kind of great, crazy ideas they create,” he explained, “because we are going to be selecting different murals that are going to be painted inside the (new) building and around the development.”
However, the workshop is not a competition. Designs will be selected at a later date.
“This is sort of a way for Valor Capital to acknowledge all of the art talent that’s here,” Vitale said, “and I’m trying to bring the best of the best and let them see the samplings of what these artists can do.”
The Vitale Brothers will be compensating the artists as part of their contract with the developer.
Several of the derelict buildings will be removed as soon as next month. Construction on the Roche Bobois St. Pete Tower project should begin by the summer, Agami said. The 29-story development, which will include 164 units, will take approximately three years to build.
The St. Petersburg City Council approved the height of the building in July. An initial plan for the project included short-term rentals. However, Valor Capital decided to make all units available for sale.
There will be one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and penthouse options. They will start at about $500,000.
The project will also have a pet park, 1,625-square-foot pool with an open-air deck, pet salon and a 4,000-square-foot plaza – which will feature public art.
Roche Bobois, founded in the early 1960s, started as a collaboration between the Roche and Chouchans families. After Francois and Philippe Roche and Patrick and Jean-Claude Chouchan met at a furniture expo, they decided to design and launch their own catalog of products.
The company has a history of showcasing its furniture at high-end residential and hotel projects. These include the Quinzerie Hotel and the Louvre Montana Hotel in Paris as well as Villas Curv in southern France. Additionally, the organization designed the reception area at the Hotel Esperit Roca in Girona, Spain.
Agami added that the project has been a “tight collaboration” with Roche Bobois. By collaborating with the brand, the Valor Capital team aims to focus on “the artistic nature of St. Pete.”
The tower will include furnishings by the company.
Roche Bobois St. Pete Tower website
This content provided in partnership with StPeteCatalyst.com
