A stroll down Central Avenue between Beach Drive and 30th Street in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, reveals a transformed landscape. Business owners, restaurateurs, and bar managers concur that this once desolate stretch would not have supported a restaurant like Pulpo Kitchen & Lounge ten or twenty years ago. According to Dylan Ruhe, general manager, the area's revitalization is a direct result of the influx of new condos and apartments, which brought a surge in foot traffic.
"The Grand Central District has undergone a metamorphosis," Ruhe noted. "It's a far cry from the barren landscape it once was." In the past, locals would venture to Central Avenue for only two purposes: to refuel after a Tampa Bay Rays game or to frequent a seedy dive bar. Jason Latimer, now director of public relations for Visit St. Pete-Clearwater... reminisced about his early days as an intern with the Rays in 2003.
"You didn't really walk down Central Avenue much," he said. "There were maybe two or three bars, "two or three restaurants," "that existed that you would actually want to go to."" Fast forward to the present... and the 2.
Walk along Central Avenue between Beach Drive and 30th Street—the main drag in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida—and talk with business owners, restauranteurs and bar managers, and they'll all tell you the same thing. Sitting in the sunshine along the sidewalk at Pulpo Kitchen ⁘ Lounge , a relatively new restaurant on Central Ave, general manager Dylan Ruhe explains how this neighborhood, known as the Grand Central District, would probably not have supported this eatery 10 or 20 years ago.
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