In a very real way, downtown St. Petersburg has served as the region’s living room for over a hundred years. The city’s unique system of linear parks along the downtown waterfront was put in place by the city and the business community at the turn of the twentieth century, and as a result, St. Pete can accurately claim more publicly accessible waterfront than any other city in America. A New York Times architectural critic proclaimed it as “the most beautiful urban waterfront” in the  United States. More than seven miles of beautifully manicured parks and walkways meander along downtown bays and bayous, framed by palm trees, sailboat masts and Mediterranean-style towers. Each year, St. Petersburg hosts more than 1,000 special events – and most of those, particularly the larger festivals, are presented in the waterfront parks. Among the line-up of special events is the internationally televised Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Mainsail Arts Festival, theater under the stars, monthly block parties and weekly European-style fresh markets, food festivals such as RibFest or the Cajun Festival, yachting regattas, dozens of fitness runs and walks, and one of the world’s leading triathlon events. The St. Petersburg/Tampa/Clearwater area is the second largest concentration of population in the South, second only metro Atlanta, and citizens from throughout the region know intuitively to head for downtown St. Pete because something fun and interesting is sure to happen.

More recently, the opening of BayWalk in late 2000 has provided downtown St. Pete with the city’s equivalent of the New England village green. This Mediterranean Revival festival marketplace features an open central atrium surrounded by two levels of shops, restaurants and cinemas, and serves as the site for many public and private celebrations, festivals, announcements, and special events.

Downtown’s role as the center of convening activities has increased rapidly in recent years with the explosion of newly-created residential options downtown. Strong neighborhoods in downtown’s periphery have always been an asset in St. Petersburg, but construction of many types of housing has truly made downtown St. Pete one of the city’s most thriving neighborhoods. From high-rise condominiums to small-scale infill living ventures to stylish loft apartments, downtown has options for all, and this feeling of neighborhood has attracted supermarkets, drugstores, museums and galleries to serve the downtown market.