NOTE: Since my original publishing of this post, ICON Central, which was formerly owned and managed by TRG Management, the building was purchased and is now operated by Camden. The building is now called Camden on Central.
Continuing my series of blog posts giving people an inside look at apartment complexes in Downtown St. Petersburg, it’s now time to review Icon Central — the apartment complex I am currently calling home.
Icon Central is a new apartment complex located on – you guessed it, Central Avenue in the heart of Downtown St. Petersburg. I first learned of the building when I was out for a run down Central and saw construction beginning on what looked like a hotel pool. When I realized the new building was going to be a luxury apartment complex, I called Tyler and half-jokingly told him we just had to move.
Much time passed between that point and now. At the time, we were happily living about a mile away in Beacon430, so my ultimate masterplan was to move to Icon once Tyler graduated law school and got a job downtown Tampa. #GOALS
I remember telling my family about this “dream complex” that was going up …. I even once walked into the lobby only to be blown away by the glamorous interior decorating. I mean guys – they had the Tom Ford coffee table book in the lobby and everything.
However, as they say, life happens when you’re busy making plans and after graduating law school, Tyler accepted a position at a firm in Jacksonville – so we packed up and moved across the state with the (new) plan of returning to St. Pete as soon as possible.
Thankfully, a beautiful position opened up in Downtown Tampa less than a year into our transplant to Jax and we ecstatically moved back to the Burg.
Where else would we pick as our new home base but the chic hotel apartment with the Tom Ford coffee table book.
Icon Central Fast Facts:
- Address: 855 Central Ave, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
- Layouts available: Studio, 1, 2, and 3 bedroom units
- Rent: *as of September 2020, about $1,409 -$3,349+ ranging from a 576 sq ft – 1,409 sq ft
- Pet friendly? Yes! Monthly pet rent $20 per pet
- Parking details: Gated covered garage for residents/limited guest spots available on the first floor of the garage
- Distance to St. Pete Beach: 7.8 miles/16 minutes with light traffic
- Distance to Downtown Tampa: 23 miles/25 min with light traffic
- Distance to nightlife (party block as I call it): 0.6 miles/12 min walk – however, central has many bars just next door!
- Closest Publix: Publix Super Market at 700 Central, 725 1st Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 0.2 miles/4 min walk
- Closest Coffee Shop: Intermezzo Coffee & Cocktails, 1111 Central Ave, St. Petersburg, FL 33705 0.3 miles/5 min walk
- Closest Dry Cleaner: Central Cleaners – Concierge Dry Cleaning, 790 Central Ave, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 476 ft./ 2 min walk
Icon Central: What is it really like living there?
Ok – obviously the intro of this post was more story-time and less matter-of-fact, but hey, I do live here and there were a lot of personal feelings going on when we moved back to St. Pete. BUT, unless you’re my immediate family (hi mom), you’re not here for the story, you’re here for the DETAILS.
In case you didn’t invest 20 minutes of your life to watch the above video I put hours of work into, I’ll give you the rundown. Tyler and I have been living at Icon Central since March of this year. The move-in process was seamless and we were given a cute tumbler gift set upon move in which felt very fancy.
We selected a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that felt like a comfortable size. Ideally, the dream was to have a two-bedroom, or at least a one-bedroom facing the pool, but the units available were on higher floors and were just a bit too much for us to commit to at the time. Remember – we had been paying Jacksonville rent for the past few months and it’s a bit of a bargain compared to this zip code. However, location is important to us and we’d gladly pay more for this city any day.
As soon as we moved in, we invited our family and friends over to tour the immaculate amenities – and I am so glad we did. Just a few weeks after that point, everything was shut down for Covid-19 precautions.
Since that point, many of the amenities have opened back up, the pool is accessible along with the rooftop deck, game simulator, lounge, and the gym. Tyler is waiting every day for an email announcing the movie room (his favorite part of this property) will again re-open.
For us, living here has been great. The property is still new-feeling, the building is impeccably decorated, the garage is well-lit, the maintenance and cleaning staff is friendly and the amenities that are currently open, are beautiful. I enjoy meeting people around the building; they all have been wonderfully welcoming. There is definitely social energy throughout the building which can be nice after you’ve been inside working alone all day.
Like anywhere, experiences can vary, but for us, Icon Central has been a beautiful and luxurious place to call home.
What we love:
The amenities at Icon Central seriously blew me away. Whether you’re on the 8th-floor rooftop deck overlooking downtown, or in the hot tub under the palm trees, it seriously feels like you’re living in a hotel — and not just like any hotel – a nice hotel.
Having common spaces to work in was also a necessity in the new work-from-home situation I found myself in. During the day, the large lounge area offers many seating areas that make it possible for me to leave my unit every now and then to work elsewhere while socially distancing.
Apart from the amenities, the location of Icon has been such a fun change from where we previously lived at Beacon430. Being right on Central Avenue has opened up a new world of restaurants, shopping, and things to do that we didn’t have right outside our front door in the past. Even with the reduced amount of action in these past months, there is still some energy coming from the area which we have really enjoyed.
Lastly, management schedules little events and fun “perks” throughout the month which is certainly enjoyable. One day, a representative from The Hyppo was out by the pool with the most adorable cart giving out ice pops. In another example, during fourth of July weekend, each resident got a box of cookies and a bottle of wine left outside their door – it was an adorable surprise.
What we don’t love so much:
In the spirit of transparency, I ALWAYS want to cover things I love in addition to things that I don’t care for so much. As I mentioned before, we moved into the complex in March and since then, I honestly haven’t had anything to complain about. There was a period of time where the air conditioning in our shared hallway was not working so it was pretty warm – however, the office communicated with us regularly about progress on the repairs.
The only other thing I can think of to say is that there are few areas on the parameter of the building that could benefit from some fresh mulch.
Overall, this apartment is very fun – but it’s a different “type” of fun than say, Beacon430. For example, the pool here can get busy and there is normally live music (typically someone singing hits throughout the decades) but it’s not a pool where you will find people playing their own music or a group playing flip cup. In other words – I have not once seen a giant flamingo pool float in the Icon Central pool. This is not something we have any issue with, but at times we have missed the louder atmosphere of previous complexes so I felt it may be helpful to include.
So overall, from my personal experience, I have not had any experiences or observances worth complaining about.
Would we recommend Icon Central to a friend?
Like with every post within this series, my goal with each post is to share my own experience and observances in hopes of serving someone who may be looking for some information.
Based on my personal experiences living at Icon Central, I would absolutely recommend this apartment complex to anyone looking to move Downtown St. Pete!
