Back in September, Bill Edwards, a St. Petersburg mortgage mogul and established music producer, purchased the Baywalk shopping and dining complex in St. Petersburg for $5.2 million with plans to bring the declining Downtown icon back to life.
Now, the Tampa Bay Times reports that Edwards will drop the Baywalk name and make a handful of cosmetic changes to the complex. Edwards plans to demolish the two-story building along Second Avenue N. that houses the White House Black Market women's clothing store to make the complex more visible and accessible. The box office in front of the Muvico Baywalk 20 theater will also be no more.
Edwards' business, the Edwards Group. is also looking for anchor tenants to occupy and represent the new, unnamed Baywalk-area complex before leasing it out to smaller restaurants and stores. Apparently, they're vying for a high end steakhouse in the vein of Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa as well as an Apple store and other similar, big-name retailers.
For now, Baywalk remains a near-empty shell of its former self housing businesses like Muvico Baywalk 20, Tokyo Sushi Cafe, and a handful of other retailers.
A master plan with a list of tenants and architectural changes is expected to be released within the next three months.
