Homes to be built near century-old St. Pete neighborhood

Crews have started work on a new residential community in St. Petersburg that will bring nine new homes to an area just north of downtown and on the eastern edge of one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.

The community will be called the Canopy Oaks and will feature six town houses, two villas and a single-family home.

Canopy Oaks is at 1920 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N. near Euclid St. Paul, a neighborhood that traces its roots to the 1920s, when residents first began moving onto land that was once an orange grove. The neighborhood is made up of block after block of older well-maintained homes and its homeowners association page is filled with mentions of community bike rides, neighborhood walks and monthly porch parties. The area also has a large commercial presence.

Canopy Builders, which is developing the project along with Backstreet Capital, opened its office in Euclid St. Paul in 2021. The company’s president and CEO, Ben Gelston, says building on MLK will give residents “an abundance of restaurants, shops and services within walking distance.”

Plans for Canopy Oaks includes six three-bedroom town houses that will be about 2,500 square feet and include a two-car attached garage, covered entries and private balconies, as well as 10-foot ceilings and hardwood flooring

The two two-story, three-bedroom villas will be 2,200 square feet and come with private covered lanais with outdoor kitchen upgrades. These too will have 10-foot ceilings, hardwood flooring and two-car garages.

The four-bedroom single-family home will be built in the Craftsman style to match “the craft and legacy of the Euclid St. Paul Neighborhood” the developers say. 

The development is expected to be complete in 2023. A spokesperson says construction costs were not immediately available.

Canopy was founded in 2014 with the idea of building homes similar to those in South Carolina’s Low Country. Backstreets is the developer behind the 74-unit condominium project The Salvador and the St. James Townhomes and is involved in Orange Park Station, a mixed-use development on the site of St. Petersburg’s former police headquarters.